Jim Latimer - Old Faithful

Jim was born in Gainesville, GA in 1941 and matriculated in Gainesville from elementary through high school.  Jim’s parents divorced when he was fourteen years of age and his sibling brother was eleven. Jim voluntarily worked after school at a local grocery store to aid with his mother’s finances, thus depriving himself of sports activities. However, Jim was able to go to “all the good parties after work”.  After high school Jim worked to save for college but was never able to attend. Jim in High School

In 1961, Jim met his future bride Diana while working at Warren-Featherstone Company.  They married in 1962. November will mark the fiftieth anniversary of Jim and wife Diana’s marriage.  Few of us can boast of such consistency.  In 1963 Jim went to work for General Motors in Doraville on the assembly line until 1966. Jim moved from GM to United Parcel Service where he dressed in brown from 1966 to 1969.  Jim left UPS to work for North Georgia Supply Co where he toiled for seven years learning the commercial pipe and valve business from the inside sales counter, as an outside salesperson and a store manager until 1976.  Jim, tired of laying pipe for someone else, transitioned, with his wife, into their own pipe dream business for themselves starting Industrial Pipe and Supply Co, Inc. where they sold pipe and valves.   Jim’s standing in the community and business acumen was recognized with his appointment to Community Board of Directors of United Community Bank, Inc. Jim and Diana

 In 1964 Jim and Lisa hatched a daughter Lisa and 1965 a son Chris. During his children’s high school years, Jim was involved with the Gainesville High School Booster and Band clubs.  Jim is still involved with the same organizations as he has three grandson’s from daughter Lisa and three granddaughters from son Chris.  Jim’s business is truly a family enterprise as wife Diana, son Chris, daughter Lisa works at the firm along with two grandsons and one granddaughter. Industrial Pipe and Supply will remain a family business.   Jim, after thirty-six years in business, is in the process of transferring the ownership to his son and daughter. Jim after a fall at the Blake Gammill 5K

Jim discovered running for points when he was sixty and has been a consistent participant in races north and east of Atlanta.  All of the age 65-69 runners, including Bob Slowpants, were excited when Jim turned seventy and entered a different age group this year.  Jim must be excited too as he is “going all out” to win his age group in the Black Bag Race Series, Clover Glove Series and the Run and See Georiga Grand Prix series (the old fart triple crown).  Jim and Tim Bagley from Classic Race ServicesCurrently Jim is in a heads up battle with Bo Ryles for the Overall Championship in the Black Bag Race Series and the Clover Glove Series.  Jim remarked that he likes “to get out there and run even though I am not that fast. I like to see everybody and get to talk to them and see what is going on. We have a lot of people running who really like each other”.  Jim’s best 5K time was 27:10 in the Faith Run in Watkinsville and his best 10K time is 1:03 in the Marigold 10K in Winterville. His favorite run is the Autumn Breeze 5K course at Tallulah Gorge for the scenic course.   Jim finishing the Summers End races

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Look for the October profile on prolific runner Tina Hunt and November on Bo Ryles mentor UGA’s Mel Garber. 

David Eckles - Professor of Running

David was born in June of 1975 in a little town located in Dodge County by the name of Eastman, Georgia, (obviously a hotbed of Clover Glove running talent from that area of the state).  David’s father was the principal of Dodge County High School until 1982, that is when David’s father accepted a position as the principal of Thomasville High School and the family was relocated to Thomasville, Georgia.  As a youth, David recalls his initial foray into running by participating in the “fun run” at the Rose City Run.  Quite the athlete, while attending Thomasville High, he earned varsity letters in tennis and soccer.  He also excelled academically in mathematics, earning a Hope Scholarship.

Utilizing his scholarship, David began his freshman year in Athens at the University of Georgia electing a concentration in Actuarial Science.  David entered UGA’s Terry College of Business Risk Management and Insurance program, only to find the concentration discontinued the following academic year.  Fortunately for students at UGA, David was lazy enough NOT to change his major.  David applied his academic background to practical experience with an internship with the Risk Management Department of Gold Kist during the Olympic Games held 1996.  While attending UGA, David ran a handful of races in the Athens area.  He can remember filling out finish cards, so odds are they were Classic Race Services races run by CRS founder, Will Chamberlin.

