Dan Shoaf - Higher Frequency and Lost in the 60's

Dan Shoaf was born in Sewickley, PA, seventeen miles from Pittsburg, PA.  His father worked for the Alabama based firm, Vulcan Materials, recycling steel and tin plate from nearby industrial sites.  Dan’s mother was a telephone operator but found herself too busy to take calls after Dan was born so she became a career“domestic godess”.  Vulcan transferred his father to their Gary, Indiana facility in 1955.  Dan thought that Gary was the coldest place on earth as he recalls a seventeen degree below zero temperature when walking to school.  Vulcan transferred his father again in 1961 to their Houston, Texas facility half way through Dan’s High School tenure.  This was tramatic as shy (not any more!)Dan had to make new friends.  This was difficult as he did not participate in any outside of school activities other than watching television western series.  The favorites he recalls were Cheyenne with Clint Walker and Gunsmoke with Jim Arness.

After graduating from Spring Branch High School in the Houston area, Dan attended and graduated from Sam Houston State University with a BS degree in Geography and a minor in Business Administration. Transportation challenged ( no car) Dan’s first forray into running was slow jogging three miles with a friend to his part time job at radio station KSAM in Huntsville, Texas.  KSAM was the beginning of a life long beautiful friendship between Dan and the radio media.  Dan had a three hour shift spinning top forty Rock and Roll tunes for the AM station and changing the prerecorded tape for the sister FM staion.

Dan graduated from college in the Vietnam era and was drafted into the U.S. Army undergoing Basic Training at Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas.  After Advanced Individual Training, Dan became an Army Public Affairs Broadcast Specialist at Fort Gordon, near Augusta, Georgia.  Dan spent the balance of his two year military stint recording taped military news to be utuilized by public radio stations.  He appreciated and enjoyed being involved in the radio media but did not receive combat pay.  Dan moonlighted at nearby WAUG in Augusta on a part time basis, again with a top forty format for his progam.  Still without a car, Dan recalls the long wait to catch a bus ride to the radio station in Augusta from Fort Gordon and back.  Dan found his last name hard to pronounce on the radio.  He was accused of spitting into the mike when attempting to say “Dan Shoaf” and alternatively listeners thought he was saying “Dan Show”.  This was corrected by adopting the name of an uncle and to this day he is know professionally as Dan Scott.  Dan quips he used the professional name to “keep the women off his back, but now has the opposite problem”.

Post military, Dan purchased his first vehicle-a 1968 Dodge, which he used to visit his grandparents in Pennsylvania and his parents who had again relocated to Long Beach, California.  Unemployed Dan moved in with his parents subsisting on a $54 a week unemployment check and began his hobby of collecting phonograph records.  Dan, when not seeking employment, would frequent record shops purchasing music albums that apealed to him in the $.50-.75  cent cost range.   A professional break came when an Army buddy from upstate South Carolina called him in 1971 to advise of an opening at a radio  station in Anderson, South Carolina.  Dan drove to the station and sucessfully interviewed for the position.  Dan became the music director for WANS and stayed five years.  Dan recalls this was the beginning of the hard rock era.  In 1977 he moved to WCCT in nearby Clemson, South Carolina after a change in ownership at WANS.  The owner of the Clemson station offered Dan a position with a new start up station in Anderson (WRIX) in 1977 where he has remained to this day. Dan has held the positons of Music Director, Program Director, and Operations Manager while WRIX transformed its’ format from rock to country over the years.  Dan, at age seventy, airs a three hour Sunday morning religious music format program.  Dan advises that this weeky stint keeps him in the radio media with a goal of achieving fifty years in broadcast radio (currently at forty-eight and a half and counting).

Dan’s favorite music genre is popular music from the 1950s through the 1970s. He also likes beach music that originated in South Carolina, as Shaggers can appreciate.   Dan has a collection of over five thousand albums and ten thousand forty-five RPM records.  Some were damaged by a flood in part of his home last year.  Many in his collection are considered “hard to find” now and represent the best of top 1950s Rock and R&B music.  Dan does not have any records in his collection from year 1980 to the present.   Dan also has a collection of old model railroad pieces that contains three dozen locomotives and fifty plus rail cars of all gauges.

Dan started running in the Anderson area in 1982 and could be seen with fellow runner Betty Burrell at Run and See Georgia Grand Prix and Black Bag races over the years.   He considers himself a middle of the pack runner although his 5K PR is 20:30 achieved at the Ellijay Apple Festival, which he recalls was only good enough for a third place finish in his age group.  His favorite race is the Winder’s Summer End 5000 race.  Dan’s  best 10K PR was 44:39 and marathon time of 3 hr 30 minutes in a practice run. Dan has completed six marathons including the Columbia South Carolina Marathon that he recalls was “too cheap to give a finisher medal”.  Dan was a long time member of the now defunt Anderson Road Runners race club.

