English > Anything for a T-shirt: Fred Lebow and the New York City Marathon, the World’s Greatest Footrace - Book Report

Power is the central idea of political science. Ron Rubin, the author of “Anything for a T-shirt” applies power throughout his story about Fred Lebow and his creation, the New York City Marathon. In my book report I will write about how the New York City Marathon was formed and developed over the years, and I will apply power to Lebow’s role in mass marketing, capturing the keys to the city, squeezing money from sponsors, devising shtick for the marathon, manipulating the media, and assembling an international cast of runners. I will also summarize the influence of the power of Lebow’s spirit in enabling him to complete his marathon creation as a cancer survivor.

Fred Lebow, a Romanian Jewish immigrant started running around Central Park’s reservoir to improve his tennis game in the late 1960’s and found joy in it. He ran his first marathon in 1970, in the Bronx and was disappointed by its location and because it was too plain. Lebow joined the New York Road Runner Club and recommended to hold the marathon in Central Park where the roads are wide and it is surrounded by trees. The club got permission from the Parks Department to have the marathon in the heart of the city, which went around Central Park four times. A politician, George Spitz played a powerful role in the formation of the five-borough marathon. Spitz introduced Lebow to the Manhattan Borough president, Percy Sutton, who liked Lebow because they both had the same vision and dream. Spitz proposed an idea about the five-borough marathon to Sutton, who thought of it as a good way to boost the city’s economy and bring attention to ethnic diversity. Sutton asked Mayor Abe Beame about the marathon and he agreed to it, and gave the power to control the city’s police, fire, sanitation and traffic departments. Sutton also provided most of Lebow’s financial requirement trough individual sponsors and Lebow did his best, getting more money through his friends, and sponsors. After deciding the route, Lebow focused on promoting his show. Lebow’s first five-borough marathon in 1975 brought joy and unity in the Big Apple to the public, because this was a contest where the ordinary people of every age, race, gender and nationality can run with the admired and famous runners and bring the sense of community with all five boroughs.

New York was the right place to turn his dreams into reality. Lebow and the city had the same spirit; as being innovative, taking risks and the stubbornness to never give up. Despite the fact that Lebow had no knowledge in marketing that they teach in schools, he used his natural marketing skills. To improve his marathon, he applied marketing strategies such as sampling public opinion and going behind the scenes on other sport events to find out facts about the production process. Lebow’s success was also contributed to the fact that he lived in New York City, where the race took place and that sponsors were eager to contribute money for media attention and more popularity. Lebow also grabbed every opportunity at intelligence gatherings to promote his party to the most powerful people in the city. He transformed running into a fun entertainment happenings and he intended to influent the crowd that was watching his event. He got their attention and wanted to recruit some of them to running, he wanted more participants in the race. Lebow always aimed for something better that he achieved, he wanted to make the marathon every time to a more quality event. His challenge was to make his dream come true that “Everyman” and “Everywoman” will engage in his festival, and the marathon will become part of the American pop culture. His strong imaginative and creative vision and his survival strategies made him successful to hype the race, attract the media and draw in the right sponsors.

Lebow was very successful in mass marketing and his unique behavior brought him success and many friendships but it also caused him many conflicts within the Road Runners Club and with bureaucratic bodies. Club members criticized him for his innovative, sometimes extreme ideas, for his autocratic leadership style and his weakness in financial planning; therefore, they decided to limit his power. Lebow got into more argument over his act that he pays money to top runners for attending his show. Although the New York City police department was helping out by being responsible for closing streets, control traffic and for the safety of runners, other governmental bodies who controlled the marathon gave him a hard time by asking Lebow to do charity races, let wheelchair athletes participate in the marathon and by asking the guardianship over prize money. Lebow was smart, he held onto his knowledge, therefore to his power as much as he could. He held his best kept secret to himself, how he influenced people around him and how he wrested the keys to the city.

