An interview with Jay Doyle (Class of 1975)

Jay Doyle, racing in 1973

This is a first. Today’s Pandemic Papers features a Marist Running alum – loyal, as always – from the Class of 1975. What’s unique for this interview series is that I’ve never met Jay Doyle. Every other Pandemic Papers interview has been with someone I have known, met and in almost all cases had coached in the past 30 years. Jay fits none of those descriptions, which is actually really cool because everything – everything! – in his responses is more or less new to me (while, in most cases, being very, very old). Jay and his wife Beth (both members of the Class of 1975) were in the process of organizing the 45^th reunion for this September, but that has understandably been put off until 2021. Jay describes a Marist College and a track/cross country culture that are so distant from the modern day. I think the words he used were “utilitarian” and “minimal” when talking about facilities at Marist back then – in some ways, this remains true (no track facility on campus) but in most other ways, “minimal” does not fit in modern-day Marist College.

Guys like Jay are important – vital – to the history and the retelling of this program’s roots. He was part of the early years of the Rich Stevens-led dynasty teams of the 1970s, teams that would achieve great things on the regional and national scale. But again, this was the 1970s. No athletic scholarships. Track and cross country was a small part that fit into the larger picture of a liberal arts education, and you get that vibe from Jay’s awesome answers. Like most every Marist alum, you also get a true sense that the Marist education meant a lot to them as the years wore on, much more than a fading piece of paper in a frame on the wall. It prepares you for the world and the rest of your life. As the value and meaning of a college and university education come under fire and face serious questions as this pandemic rages on, Jay’s story is important. It is vital. Much like our school and our program. Thanks to Jay for reaching deep into the recesses of his mind for this trip down memory lane.

I know it was a very long time ago -- almost 50 years! -- but tell us about how you chose Marist. What other schools were you considering? Were you recruited? How did you choose Marist over others?

Marist XC, circa 1971

I applied to a handful of mostly small liberal arts colleges in New Jersey and New York, with Marist on the list after I heard about it from a family member who mentioned they had a running team. I liked the campus, the Hudson Valley, and the religious roots of the school were also appealing. I was not recruited by any schools – was just another walk on.  After committing, I wrote a letter to the coach Len Olson and he put me in touch with an upperclassman on the team, and then I simply showed up for orientation. Communication during the application and decision process was slow via letters and snail mail, but it didn’t seem slow at the time. After unpacking into my first floor room at Leo, it was time to find the team contact, only he was nowhere to be found! After walking around campus for a day or two and asking other students, I was able to find him and asked about the team and practice. It soon became apparent this team was more a loose association of free spirits who happened to run (when they felt like it). Thankfully, Marty McGowan and Bob Solomon as juniors provided a core for the team to build upon and we took it up from there.

How and why did you start running in middle or high school and what are some of your high school running highlights?

There were no sports in grade school so starting out as a freshman at Red Bank Catholic HS in New Jersey heard about XC and that all you had to do was show up and run – no equipment or experience necessary.  Went on my first training run and didn’t make it a half mile before being winded and cramping.  Gradually got better and by spring track started to see results.  Did a 10:57 two mile as freshman in spring track and got down to a 9:42 senior year in a win at Christian Brothers Academy (CBA).  We had an excellent HS coach Jack Rafter who built upon early season long slow mileage and shifted to tough interval speed workouts on the track later in the season. Mixed in some fartlek type training as well.  We had some good teams and were competitive in our division every year.  Our local rivals included CBA, St. Rose, and others.  Senior year ran a 2:01 split in the two mile relay at Penn Relays, and finished second in the Parochial B two mile state championship. Of course, the really good runners of the era were in Parochial A – powerhouses like Essex Catholic and Roselle Catholic with runners like Mike Keogh and Joe Savage. In May 1971 went to Philly with a few teammates to see the Ryun-Liquori Dream Mile – had great seats right near the finish line. 

Talk about your time as a student-athlete at Marist. It was a long time ago. Who were your coaches, what are some of your racing highlights and fondest memories? 

Marist XC workout on campus, 1971

My first coach was Len Olson in XC freshman year, which was his final year of coaching. Rich Stevens arrived in my sophomore year and brought in his well-organized training framework and clear goals for building up the visibility and quality of the program. Was fortunate enough to enjoy a strong sophomore XC season despite the lack of summer training. Set my best XC times on our home course and at VC Park that year. Spring track sophomore year was lost due to an arm injury and I didn’t get to train much. Entered junior XC season in less than great shape, but we had some very strong freshman runners who were setting records right out of the gate - Fred Kolthay and Brian Costine. Team went undefeated that year with Fred and Brian leading the way. Tried the half mile in junior year spring track and did well with a personal best of 1:57.5 winning at Monmouth College (now University). We had some strong sprinters, jumpers, and throwers that year with Tim Murphy in the 100, long jump and high jump, Peter Van Aken in the throwing, and others.  Some of their records may still stand (Editor’s note: THEY DO!). 