As Dan enters the 70-74 year old competative men’s category in 2015, he finds himself slowed by statin laced blood pressure medication and Morton’s Neuroma disease in his left foot.  Dan previously was consistently particiapting in fifty to sixty Grand Prix and Black Bag races a year but has cut back to twenty due to health reasons with the eternnal graditude of those of us in the same age group.  Dan’s recommendation to is to disuade race directors from having ten year age groups and for race coordinators to always do the awards starting with the senior members of the running community first. He lauds Black Bag race coordinators for following this practice as he is often on a timeline to return to South Carolina for broadcast responsibilities.

Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile on Sheri Price and anticipate the profile on high point achiever Donnie Chaffin.

Mary Beth Forwood - In Legal Motion

Mary Beth was born Mary Elizabeth (her full name, but always called Mary Beth by her mother and she does not respond to Mary) almost one month before President JFK was assassinated in 1963.  She was the second (three girls, one boy) of four children born to her nuclear physicist father and English/Montessori School teacher turned Social Worker mother in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The town holds a unique place in history as the birthplace of the Atomic bomb.  Shortly after Mary Beth joined the tail end of the baby boomer generation, the family temporarily relocated to San Diego, California, where her father matriculated at University of California San Diego earning a PhD in physics. During this period in her life, Mary Beth spent memorable times on the beach, was baptized in Hawaii, and even now her preference is to be “on a beach somewhere.” The family returned to Los Alamos in 1968 where her father worked for the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the next thirty-two years.

Maturing years activities were ballet, swimming, gymnastics, slow pitch softball and ice skating-sounds like every activity but running.  Mary Beth was a member of her high school gymnastics team, and then a cheerleader.  After a short sample of college life at the University of Oregon, MaryBeth transferred to the University of Wyoming where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and a Juris Doctorate law degree.  For years Mary Beth has been teased that she does not look like a lawyer, and recalls the humorous comment of fellow runner Mac Gay when he discovered her vocation quipping: “and I was just beginning to trust you!”  

After getting married, and starting law school, Mary Beth’s first daughter, Kaitlin (age 27, a public health nurse in Richmond, VA) was born after spring break in her second year, and Mary Beth graduated at the end of her third year, six months pregnant with second daughter, Kelsey (age 26, a law school graduate residing in GA).   The family relocated to Seattle, WA, shortly after she graduated law school, and Mary Beth worked part time doing family law.  In Seattle, her third child and son, Kyle (age 24, who has a degree in history and is a bartender in Milwaukee, WI) was born not quite two years later.  

After the family returned to Wyoming in 1991, Mary Beth got a full time “real” legal job with the Wyoming Attorney General, and then in 1995 became an Assistant District Attorney (ADA). She continued in that capacity, as an ADA, until 2010, most recently in Barrow County, GA, handling special victim cases (domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse).  Returning to private practice in 2010 in Athens, GA, Mary Beth focuses on domestic relations cases, most notably being the attorney for children taken into foster care.

Running emerged in Mary Beth’s life as a form of stress relief. Always athletic, Mary Beth started by jogging with all three of her children in a stroller.  She also taught step aerobics for several years, and became a certified weight training instructor at her local YMCA.  Her first race was the 1997 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Wyoming.  Her favorite race is the Bay to Breakers 12k in San Francisco, CA, although she is also partial to the Bolder Boulder (Co) 10k.  She dabbled for a while in triathlons, but has stayed with running and has five marathons (Chicago, San Diego R&R, Ft. Collins Co., Atlanta, Boston) and 18 half marathons on her running resume.   Her most loyal fan, her mother, passed away in 2008 after a two year battle with Melanoma.  It was her Mother’s death that lead Mary Beth to run the 2009 Boston Marathon for the Melanoma Foundation of New England charity.

Booker T Orsley - Running from Cowpatties

Booker T Orsley is a familiar smiling face at races in the Athens and northeast Georgia area.  Booker was born and rasied eight miles from Hartwell, GA where his father farmed fifty acres.  His father supported the large family (step brother Melvin, brothers Alonzo, Don, John, and sister Marjorie) with crops of cotton and soybeans.  Booker attended school in Bowman and Hartwell, GA, where he graduated from Hart County High School in 1972. Booker studied classmate Lessie more than he did his other subjects and married her almost forty-one years ago.  Lessie ran track in school and can still chase Booker.  They built a home on his father’s land in 1974 where Booker now farms the same fifty acres that his father did so sucessfully.  Booker and his FamilyBooker, however, raises cattle and hay to feed the cattle.  Booker sells eighteen to twenty head a year at a stock yard near Martin, GA.  This has been a good year for cattle yielding Booker $2.35 a pound on the hoof for his prime cattle.  Booker recalls selling some less than prime cattle for as low as .26 cents a pound in leaner years.  He cultivated and bailed three hundred roll bales of hay to feed his cattle this last year.

