Kathrine Switzer was a junior at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications when she became the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, in 1967. The athlete, author and social advocate delivered Syracuse University’s 164th commencement address Sunday morning, 51 years later.

Switzer, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony, spoke to the Class of 2018 about inclusion, finding talent and discovering inspiration in unlikely sources. She called commencement an “awakening” and reflected on some awakenings of her own.

Switzer told the audience that the seemingly least likely people or least significant moments can sometimes change the course of their lives. If graduates were able to recognize that, she said, they could change their own lives and the lives of people around them.

“It’s not the moment itself that matters so much. It’s what you do with it,” she said.

Switzer said during her speech that when she completed the first of many marathons in 1967, she realized she wasn’t special. She was simply one of many people with talent, she said.

She told the Class of 2018 that talent is everywhere — it only needs an opportunity. She knew her life’s goal was to create those opportunities, she said, and to change women’s lives.

At a time when there were no women’s intercollegiate sports, Switzer ran with the men’s cross country team at SU. Her running partner was Arnie Briggs, a blue-collar postal worker who used his free time to train for marathons with the team.

She said he was the least likely source of inspiration but her most influential teacher. He was the one who insisted she register for the 1967 marathon, she said. Switzer dedicated Sunday’s speech in his memory.

During that race, Switzer was attacked mid-stride. An official tried to rip her bib off when he saw she was a woman. She recalled feeling scared and humiliated.

“I knew I had to finish that marathon or no one would believe that women had the capability and deserved inclusion,” she said.

That decision changed everything for her and the public, she said. As the race continued, she realized that the official who attacked her was simply a product of his time, she added.

Her awakening moment was when she realized other women were just as afraid of these limitations as men were. Her destiny, she said, was simply to finish the race.

This decision both radicalized and inspired Switzer, she said. After her years at SU, Switzer went on to build careers in both sports marketing and sports broadcasting, which she used to help foster inclusion for women. And she said her SU degree put her “head and shoulders above others” as she built her careers.

Many people won’t have the opportunities that the Class of 2018 has, she said. She encouraged graduates to not only be thankful, but to also realize their obligation to pay it forward.

“Think of ways you can bring about positive change and advancement for the world good,” she said.

She gave the example of creating athletic activities that utilize women’s strengths, which she said graduates of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics are especially poised to do. But it doesn’t just have to be in athletics, she said.

“Running gives us an example of inclusiveness, diversity, respect and peace that we need now more than ever,” Switzer said. “If it works for running, it will work for everything else.”

Today, 58 percent of runners in the United States and Canada are women, Switzer said. When Switzer ran the Boston Marathon in 2017, on the 50th anniversary of her first race, she said that 12,000 other women were running too, with official running bibs.

She called this “nothing short of a social revolution.”

Switzer said her relationship with Briggs is a metaphor for what can happen when people work, strive and create together.

“You have a world waiting for you,” Switzer told the Class of 2018. “Be fearless.”

Published on May 13, 2018 at 4:08 pm

Contact Colleen: cefergus@syr.edu | @ColleenEFergus2