Anything for A T-Shirt: Fred LeBow and the New York City Marathon, the World's Greatest Footrace (Sports and Entertainment) [Paperback]

Ron Rubin (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sports and Entertainment | Publication Date: October 2004

"Fred Lebow was a dreamer, the kind of dreamer who pursued his dream and made it a reality. And the world is still reaping the rewards." So begins this uplifting chronicle of a humbly born Holocaust survivor who parlayed natural marketing smarts - and a vision - into a major position in recent American sports. He started the New York City Marathon, an event that transformed footracing from an elite, austere sport into a wildly applauded, attainable pursuit.

Forging a path across the city's five boroughs, the Marathon covers a daunting 26.2-mile course. Ron Rubin's fascinating book tells how Lebow popularized the race. With a stroke of marketing wizardry he turned it into the world's largest block party: a gritty mix of urban theater and kindly entrepreneurship. It honored the spirit of the moment, imbued competition with joy, and celebrated play. In so doing, it put winning within the realm of every man and woman became a race for all runners. Lebow mainstreamed the notion of marathoning into popular culture; some half million Americans now run marathons. Finally, the book describes how Lebow scored his greatest personal victory by racing in the marathon he had created even after being diagnosed with brain cancer.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ron Rubin is professor of political science at Borough of Manhattan Community College. He is the author of several books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815608063
• ISBN-13: 978-0815608066
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From One Who Knew Fred Lebow Well, December 2, 2004

By 

Dick Traum, Founder, Achilles Track Club - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anything for A T-Shirt: Fred LeBow and the New York City Marathon, the World's Greatest Footrace (Sports and Entertainment) (Paperback)

"ANYTHING for a T-Shirt" captures Fred's character as an artist might do with a brush and paint. While describing Fred's life, the author delves into his motivation and goals. He skillfully shows how Fred Lebow, an immigrant from Romania, progresses to developing the most exciting mass participation sporting event in the world.

If you run, read this book! This is the best book ever written on Fred Lebow and marathon running.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars editor, please!, November 12, 2006

By 

M Mealand (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anything for A T-Shirt: Fred LeBow and the New York City Marathon, the World's Greatest Footrace (Sports and Entertainment) (Paperback)

While the subject is quiet interesting, the book is poorly written and edited. The author keeps on repeating himself over and over and over and over again. And again. One is reminded of college papers where a student is stretching a 2 page point over 10 pages to fulfill the length requirement, constantly restating the same thought with synonymous nouns and adjectives. Could have been a much more fun 150 page read with some good editing, or a great 10 page New Yorker article. The book does improve in the second half.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the Editor, November 18, 2004

By 

Peri of PERIodicals - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anything for A T-Shirt: Fred LeBow and the New York City Marathon, the World's Greatest Footrace (Sports and Entertainment) (Paperback)

I got to "meet" Fred Lebow and learn about his creation of the New York City Marathon and his impact on the world of distance running while working with author Ron Rubin's extensive material. "Fred Lebow was a dreamer...the kind of dreamer who pursued his dream and made it a reality. And today, more than thirty years later, the world is still reaping the rewards of his vision and hard work.... Fred Lebow's life was [truly] a story just waiting--and deserving--to be told." -- From the book's Preface.

Exactly what Fred's vision was and how he worked to bring it to fruition--the history of the marathoning culture as we know it today--is developed in the first 11 chapters of the book.

> According to KATHRINE SWITZER, who knew Lebow well:
"Lebow's lifetime creation, the New York City Marathon, parallels his life story, and nobody's told it better than Ron Rubin in 'Anything for a T-Shirt...'. Rubin shows us how this modest but complex man, who was himself exhilarated with the transforming effects of fitness, took an obscure footrace and turned it into an extravagant festival that brought joy to the world's most glamorous and competitive city and attracted millions of everyday people to distance running. It is a case study in sports marketing, event management and psychology..."

The remainder of the book is dedicated to the heartwarming story of Lebow's struggle with cancer and his momentous first running of his own marathon in 1992 -- a cancer survivor accompanied by a host of friends led by Grete Waitz.

> SWITZER's review of these final chapters states:
"The book's climax is superb, reeling the reader up very dramatically, day by day, then mile by mile. Rubin pulls no punches as to how Fishl-the name I always called him and the one he would return to before he died-ran in his own creation for the first time, between bouts with the brain cancer that eventually took him from us, on guts and will. 'Anything' paints a vivid picture of Lebow's inherent survival determination, heard from a dozen concerned voices in his entourage. While the whole book is well-written, this chapter is dazzling."

As Dick Traum wrote in his amazon review, "If you run, read this book!" As a non-runner who had never heard of Fred Lebow before working with the book, I can add:

"EVEN IF YOU DON'T RUN, read this book." I came to know both Fred & Fishl through the eyes of the 120-plus people Dr. Rubin interviewed and the numerous authors of articles and stories written during Lebow's illustrious life and in his memory. His life is an uplifting story of hope and inspiration.

Everything I've heard so far indicates that this book is truly the inspiring, motivating & heartwarming tribute to Fred Lebow that Ron Rubin set out to create. A relatively non-athletic, academic-type university professor, Rubin is himself one of the millions of middle- and back-of-the-pack runners who would have never considered attempting a marathon had it not been for Lebow's "creation." He wound up running NY six times!

I look forward to reading what YOU think -- about my review and about the book!