Fond memories are the weekend long runs to Vanderbilt Mansion, around the grounds and back, or along wooded trails between campus and CIA, or the grounds of the state hospital up the road. Enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of early fall in the Hudson Valley during an up-tempo run when everything was clicking. Then there was the training run across the Mid-Hudson bridge and through the woods to the rail bridge and thinking “why not”, and proceeding to run across it back to Poughkeepsie keeping an eye out for a possible train while avoiding holes in the flimsy walkway. Halfway across we’re wondering if we would ever reach land and hoping the police weren’t waiting for us on other side. Was a thrill to be there 36 years later for the opening of the Walkway over the Hudson in October 2009.

Tell us about the day-to-day of being an athlete at Marist back in the 1970s. How and where did you train? What type of workouts did you do? What type of mileage did you do? How frequently did you race and where did you race?

Training mileage was relatively low – perhaps 40 miles per week at peak early in the season. Didn’t work out much between seasons. Would ramp up the training miles too quickly and get shin splints or other injuries. When I heard later about the really great Marist runners putting in 500 to 1,000 miles over the summer, my jaw sort of dropped. It did drive home the point that the season itself should be about sharpening the running and racing skills on a foundation of endurance that is built off-season. Athletic facilities were minimal. But none of that really mattered because all you had to do was lace up and hit the roads or trails. As mentioned above, there were the long weekend training runs, and we also did some warm-ups and sprints on a field across from the chapel. As I recall, we also did some speed work occasionally at a local high school track. We had dual, triangular, and quadrangular meets with some on our home course and others away in Connecticut, New Jersey and downstate. Ran Van Cortlandt two or three times. 

What was your major at Marist? Tell us about your educational experience. What were the classes like back then and were most of the classes taught by Marist Brothers?

Political science was my major plus several economics classes. I also really enjoyed sampling the liberal arts courses from philosophy to English. My professors inspired me to study hard and I surprised myself by stepping up the academics as time went on. Completed an internship senior year working with the City Planning Department in Poughkeepsie, which got me thinking about that as a career. Most of my classes were in Donnelly Hall, which was the only academic building on campus that I recall other than computer science with the old mainframe tapes and keypunch. There were several Marist Brothers still teaching then, but none of my classes were with them.  Linus Foy was president of Marist and I recall the great respect and admiration that the students and faculty had for him at the time, and all he had done to advance the college. As alumni, Beth and I are also very grateful to president Dennis Murray for all that he and his leadership team, faculty, and staff have done to continuously improve the academics, campus, and student life there. As a PolySci major my hat’s off to the Marist Poll and what it has accomplished as well. We have always been proud to have graduated from Marist because of the strong academic foundation it provided, which positioned us for later success in life and our respective careers. 

Marist obviously holds a special place for you because you and your wife were both in the Class of 1975. Tell us about that, how long have you been married, how many children (grandchilden?) do you have and where you are living currently?

Jay and Beth, 1986

First met Beth when she and I were freshmen. She was dating the roommate of our team co-captain Bob Solomon at the time. We were introduced briefly but didn’t really notice each other again until two years later. She was an environmental science major and we didn’t have any common classes. She worked in the cafeteria part time between classes and her extracurricular was mainly Children’s Theater. We started dating winter of junior year and it gradually become more serious. Our first dinner date was at the Milanese Restaurant on Main Street. I was and remain very lucky to have met such an incredibly bright, supportive, and energetic soulmate – another reason Marist is such a special place for us. With no real jobs in hand upon graduation, we announced our engagement nonetheless and got married in October 1975. It took a while, but it all worked out for the best. We have three wonderful grown sons, with one married and no grandchildren (yet), and will be in celebrating our 45^th anniversary this fall. 

Tell us about your post-Marist career. What and where has your career path taken you and what is your current employment status?

After a couple of years working hard in jobs that lacked a real career path, we started looking around for a graduate school that had the degrees we wanted at a price we could afford. The Ohio State University had City and Regional Planning for me and Environmental Science for Beth and under the work-study program we had free tuition and earned enough to get by. Upon graduating, I took a transportation planner job at Ohio DOT, rose in the ranks over the years, shifted to consulting work for Kaiser Engineers, Earth Tech, and now AECOM, where I’ve been fortunate to have been part of major infrastructure projects over the years including Conrail privatization, Boston Harbor Cleanup, All Electronic Tolling, and a variety of new intercity and commuter rail and transit systems. I’m currently working full time leading the Transportation Planning, Traffic and ITS Groups for AECOM in Massachusetts. Beth left environmental science for the computer industry shortly after graduate school and is a Higher Ed Account Manager with Apple.

You told us that early on in this pandemic, you were sick with the Coronavirus. Tell us about that experience. What were your symptoms like, when did you test positive and how long did it take you to recover? We hope you are back to 100 percent!

