Dan Williams - Tireless County Hunter

Dan grew up in Cleveland, Ohio as an “overweight and uncoordinated” son of his clerical worker mother and shop foreman father.  In High School, Daniel excelled in science and band, playing the French horn in the Cleveland All City Band and Ohio Boys Band.  Daniel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and met his wife to be Marty at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio.  Both fled to the promise land of Athens, Georgia where Marty earned a Ph.D. in Freshwater Ecology and Daniel the same degree in Inorganic Chemistry.  Daniel taught in temporary positons at Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio and Georgetown University in our nation’s capital before landing a tenure position at what was Kennesaw Junior College in Marietta in 1977.  Staying the course, Dan rose through the ranks to full professor at Kennesaw and helped develop the largest chemistry program in the University System of Georgia.  Dan retired in 2008 but continued to teach part time until 2014.

Dan, now age sixty seven, started running in 1985 when Marty made the “subtle observation that he was obese and told him so”.  Two years of running resulted in being fifty pounds lighter.  Dan set goals of running an officially timed race in every county in Georgia, running a race in every state capital in the USA, the counties in Connecticut, and all the southern provinces of Canada.  Dan has also run in all three counties of Delaware, the state with the fewest number of counties.  In Georgia, Dan focused on “small festival runs, charity races, or lesser known events which allowed him to see a diverse slice of Americana”.  Georgia, being the largest state east of the Mississippi, also has the most counties-159 not counting two historic counties of Milton and Campbell.  The goal was only achieved by self-help in organizing some races where a county had none.  He and Marty most notably organized among others the Polar Bear 5K in 1988 that now is a continuing successful race sponsored by Johnson Ferry Baptist.  Later he and Marty organized and directed the Hiram 7K on the Silver Comet Trail on New Year’s Day in Paulding County which did not have a timed race heretofore.  Counties among others where Daniel had to organize races to achieve his goal were Treutlen, Twiggs, Montgomery, Steward, Webster, Marion, Clay, Calhoun, and Baker.  Daniel sought out multi county races of which there were a few like Al Toll Masters 15K (Bibb-Monroe) and the Boston Mini-marathon (Thomas-Brooks).  The first race of this trek was the Marietta Naval Air Station 5K in 1987 and the 159^th and final county race was a February 2015 Statenville, GA (Echols County) race.  Four other runners have joined Daniel and are emulating his quest calling themselves the “County Hunters”.  They are Clint Watkins of Madison, Jim Scarr of Powder Springs, Matt Crowder of Atlanta and Jim Baldwin of Macon.

Dan with two other county huntersHigh points include the “Run through Hell” in Michigan and running through Helen, GA as a prelude to the Hogpen Hill Climb.  The largest race he had participated in has been the Atlanta Peachtree 10K running with the “equivalent of a small town”.  The smallest was a four person race field in Carson City, Nevada in 22 degree temperature.  Dan has run a race in each of Maryland’s counties along the Mason-Dixon Line and six of the eight counties in the state of Connecticut.  Dan has run marathons and completed the total distances of notable trail runs-The New River Trail in Southern Virginia (58 miles), the Virginia Creeper Trail near Abington, Virginia (34 miles), and the entire distance of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath in Maryland (186 miles).    

Holding his County Hunter ShirtDan’s “times have been slowed, but …enthusiasm hasn’t.  As long as God gives him strength, he will be out on the trail and roads wearing out multiple pairs of running shoes and in the words of the (legendary early 20^th century Scottish runner) Eric Liddell “feeling God’s pleasure ”. 

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Watch for the articles on Debbie Schulte and the profile of retired pill pusher and pharmacist Bill Tweedell.