After David graduated, he remained in Athens for a year to strengthen his mathematical and statistical background.  He then headed north to attend the University of Pennsylvania graduate school studying Risk Management and Insurance.  While there, David spent free time playing graduate pick up basketball.  On a lark in 1999, David and other graduate students participated in the Philadelphia Distance Run, now known as the Philadelphia Rock N Roll Marathon.  He finished his race in 2:23:41.  The distractions of dissertation and basketball assured that running was not a priority until the last year of graduate school.  As a result, David earned a MA and PHD degrees from his studies, a broken nose from basketball and put on some unwanted pounds.

David began running more and was up to three miles a day when he accepted a position as an Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia.  He primarily taught Risk Management and Insurance in the Department of Finance and Quantitative Analysis.  After two years of running, professoring and gnats in Statesboro, David came back to UGA in the fall of 2005 as an Assistant Professor of Risk Management and Insurance in the Terry College of Business.  David began running with his friend Brian Parker.  Until 2007, David had only participated in no more than one race a weekend.  He set a goal of running more race in a day, multiple races a weekend and varied distances.

David admits to being a little off his top form but is one of fastest “fat guys” around.  With a PR of 19:59 set at the Bostwick Gin Run 5K, a 42:24 at the Charles Harris 10K and completing two full marathons, the fastest being 3:36:52 at the Albany Snicker Marathon, David certainly has accomplished more than most.  His favorite award is one that was won when he returned to his childhood run, the Thomasville Rose Run.  David has no intention of slowing down in the number of races he runs.  He enjoys “attending races around the state with all my running friends”.  His new goal is to, as he puts it, “eventually catch up with a couple of old guys, who shall remain nameless, who regularly beat me”.

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Look for future profiles on Brenda Gail Wall, Bub Way and Adrian Woodruff.

Running Survivor - Barbara Conley

Barbara ConleyBarbara Conley was born in May 1944 in Potsdam, Germany while her father was fighting for the Third Reich on the eastern front in mother Russia.  The family lived in Berlin, but relocated for a time to Potsdam due to the heavy Allied bombing raids. Barbara grew up in the late 40s and early 50s playing in the rubble of bombed out apartment buildings and balancing on beams of bombed out bridges. Due to the presence of dangerous, unexploded munitions left from Allied shelling, the police would report the children to their parents for playing in the rubble, where they made little caves and dungeons.

Barbara was fond of and excelled in school, especially athletics such as track and field (javelin throw and shot put included) and was on her high school swim team.  She matriculated in a three year technical college, majoring in accounting and economics.  She found herself with a position working for the Berlin city government in the family services office for a reform school for boys.  Barbara and JimIn 1964 she met and married her husband of forty-seven years, Jim, an American soldier from the mountains of NC.  They migrated to the United States in 1967, settling in Georgia.  They have two children, Bobby (age 46) and Patty (age 44), and several grandchildren.  For the next 30 years, Barbara concentrated on raising her children and maintaining a career with Lanier Business Products as a contract administrator.  She retired in 2005 after thirty-two years with the company.  Although an athlete in her youth, exercise was not in her lifestyle until her children were grown.Barbara's Family

Barbara gave up smoking in 1993 and began nightly walks that evolved into short runs from light post to light post or tree to tree. In 1997 Barbara was persuaded to participate on a Lanier Business Products company team that entered the Corporate Challenge 3.5 mile walk/run in Atlanta. She enjoyed the venture and began to participate in nearby 5K races with friends.  By chance, she picked up a Georgia Runner magazine and was surprised to see herself listed in her age group….with points for the races in which she had participated.  She made friends among the running circuit and began to look forward to Saturday morning races.  After four years of running 5K  races, Barbara ventured into marathons, marveling at the participation of Kathy Givens and Anne Patrick in the Ronald Reagan Marathon (the last full marathon at the Ronald Reagan in 2001). Her first marathon was the Museum of Aviation Marathon at Warner Robbins AFB in 2002, followed by one in her native Berlin, Germany, the Nashville Country Music Marathon, the New York City Marathon, another in Washington, DC and in the Atlanta Marathon twice.  She experienced extreme pain in her lower stomach the last six miles of her last Atlanta Marathon in March 2008 that continued when she participated in the Sweetwater Park (Douglasville) Cross Country Half Marathon.

