TO BUILD STAMINA, ANDREW WOULD RUN SEVERAL TIMES EACH DAY AROUND THE 7.5- SQUARE-MILE ISLAND RESERVATION. SOCKALEXIS TRAINED ALL YEAR ROUND, INCLUDING RUNNING OUTDOORS IN THE HARSH MAINE WINTERS. HE WOULD EVEN RUN WITH SPIKES ON THE NEARBY FROZEN PENOBSCOT RIVER.


DeMar, seven-time winner of the Boston Marathon, in a 15-mile race in 1916 that took place from Old Town, Maine to Bangor’s Bass Park. Sockalexis collapsed after winning the race and began coughing up blood. He had contracted tuberculosis, then a scourge in Indian Country. On Aug. 16, 1919, the great marathon runner died at the age of 27. He was buried on Indian Island.


THE NARRAGANSETT KING OF THE BOSTON STREETS


Ellison Myers Brown, the great Narragansett runner of the 1930s, has become a legend, on and off the track, and his exploits gave the Bos- ton Marathon its most distinctive landmark. Reporters too often filled their stories with stereotypes and misinformation about Brown, his running exploits and American Indians. Yet to this day, he is considered a hero by his community and other New England Indians. Brown was born on Sept. 22, 1914, at Por-


ter Hill, R.I., a member of a leading family on the Narragansett Nation’s Rhode Island reservation. He was the son of Narragansett tribal members Bryan Otis and Grace Bab- cock Brown. Although sportswriters gave


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 43 E


PHOTO COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS


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