Antoine, Booker and StephenNot content to simply breed cattle, Booker and Lessie raised two sons on the family land.  Stephen (age 40) works for Home Depot in the Atlanta area.  Stephen has one daughter Olivia, age nine.  Antoine (age 36) is a detention officer and personal trainer.  I have met Antoine at races and enveied his well defined muscular body.  Antione lives in the Hatwell area and has two children, son Chanz, age thirteen, and daughter Chyna, age four.  Booker recalls that Stephen was a good hundred yard dash runner in his prime.  Booker was proud of Antoine graduating from Ashford Univrsity in 2014 with a bachelors of arts degree in Sports and Recreation management.  Antoine can be found with his father at Athens area races and is very competative in his age group.

Booker enjoys vacations in Florida, weightlifting, running, and selling his cattle for a good price.  Booker has been running competatively since age twenty-two.  He does not run during the week like Bob Slowpants, but will put in a cool down Sunday morning run of seven to eight miles.  Amazing Booker’s best 5K PR was 19:45 in the 1988 Grante Bowl 5K in hilly and chilly Elberton, GA.  His PR for a 10K was 44:00 at a Hartwell Dam race in the 1980s. Favorite races are the Hartwell Dam Run 5K, Covington area races, and suprisingly the Brasstown Bald 5K. Booker has shunned half and full marathons.   Booker participated in thirty six races in 2014, which is more than his average twenty races that he has particiapted in in 2013 and other years.  Booker is more than competative for his age and seeks races where he does not have to compete with Rogerl Keel or Bo Ryles in the mens 60-64 age group.  Booker, like a lot of us,  admits to an involuntary hobby of collecting race shirts and has no idea how many shirts that he has on hand.  His preference is cotton shirts as opposed to tech shirts.  Booker admits that his adrenline gets going by lining up toward the front of the starting line after his pre race warm up.  Bob Slowpants warm up is pining his race number on his shirt.  When he can only acquire two pins as opposed to four, he doesn’t get a full warm up.     

 Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profile on attorney Mary Beth Forwood and  on radio personality Dan Shoaf.

Eva Allbritton - Saturday Delivery

On Easter Sunday morning in 1970, the angels opened up the heavens and Eva was born in Americus, Georgia and proved to be a remarkable survivor.  She was placed in foster care initially until her birth father could take her into his household.  Her father was coping with the responsibility of raising four other children and the financial strain proved too great, so Eva was placed for adoption.  Hilda and Woodrow Cooper lovingly adopted Eva and relocated her to the small rural community of Darby, Florida.  Eva as a toddlerEvenings were hot, muggy, and filled with music as David and Howard Bellamy, better known later as the hit country duo the Bellamy Brothers, lived across the road.  One of their biggest hits that Bob Slowpants remembers was “If you had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold it Against Me”.  Tragedy struck when her adopted mother Hilda passed away when Eva was age ten.  Eva graduated from nearby Pasco High School in 1988.

Eva married in 1989 and began a short career in retail, working at McDonalds, Wal-Mart and the Movie Gallery respectively.  Eva moved from one sweltering locale to another landing in Eastman, Georgia (years before the city fathers erected signage indicating that this was the hometown of Dr. Bo Ryles). Eva took care of her adopted father Woodrow, who was suffering from emphysema and passed away in 1997. That year marked the turning point in Eva’s life as she landed a job with the U.S. Postal Service as a part time postal clerk in greater Eastman. In 2004 Eva transferred to north Georgia seeking a full time opening with the Post Office.  Although technically part time, Eva worked forty hours a week by doing what was necessary to succeed by reporting for work at 3 AM.  Divorce in 2006 resulted in Eva settling in Woodstock, Georgia.  She was promoted to a supervisor position and has supervised in the Post Offices in Canton, Kennesaw, Smyrna, Woodstock, Rome and Cedartown.  Eva has also served as the Officer In Charge (fill in Post Master) at the Post Offices in Tate, Cave Spring, Lindale, Cedartown and Silver Creek.   

Eva and her bestie Ron LandenSeveral of Eva’s co-workers were into running and that peeked her interest in exercising.  Eva began to train by running as far as she could, then walking, then running again.  Her first foray into the sport was a 5K in North Carolina.  Inspired by not finishing last, she sought races closer to home but was limited by her work schedule to evening or holiday races.  She participated in the July 4^th 2009 Woodstock Freedom Run 5K achieving PR of 30:32. Eva quickly became part of the running family via introductions to other regulars by Tim Bagley and Rhonda Trainor.        

