PROFILE Bill Rodgers

Bill Rodgers' first international success came in the 1975 World Cross Country Championships in Rabat, Morocco. He placed third to outdistance three former and two future Olympic champions.
One month later, he won the Boston Marathon in a course-record time of 2:09.55, despite stopping to tie his shoes several times. It was his first of four Boston Marathon wins (1975, 1978, 1979, 1980), and his 1979 time of 2:09.27 set an American record.
In the years between 1976-1981, Rodgers won 16 of the 21 marathons that he entered.
He was a member of the United States Olympic Track & amp; Field Team in 1976
Rodgers won the 1977 Peace Race, then a 25-kilometer run.
He was ranked the No. 1 marathon runner in the world three times by Track and Field News.
Rodgers' lone disappointment as a runner was in the Olympics. He placed 40th in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal in 2:25.14. And he was prevented from competing in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow because of the U.S. boycott due to Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.
Rodgers won the Road Runners Club of America Masters of the Year Award in 1990 and 1992.
In 1999, he was inducted into both the National Track & amp; Field and Long Distance Running Halls of Fame.