In mid-March, I developed a slight fever and significant body aches and chills with a dry cough. No shortness of breath. Self-quarantined, got tested and four days later results came back positive for COVID19.  Fortunately, it was a mild case and other than afternoon fatigue that lasted a several weeks there were no lingering problems.  Never had to go back to the doctor and no one else in family has had any symptoms. I’ve been biking and working out again and have an appointment to donate plasma June 1. We are so thankful to all the first-line health care workers who have been battling this pandemic every day, many of who were profiled earlier in these blog posts. Thank you all for what you do to protect the public’s health.

Talk about your post-Marist running career. You graduated right when the "running boom" was starting. Did you keep running? If so, did you race a lot, do a lot of marathons? Are you still running and racing?

Cape Cod Marathon, 1991

Yes, running had a high public profile back in the early and mid-70s.  I mentioned seeing the Dream Mile race in 1971.  We also got to experience the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Beth and I got to see several exciting finals races, including the 400, 800, 1500, marathon, and decathlon. Another inspiration was Bill Koch of Vermont winning the silver medal in XC skiing in the Winter Olympics that same year (back then the winter and summer Games were held same year). We decided to try the sport starting with classic and eventually transitioning to skate style. While in Ohio, we completed a number of endurance events including two double century bike rides (Tour of Scioto River Valley) and our first American Birkebeiner 50k XC ski event in Wisconsin. We moved to the Boston area in 1985 and completed another Birkebeiner the next year. Took a couple of years off before I started thinking about running the marathon. 

We lived in Ashland at the time, which is located along the course, and had watched a couple of the races. I decided to run unofficially in 1990, so started training on January 1^st that year, ran in the dark after work and met my goal of breaking three hours with a 2:56. Ran more that summer and officially entered Cape Cod Marathon and finished in 2:46.  Set goal for a 2:36 the following year but got hurt and struggled to finish with a 3:02. Since then, we do fundraising bike rides such as the 50-mile PanMass and 40-mile Five Boro Ride in NYC every year or two. Ten years ago, started thinking about running another marathon, but a few months into training an L5/S1 herniated disc put an end to that. This led to rediscovering the low-G joys of XC skiing.  Learned about the Engadin 42k Skimarathon and decided to train.  Completed Engadin in 2013, 2016, 2018 and was set to complete it this year when it got cancelled due to COVID. We kept to our plans and skied and completed the near empty course unofficially, and hope to be back again next year or in 2022.

You and your wife were part of the planning for the 45th reunion this fall at Marist but that's not happening now. What was the thought process in postponing it and how was it going before you decided to curtail plans? 

Jay and Beth, 2015

Our planning committee started having conference calls before the pandemic and had secured the Cornell Boathouse and were drawing up contact lists and brainstorming ideas when the situation changed. Given the risk factors associated with our demographic, the committee unanimously voted to postpone the 45th class reunion, regardless of whether there is a Homecoming Weekend in 2020 or not. We want to have a strong turnout for our event and that just won’t be possible in 2020 given the uncertainties. As alum, we have been trying to generate support for the emergency fund to help returning students this fall.

When was the last time you have been back on campus? It's a lot different than when you were a student here! Describe to current students what the Marist campus was like when you were a student.

Campus was very compact then and facilities were utilitarian, which in some ways drew the students close together.  There was a bit of a DIY communal attitude, which was exciting. There weren’t that many of us compared to enrollment today. Theater was popular (including Children’s Theater which Beth was in) and the theater crowd threw the best parties. We had a Ratskeller in basement of student center that hosted various beverage promotional nights but much of social life was in the dorms and local bars (Frank’s, Pick and Shovel, Caboose, Derby, etc...). On-campus acts and speakers of the time included Chubby Checker, Seals and Crofts, William Kunstler, and others.

How have you and your family managed the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown? Where do you see our country in the short- and long-term future with this?

Beth and I are fortunate that we can work remotely in our jobs, which we have continued to do throughout the shutdowns. Back in March when I was in quarantine, it was a challenge to stay in different areas of the house for two-plus weeks, but other than that we continue to adjust to the new normal. We miss visiting relatives in New Jersey and are hoping to get down there again at some point. Miss running the boardwalk Asbury to Spring Lake. Shout out to that Marist grad who won the Spring Lake Five – super impressive and a big deal. Well done!!

Our graduating seniors lost out on the final two-plus months of their college careers. What message can you send them and how would you have felt if that happened to you? 

Cherish the on-campus memories that preceded the pandemic and hang in there – there will be a well-deserved celebration of your accomplishments when the time is right and you can truly enjoy it. You worked hard to get into Marist and to get to this point, so you know a few things about delayed gratification. Consider this your latest challenge to overcome.   

Anything else you'd like to add ...

Finally, a big thank you Pete for your great coaching of the Marist XC and track teams for 25+ years!  As impressive as the times and records are, it’s the character and life accomplishments of your former runners that really stand out.  

Jay and Beth, 2018