In June 2010 Eva placed first in her age group at the No Time for Pain 5K in Sandy Springs.  The race raised funds for endometrioses, a disease that Eva had suffered from in her early twenties.   In 2012 Eva started to experience discomfort in her chest when she ran.  Medical opinion was that she did not have any need to be concerned.  The discomfort continued when running turning to terrible pain in November 2012 at the Tribble Mill Run for Shelter 5K.  A cardiologist battery of tests revealed that Eva had a 95% to 99% blockage of a heart artery.  After surgically having a stint implanted into the blocked artery, her race time begin to return to what Eva considered a normal range for her.  Her post operative accomplishment was placing as the top female master in the October 2014 Run to the Center in Jeffersonville GA.  

Eva with David Eckles and Troy GarlandEva’s work schedule has progressed to where she does not have to work every weekend.  This has allowed her to assist Tim Bagley with his timing responsibilities for Classic Race Services.  This has cut into her race participation. Eva reflects that she “has made some wonderful friendships and met some amazing people” and assisting Tim allows her to keep up with the racing family.  Her goal is to promote the Black Bag Race Series and to earn a 2014 Clover Glove jacket.       

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Watch for the New Year’s profile on Athens runner Booker Orsley and on running barrister Mary Beth Forwood. 

Tom Skafidas - Running at the Mouth

Tom was born and raised in Western Illinois on the Mississippi River at Rock Island, Illinois and was the  third of five children.  His parents, Greek immigrants who are now ninety four and eighty eight years old, still reside in the same home where Tom grew up.  His parents were in the restaurant business for over fifty years.  Tom and one of his brothers worked in the restaurant washing dishes, busing tables, waiting on tables and ultimately learned to cook.  Between work in the family business and school, Tom’s early childhood had many Hunk Finn/Tom Sawyer moments, fishing and in river activities.

Tom and WifeTom graduated from Rock Island High School in 1970. He played football and baseball through the 10^th grade and concentrated on track and cross county his junior and senior years.  He matriculated at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana graduating in 1974. He then entered Dental School at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Edwardsville, Illinois earning a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree in 1977. His dental school years were funded by a U.S. Army Health Professions scholarship.  While in graduate school, Tom’s military rank progressed from Second Lieutenant to First Lieutenant. 

Tom’s military active duty career began at Fort Bragg, North Carolina with the 82^nd Airborne Corp where he was promoted to the rank of Captain.  He completed a general practice residency at Wommack Army Hospital and was thereafter assigned to the residency faculty and hospital staff.  Tom remained at Fort Bragg until 1980, leaving active duty after the death of his wife.

Tom's professional pictureTom practiced general dentistry in Winston Salem, North Carolina until June 1985 when he relocated to Atlanta for orthodontic training at Emory University.  Upon graduation he entered the practice of orthodontics in the Atlanta - Buckhead area where he still practices full time today.  Professionally, Tom is board certified by the American Board of Orthodontics and has served as President of the Georgia Association of Orthodontics and the College of Diplomats of the American Board of Orthodontics.  Tom has served as a part time instructor on the Orthodontic Department faculty at Emory and continues to teach board certification classes throughout the country.

Tom married Sylvia, his current wife of twenty-five years, in 1989.  They both enjoy running, traveling, and tennis (which Tom gave up due to a back injury).  The void of missing the Saturday morning ALTA matches has been partially filled by the Black Bag Race Series, Glover Glove Series and the Run and See Georgia Grand Prix series.  The series have allowed Tom to explore Georgia.  He currently runs five days a week to stay fit and participates in senior soft ball, hiking, and downhill skiing.  Tom, along with several Army and childhood friends, formed the “Mile High Flaming Yukon Jack Ski Club” that makes annual treks to great venues such as Jackson Hole, Big Sky, and Lake Louise.  One of the club participants is his eighty-two year old first Army boss and a retired colonel.   

Tom with his buddiesTom has “enjoyed meeting so many interesting people” participating in the running series.  He still misses Will Chamberlain exhorting “have a good race, have a safe race”, still the trademark of Classic Race Services events.  His favorite race is the Summers’ End in Winder and any other race that does not have too many hills.  Tom and his wife have run the Peachtree Road Race for many years.  Tom remarks that “PRs are a fond memory as all he is good for now is sled dogging i.e. if you are not the lead dog the view never changes”.  Tom has missed “seeing his friends” at the races the last few months as he has been recovering from a compound –complex fracture of his left wrist and forearm. Recently medically cleared to run again, he hopes to be back on a regular basis.

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Watch for the profile on going postal Eva Allbritton and the profile on Dewy Rose runner Booker T Orsley.