The Liberty Athletic Club: A Short History
BY COACH JOHN BARBOUR
Founded in 1948, the Liberty Athletic Club is America’s first running club exclusively for women. Through the decades it has been a place where young girls could discover the joy of running and racing and older women demonstrate that running is indeed a sport for life; along the way there have been Olympians and national championships. As times changed, so did LAC: today’s Liberty is adult women actively engaged in career and community in addition to being dedicated runners. For more than 70 years Liberty has been a cornerstone of New England running, a unique community for women to train, race, and bond together.
Bud McManis of Lexington MA (hence the name “Liberty”) started the club as a way to offer girls athletic opportunities that schools didn’t, focusing on track and field in years before road running gained popularity. Sprinters, distance runners, jumpers and throwers all wore Liberty colors, and as the club grew it began traveling to larger meets outside New England. The 1960s saw rapid growth in women’s clubs around the country, resulting in more and better competitions, and by the end of the decade Liberty had national-caliber athletes on its roster.
This momentum played a role in the 1972 passage of Title IX that changed women’s sport forever. It would take another decade for corporate sponsors to begin plucking top athletes from grass-roots clubs, and during that period Liberty made its mark on women’s running history, winning numerous national team championships and nurturing women who went on to represent the United States internationally. Liberty played a role in the early development of Joan Benoit Samuelson (first-ever women’s Olympic marathon champion, 1984) and Lynn Jennings (1992 Olympic 10,000 meter medalist, 3-time world cross country champion) as well as of Darlene Beckford, Patty Dillon, Judi St. Hilaire, Leslie and Lisa Welch, Francie Kraker and many more who helped put women’s running on the national map.
By the 1990s, after years of being confined by rules of amateurism, American runners were able to “go pro”, affecting clubs like Liberty as professional contracts lured away top talent. But the core of Liberty’s members remained, and over time manifested a shift in emphasis from younger runners to those over 40 (Masters). These women have been as motivated as were their younger precursors: since 2000, Liberty athletes have set scores of age-group records and won New England and national team titles across age brackets, from 800 meters on the track to the marathon as well as cross country and mountain racing. While encouraging individual race interests (recently including triathlons) Liberty is primarily an active team participant in USATF-New England road and cross country series races as well as the USATF national club cross country championships.
Liberty remains small numerically yet carries outsized influence. Smallness can be challenging, but it enables Liberty members to know and support one another in special ways no matter where they live. While most live in the greater Boston area, there are LAC members in New Hampshire plus the far reaches of the north and south shores. Members range in age from mid-20s to mid-80s, a handful having been with Liberty since the 1970s. For women desiring an active, engaged running life, one that derives joy from training, racing, and being with like-minded women, Liberty has been a vital presence since 1948 -- vitality that is as strong today as ever.
