Thomas Patrick MORRISSEY

Representing the Mercury AC, Tom Morrissey won the 1908 Boston Marathon, which placed him on the 1908 Olympic team. Morrisey placed 3rd at the 1906 Boston race and then was 17th in 1907. After the 1908 Olympics he never again finished at Boston. Morrissey turned professional in 1909, after the marathon craze had been incited by Dorando Pietri’s finish at the 1908 London Marathon.

In May 1909, Morrissey entered the International Marathon Race, held at the Polo Grounds in New York. He did not finish the race, but his effort was described as follow by The New York Times, “Of the men who did not finish, Tom Morrissey was driven to the greatest extreme, he falling in collapse twice [sic] and each time being hustled back to the track and forced to go on by the insistence of his handlers. Long before his final collapse, the crowd clamored for his removal, but an attendant ran beside him and urged Morrissey to keep at it until he fell in a limp heap directly in front of the grandstand, and unconscious [for 10 minutes] while the other runners turned out to pass him.”

Personal Best: Mar – 2-25:44 (1908).