Area runners off to Boston

By John Kovach

Steve Babyak will run in his father’s footsteps in the Boston Marathon.

More than a half-century ago in 1955, former U.S. Marine John Babyak of Poland ran in the Boston Marathon when only 300 runners made the 26-mile, 385-yard trek from Hopkinton to Boston.

Monday, John’s son, Steve Babyak, a 1985 Cardinal Mooney High graduate, will follow in his father’s footsteps when he competes in his first Boston Marathon after finally qualifying by completing the 2006 Las Vegas Marathon in 3 hours, 18 minutes, 28 seconds.

Steve, 40, who now lives in Mentor and is a respiratory therapist as the VA Medical Center, is grateful for the opportunity to run Boston in front of the watchful eyes of his father, now 78, who will return to the famous race as a spectator for the first time since competing. Steve will compete in the masters division (40-44).

In addition, Steve’s two sons, John (11) and Ethan (9), also will make the trip to Boston with their father and grandfather to provide moral support for Steve as he competes among 25,000 total runners.

“They will be at the start [of the race] and I’m sure they will be at the finish,” said Steve, whose quest to become a marathon runner was influenced by his father, a native of Struthers.

“My father was a Marine instructor and he was a Korean War veteran. He was a master gunnery sergeant,” said Steve, who attended Holy Family elementary school before going to Mooney where he played football and later became a boxer. “I try to impress running on my two boys and get them involved like my dad influenced me. Seeing [your] father excel in certain things can motivate you.”

Steve, who played on the 1984 Mooney football team with Bo Pelini and Mark Stoops and also won a Golden Gloves championship in 1993, has fond memories of watching his father run.

“He used to take me with him when he would go running at a track in Poland, and he would run for what seemed the longest time and I would wait for him until he finished,” recalled Steve, who attended Youngstown State before graduating from Cleveland State in 2005.

Steve said his dad no longer runs because of hip replacement surgery.

Steve said when his dad ran Boston in 1955, that runners were considered “daredevils” because only a small percentage of runners dared to try to run more than 26 miles.

“Times have certainly changed,” said Steve. “When he ran, there were 300 runners and now there are 25,000. You didn’t have to qualify [then].”

And, “The first [Boston Marathon] 112 years ago had 15 runners.”

Steve also will experience something else at Boston that his father didn’t in 1955.

“This will be the first year [the race] will televised live on the Versus Network,” said Steve, who has been running marathons since 1988.

After he failed to complete his first marathon attempt in 1988 at the Los Angeles Marathon, he bounced back to finish the Erie Marathon and then finished several other marathons, including the Marine Corps, Cleveland Rite Aid, Akron and Towpath marathons, before qualifying for Boston at Las Vegas.

“I had been trying to qualify for Boston on and off since 1988 and at Las Vegas, but my dad said that you have to push yourself to extremes to get better and always trying to improve each time you run,” said Steve. “You always can get better and you can try harder.”

Babyak also has been influenced by boxer Ray Mancini. The two used to train at the same gyms run by Ed Sullivan and Jack Loew, and Babyak used to be Mancini’s sparring partner.

“Mancini used to say you should always be in better shape than your opponent and to be at your best and to give it your all. If I train the best I can, then if I lose I can say that I did [my best].”

Another Cardinal Mooney graduate, Angela Altier (class of 1999) also will make her first appearance in the Boston Marathon.

Altier, 27, a former Mooney runner and a 2003 Baldwin-Wallace College graduate who now lives in Strongsville, qualified for Boston in the Columbus Marathon last October in 3:40.

“I ran for the cross country and track teams at Mooney, and I started doing road races after college,” said Altier, who is a customer business manager in cosmetic sales for the Bonne Bell Company.

She said she didn’t compete in athletics at B-W.

The daughter of Nancy and Steve Altier of Youngstown, Angela’s first marathon was Columbus last year. She previously had completed two Cleveland Rite-Aid half-marathons.

kovach@vindy.com