Hugh Jessup has made travel arrangements for Manny Pino to come to Boston to compete in this year’s Boston Marathon. Manny is the program director for Wings of America, a group that promotes running among young Native Americans. Hugh says he has always been fascinated by Native American spirituality and culture. He became aware of the Wings organization last summer while reading an article in the New York Times called “Indians Revive a Running Tradition.” It described the work of Wings to use running as a way to help young Native Americans rediscover their heritage, improve their life styles, and achieve at state- and national-level competition, following in the footsteps, so to speak, of Jim Thorpe at the 1912 Olympics. Hugh says, “Personally, I’d enjoy learning more from these runners, who describe running as `a living cord between the earth and the sky.’”
Hugh announced plans for Manny’s visit to Boston with the following email message:
“Due to your generosity, and as part of our celebration of GBTC’s 25th anniversary, Manny Pino will be running the Boston Marathon this year. He will arrive on Thursday, April 15, and will join us for a brief run at MIT (7:00 pm) followed by a reception at the Muddy Charles. On Friday, Manny will be speaking at a number of places to promote Wings of America. I also hope to organize another opportunity for Manny to meet you at the expo on Saturday afternoon. Maybe we could all pick up our numbers at the same time. On Sunday morning, Manny will be speaking at All Saints Parish, 1773 Beacon Street, Brookline (corner of Beacon and Dean, near Mile 23) at 10:30 am on the themes of Native American spirituality and environmental protection. All GBTCers are invited. (Bob Ward and I are members of All Saints.) It would also be great to travel together to the start of the race on Monday morning. Manny will fly out from Logan on Monday evening at 7:00 pm.
“Manny is from Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, and has worked for 10 years as the program director of Wings of America, the group promoting running among Native America youth. He is a trained sociologist who specializes in studying the harmful environmental impact on Native Americans, specifically his Acoma Pueblo people, caused by uranium mining. He has testified on this subject before many government panels and educational conferences. He currently teaches sociology and is director of the American Indian Program at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona. Manny lives a traditional Native American spirituality following his Acoma heritage.
“As a masters runner, Manny has an impressive running resume, including these personal bests:
| 5K | 15:48 | Race for the Cure | Phoenix, AZ | 10/17/93 |
| 10K | 31:52 | New Times | Phoenix, AZ | 3/31/96 |
| 15K | 51:40 | Mountain to Fountain | Fountain Hills, AZ | 2/25/95 |
| 20K | 1:08:17 | South Mountain Classic | Phoenix, AZ | 9/19/93 |
| Half Marathon | 1:07:12 | Las Vegas Half Marathon | Las Vegas, NV | 2/94 |
| Marathon | 2:26:52 | Las Vegas Marathon | Las Vegas, NV | 2/93 |
| Marathon | 2:38:57 | Las Vegas Marathon | Las Vegas, NV | 2/7/99 |
“Manny qualified for Boston with the last marathon. Manny told me he was leading the race in his division, but cramped in mile 23, and finished 3rd.
“To learn more about the rich tradition of Native American running, I’d suggest you visit the web site `Against the Winds: American Indian Running Traditions’ at Harvard University‘s Peabody Museum. This site was created by Kathy Jones-Garmil, a former GBTC member who is a curator and assistant director at the museum.
“Manny is very excited about meeting with GBTC. He’s thrilled to have his first opportunity to run Boston and to also promote the good work of Wings of America due to GBTC’s support. Again, thank you for supporting him. I know you’ll enjoy meeting him when he comes.”