This led Barbara to seek medical attention.  Tests led to a diagnosis of stage three ovarian cancer that had spread to her colon and liver.  Barbara was shocked, as she had no family history of cancer or illness.  Barbara underwent a series of surgeries in May 2008, where attending physicians concurred that she would not have survived had her body not been in such good shape. Nevertheless, she lost forty pounds during this period.  Barbara was encouraged to run again after six months of chemo treatment and did so, almost regaining her pre-cancer stride, only to have the disease resurface in April 2010.  The second round of surgeries, chemo, and hair-loss proved a more difficult recovery.  Barbara still participates running events and has been “overwhelmed” with friends who always wish her well.  Barbara undergoes maintenance chemo treatments every three weeks and appreciates life more than most of us.  She treasures the memories of her seven marathons and twenty-six half marathons, although she knows doing another half is a distant dream.

Bob checking out, from the back of the pack.  Look for the March profile on Athens high achiever David Eckles and the April profile on south Georgia race promoter, Brenda Gail Wall.

Profile on Daryle Worley

Daryle Worley was born on 08 December 1931 in Baltimore, Maryland.  His parents relocated to Richmond, Virginia where Daryle attended public school, graduating from Thomas Jefferson High.  Daryle excelled in extracurricular activities such as track and tennis. Darlye played cornet in the band for four years.  This was his real passion.  In 1955, Darlye graduated from Toccoa Falls College located in Toccoa GA.  That is where he earned his BA in Religious Education. Never a wallflower, Daryle played basketball, fast pitch softball and was student director.  He was also the soloist for the college concert choir.  His education continued, earning a B.M. in voice performance in 1959 at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).  While there,  Daryle was a soloist with the concert choir, student director of the Madrigal Singers and a member of the university opera workshop.  His career as a professional student culminated with earning a M.M. degree from VCU in voice performance with a minor in Pedagogy in 1960.

Daryle’s career as an educator began as a faculty member at Toccoa Falls College with vocal/choral responsibilities.  Daryle thought briefly about securing a PH.D. until he learned that in Toccoa, GA that stood for post hole digger. Daryle accepted a position on the music faculty at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee where he remained from 1963 to 1968, directing the college concert choir and Madrigal Singers.  Daryle moved to Harrogate, Tennessee in 1968, accepting a position at Lincoln Memorial University as voice choral professor.  Daryle organized concert tours for the school concert choir and produced oratorio as well as opera performances. Ever the singing gypsy, Daryle accepted a position as voice choral instructor at Cedarville College in Cedarville, Ohio where he directed the Oratorio Chorus and Orchestra.  Seeking a challenge, Daryle organized a music department at the nearby private six-year Christian Academy in nearby Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. There his duties included directing the concert choir, the chamber singers and the high school and middle school concert bands. His academic career concluded with a fifteen year stint as vocal choir instructor at Toccoa Falls College, where he directed concert choir, chamber singers, ladies ensemble and oratorio chorus.  Daryle taught private voice at each of the colleges where he served on the faculty.     

For over forty years, Daryle’s accomplishments included serving as minister of music at various churches in the communities where he taught.  He presently is a member of the Chancel Choir at First Baptist Church of Toccoa.  Daryle finds time to sing in an audition chorus which rehearses in Clemson, South Carolina.  Daryle has performed for three state governors and with three civic opera societies. His most sterling accomplishment is siring two children, a daughter and son, with his wife Lois of fifty-four years (a volunteer at many race finish areas).  Their daughter is an RN married to a physician.  They have five children, three of whom are runners.  The lone great grandson, a super addition to the family, is the son of their daughter’s oldest son and is, in Daryle’s opinion, “an impressive runner.”  Daryle and Lois’s son is a pastor in Illinois who has four children.  Daryle III is also an accomplished cross country runner and track performer.  Takes one to know one!

Daryle started running in 1968 when he “could not see his feet” at over two hundred pounds. Daryle acknowledges that he is not very fast now but true to his life, “faithful.”  He still has a brisk pace for a man ten years younger (I ought to know).  Daryle credits the running family with keeping him active.  He is also competitive, being one of the top point achievers for his age group six of the previous eight years.  Daryle is so low key few of the running communities usual suspects know his pedigree and all of us hope we can perform as well as Daryle at age eighty!

Bob, checking out from the back of the pack.  Look for the February profile on cancer survivor Barbara Conley and in March on one of UGA’s staff’s top dawg, David Eckles.

Update on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 at 6:01PM by Tim

This was the first runner profile that BBRS posted from Bob Slowpants.  We are saddened that Mr. Worley crossed this earthly finish line into heaven this past Monday 5/18/15.  Since this profile was published, Daryle set the Georgia State Record for his age group at the Santa Stroll in 2012.  We will miss seeing him at our races and our prayers are with Lois and his family.