' Suddenly, some things made sense about Frank. As his friend Dick Beardsley said after Shorter opened up to the group at the Boys and Girls Town gathering:

After I finished the book, I realized that what I was sensing wasn't arrogance at all. While reading the book, I noted what felt like a sense of arrogance as Shorter told his story. Instead of the usual motivational speech he was accustomed to, he shared the story of his boyhood. He looked at the kids in the crowd and felt a connection. Shorter, along with Dick Beardsley and Bill Bowerman, were asked to give a motivational type of talk to the kids. It wasn't until a visit to Boys and Girls Town, a charity that he was racing for, that his personal story came out. The doping at that time was epic, and it wasn't just limited to running.Īlthough he had a big role in the fight against illegal doping, Frank Shorter would rather be known for what he did on the track. I grew up in the 1970s, and I remember those East German athletes, particularly the females, as being pretty scary. The gold medalist in that 1976 race, a formerly unknown East German runner, later was accused of doping, along with many other athletes from that era.

It was that silver medal that prompted Shorter to become involved in a campaign to oust doping in long distance running. Shorter took gold in the 1972 Olympic marathon and silver in 1976. While Shorter only alludes to the difficult lives his siblings have had, his life was changed because he could run. No one would have believed him if he would have shared the epic violence that went on the home. Sam, as Shorter refers to him, was the beloved family doctor in the town where Shorter grew up.

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