Born to Coach

Book excerpt: From tasting his own blood while running hard as a Notre Dame miler to producing the top US marathon legends in the epicenter of the running boom of the 1970s and into the 80s, Bill Squires not only survived being born with a misdiagnosed, potentially fatal, defective heart, but the latedeveloping skinny kid also amassed numerous track records as a collegiate All-American while struggling academically. As the first coach of the groundbreaking Greater Boston Track Club, Bill Squires was the key figure in the creation of the greatest generation of American distance runners. Coaching for years at all levels, it is with this vast accumulation of first-hand knowledge and experience that legendary Olympians and major marathon champions, such as Bill Rodgers, Greg Meyer, Dick Beardsley, wheelchair champ Bob Hall, and more, individually and with the GBTC dominated the landscape and set the pace for future generations via Bill's innovative race simulators and group-training techniques that are still used today. Proof of his determination and perseverance appeared early as he survived the physical and emotional childhood trauma and effects of a misdiagnosis that stunted his emotional and physical growth. He continually pushed himself through personal pain in competition and maturation; found his eventual athletic calling as a record-setting runner; and became the highly sought-after benevolent ambassador of running as a coach. Bill Squires is proof that you should never give up.