Greg Salamone: 1979-2014

The heart of a true champion, a warrior, never dies. It lives on in the memories of all the men and women it touched. This morning, a runner’s heart stopped beating, his soul sent to Our Lord well before it should have been. Greg Salamone -- a loyal Marist Running Alum, a school-record holder, a warrior on the cross country course, one of the greatest student-athletes I ever coached, and most importantly a dear friend – died this morning after a brief, intense battle with brain cancer. Greg was 35 years old.

Many readers of this blog did not know Greg or just knew of him as one of our former great runners. I wish you could have seen him run. He was all heart. He was rail thin, 5-9, 112 pounds, arms and legs like twigs, bespectacled in glasses, arms all bunched up, not the smoothest form in the world. Competitors and rival coaches would see him and often think, “who’s the eighth grader on the Marist team?” Then, our nerdy looking runner would go out and shit-stomp most of them. Among the toughest runners we’ve ever had.

He took that toughness to the final battle of his life, the melanoma that spread to his brain and stole him away from us so quickly and so soon. Greg stayed in touch frequently throughout his illness, as he had throughout his entire post-graduate years. Never a more loyal alum, Greg kept coming to our meets, long after his teammates and close friends had graduated. He never missed an XC meet at Vanny, near where he lived in Marble Hill. And he was at the Armory back in February to check in

Greg stopping by the Armory, just a few days after brain surgery

and watch the team at the MAAC meet, just a couple days after he had brain surgery. Let that sink in for a few seconds, and you’ll realize what he has meant to us. He still had staples in his head, and he was there to see us and watch the team.

Greg was a great runner and a great student, and he was the quintessential wiseass. Sarcasm was his primary realm. But as he (we) grew older, our friendship matured into a more, well, mature partnership. The sarcasm faded and the true feelings came out. A few lines I saved from emails over the past few months, as he dealt with the suddenness of this illness:

“Running gave me mental toughness that is getting me through this. So, I am grateful for you giving me that.”

“We always had a date for a cross country meet, or I have deadlines at work.  This is different, but the same.  For me, I am just trying to be positive and do what I need to do.  I want to be myself, and I'm sure I'll grow more from this.’’

There is so much more for me to say and write about Greg Salamone. I will pay homage to him through this blog, of which he was a huge fan. For those of you that never knew Greg, please allow me the catharsis of writing about my memories of him in the coming weeks. I have so many to share and to record. It would have been much better to do it over a beer (oh wait, Greg never drank) after the Fox Trot. But I know Greg would approve of my blog posts. He always did.

For those interested in the services and arrangements, here is the link. As he did in the red and white from 1997 through 2001, Greg reached the finish line this morning with honor and with toughness.