To be able to improve his marathon, Lebow faced the reality that he needs financial support. He had a talent attracting and influencing sponsors that gave him power within the running club. Unlike many sports promoters Lebow was different. What made him special was that he went beyond his job responsibilities, which was to sell an image or a vision of the marathon. He provided impressive personal services to sponsors. When the race moved to all five boroughs and it attracted more runners, more sponsors were interested to support the race and to gain recognition. Lebow soon had to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal to be able to learn his sponsor’s needs and get familiar with the business language they used. His strategy to attract sponsors was to let them know how many people are involved in his sport and also that the media is involved. His power as a promoter grew enormously as he attracted more and more sponsors such as Chemical Bank, Perrier, the Rudin family, Runner’s World magazine Asics, Nike, Mercedes-Benz and John Hancock, just to mention a few. Lebow had a great personality that made the sponsors feel they were his friends, and did not feel like they were squeezed for money.

Lebow was truly a magical showman who turned a running race into an entertainment with his shtick. He always had the question in mind how could he make the marathon better and he came up with numerous ideas. Running the marathon became the “spirit of fulfillment and opportunity in the new pop culture.” In his campaign, Lebow used “billboard displays, city hall ceremonies, and press conferences” doing his shtick. He wanted to transform the marathon into a hip social event and targeted yuppies who were young, successful professionals with fitness lifestyle. The most important item that Lebow used as a promotional device was the T-shirt. He thought that all participants in the marathon would want to have a T-shirt in their wardrobe to identify them as runners and of course in his mind it represented the party spirit. Sponsors realized that Lebow’s T-shirts have power and they soon became “promotional vehicles.” Lebow developed a relationship with the media and created shtick and news connections to promote his message about running. Romance and exclusivity was his other ways to hype his party and to keep his runners motivated.

As the marathon mania grew the importance in publicity increased with it. Lebow realized that the media needed good stories and well-known names to be interested in promoting and broadcasting the marathon and he provided all of these. Journalists and media figures liked Lebow’s personality and the way he was doing business with them. He made them feel as part of his show’s success and he also maintained good relationships with many of them. Lebow’s dream became reality when his marathon was viewed on TV. ABC-TV broadcasted the marathon and it was one of the hardest shows to televise. Unfortunately, people who were interested in running were not interested to watch TV that much and the show only attracted 3 to 4 percent of the viewers. Lebow’s strategy to attract the media was simply manipulative. He easily exaggerated or modified the facts a little bit to be able to sell a good story.

Lebow’s dream eventually became even bigger than before and he wanted to transform his marathon into a global event. He realized that sponsors and the media were more interested in supporting and broadcasting the marathon when he had world-class runners. As runners came from more than 100 countries to participate, more people were on the streets of New York to watch the marathon. Participating as a top runner in the New York City Marathon meant “international exposure, and job offers by sponsors and the media.” Lebow often had to use all his skills in negotiating with top foreign runners because he could not afford to pay them as much as the Chicago marathon would pay them. He used the city’s power and it’s magic to attract foreign runners, so his marathon stays credible. He also used his skill to be flexible when he had to decide appearance and prize money, and the bonuses. The city with its ethnic diversity welcomed all foreign runners. Lebow was happy that the marathon was so international, but it also concerned him as well because these “non-American and Third World athletes increasingly became race winners and set course records.”

Fred Lebow had dedicated his life to the New York City Marathon and in his final years after diagnosed by brain cancer his goal was to get better and to run his lifetime creation on his sixtieth birthday. Lebow, thanks to his stubborn personality, even when he was told that he has a few months to live he started fighting against it. In his mind “exercise, self-help, and engagement in activities were the roads to recovery.” Lebow thought if he runs his marathon he defeats the disease. In 1992 he fulfilled his personal triumph when he ran his New York City Marathon for the first time.

Thanks to our professor, Ron Rubin who took the effort to interview as many as 123 individuals we got to know an extraordinary person the way his friends and people who knew him told his life story. We also gained great knowledge about the establishment of the New York City Marathon. Power plays a center role in the formation of the marathon, as well as in marketing, influencing sponsors, manipulating the media, opening doors in the city, creating shtick for the marathon and in recruiting foreign runners. Fred Lebow as a race director was an inspiration for many organizers, as a cancer survivor he became an inspiration for the people who have cancer and most importantly he became the inspiration of all of us because he proved that nothing is impossible. His memory and his achievements will stay with us forever.