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One Hundred Ten Years Running on the Banks of the Red Cedar

A Social History of Michigan State University Cross Country

Testimonials

AMAZING! AMAZING! AMAZING! Thank You! I could not put it down.

Mike Kaines

I opened up my book box on my birthday and found a treasure! Amazing! It is riveting.

Andrew Barnhart

A genuine delight. Detail, work and passion are evident in every page. Thank you does not do justice to my appreciation of your gift of these books and for your work.

Walt Drenth

Thank you so much for this tribute to my husband, Jerry. He received your wonderfully crafted book set, sat down in his recliner and poured over Volume Two recalling historical events, but mostly the friendships and the passion that each one of his fine friends shared during those wonderful years at MSU; friendships that continued to the day he died.

Judy Young

Every page is colored in details of historical value of either sport, athletics, national, local or political history. Wow. Great Job. Really great.

Jody Cleveland

A magnificent historical product. Sometimes I also think that people may learn more about the history of colleges and universities by reading the history of their athletic teams than just about any other subject.

Dr. E. Bruce Geelhoed
Dept. of History, Ball State Univ.

I am in awe of what you have done with the MSU cross country history project! You creatively brought volumes of responses alive in a way that works.

Herb Lindsay

Bravo x 1 million, my friend. We are all honored by your hard work, unselfish efforts and brilliant story telling!

Ken Popejoy

Wowee, wow, WOW! The best tribute I can give is to show this book set to as many Michigan grads as possible.

Ron Berby

The books brought Dad a lot of joy in talking about his college years. It has been great fun listening to his stories and having him share memories with his grandchildren. It’s provided him with hours of entertainment and discussion.

Sandi Cotter on behalf of Bill Miller

Just opened my box of books. First the chills. Then I bawled like a baby when I saw the cover of Volume Four. I’ve been reading for an hour and a half. This is so well put together, it seems like it must be the work of 30 people at a minimum. Humans like you, Mark, are what Zorba called "Boss" the one trailing him, observing, telling his story. You are writing a different story, The Odyssey A Modern Sequel. Having the balls to attempt it after Homer. Better though, more understandable and elegantly worded.

Kim Hartman

Thanks so much for these books. My dad and aunt were thrilled!

Kayla Kalmbach Williams

All five volumes are read and I'm still craving more. The books really gave me a sense of being a small, but not insignificant, part of something very special. I now feel permanently connected to the program.

Mike Demko

I’ve really enjoyed reading these volumes! As a lover of history and MSU Cross Country they were very interesting! So many fun tidbits from many decades ago that still resonate with my time at MSU and beyond.

Stephanie Dueringer

The book set arrived in excellent condition and the timing of their arrival could not have been better. I was able to take them to our Druetzler family reunion, held in the Chicago suburb of Mokena, Illinois. My mother and three of my brothers were in attendance. I was able to hand deliver your labor of love to them. My 91-year-old mother was thrilled. My oldest brother spent nearly an entire day reading through the pages before returning home to Virginia.

Jane Black, Warren Druetzler’s daughter

Your creation is enabling me to revisit – mentally – a time in my life when I was too busy living it to enjoy and appreciate everyone and everything. Thanks!

Ron Smeltzer

Congratulations on this wonderful work. You've taken good care of Spartan running history and the memories of those who helped you with their recollections. I believe that the audience for its contents are not just Spartan runners or runners in general, but anyone interested in collegiate sports and especially any Spartan.

Mike Jolly

Thanks for the latest two history of MSU Cross Country volumes. Took a book to Ron and he and I have been going back and forth sharing the trivia and events from the respective book we each are devouring.

Rob Cool, on behalf of himself and his twin brother

I want to let you know how much I’m enjoying reading “One Hundred Ten Years Running.” I flew through Vol. 1 – cover to cover including footnotes – in a matter of days. I’m not a fast reader. The subject matter and the detail with which you present it makes for fascinating reading. My freshman year dorm room in the back of Holmes East looked out over the sugar bush portion of the old course, how cool! The races feel "real" somehow and yet the only runner I knew at this point in the historical part of the story is Coach Gibbard. Needless to say, I’m well into Vol. 2.

Tim Kerr

Before reading your books, I felt like an outlander since I only ran one year and then left MSU. But after reading your books, it was nice to see there were other runners like me that only ran one or two years, plus had issues with Coach Gibbard. Your books helped me see that I was not alone in my experience and that was a good feeling. For years I thought I was the only one who had difficulty. It's nice to have that reassurance. Coach Bibbs is one of the greatest men I’ve ever met. In fact, he’s the one who helped me reconcile with Coach Gibbard later on when I finally quit blaming Gibb and figured out most of my issues at MSU were because of my immaturity. Gibb and I forgave each other and it’s good not to have that regret hanging over me. That year at MSU was one of the best years of my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Tim Proulx

Book Set Contents

A central thesis of this five-volume book set is that Michigan State was integral in establishing and shaping intercollegiate cross country competitions in the United States. Michigan State played the dominant role in nationalizing men’s intercollegiate cross country and a key role in establishing women’s cross country. This book endeavors to tell the story of every race comprising Michigan State University’s long and proud cross country history. In addition to focusing on great teams, athletes and coaches, the goal is to produce a history filled with human interest stories and some sense of the role that running played prior to athletes’ college careers, during their time at MSU and (for most) after they left campus. The book set includes 20 history-focused chapters and 18 social science-focused interludes. Distinctions between the history-focused and social science components are permeable.
The book set contains race-by-race accounts dating from 1907 through 2021. Because sport does not occur in a vacuum, these stories are infused with notes of broader historic and social interest. Often that broader coverage is included to provide context for the lived experiences of athletes and coaches, but a number of intersections and interactions are explored wherein team members play important roles in challenging societal norms related to race, gender, physical activity participation over the lifespan; as well as through the Great Depression, in wartime (20 MSU cross country alums died in wars spanning WWI through Korea), and other major nationally significant events including the aftermath of JFK’s assassination and the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal. Because cross country is, more than any other intercollegiate sport, set within natural and built outdoor environments, place attachment also emerged as a dominant theme. In fact, for its first 50 years, Michigan State’s courses traversed the built portion of campus. With respect to experiential aspects of distance running, over a third of the book set is focused on social science rather than history per se, and hundreds of voices are heard via survey and interview responses. While generally a “happy” story, these volumes do not shy away from confronting controversial topics. As a result of the just-described breadth and depth of coverage, it is longer than most books on this topic.