Rich Davis

Year Inducted: 1990

 

 

Personal records: 

5K ... 15:38
10K ... 32:52   
15K ... 50:51 
Half-Marathon ... 1:13:28
Marathon ... 2:35:55

Favorite distance: 15K

 

Favorite race: Dayton River Corridor Classic Half-Marathon

 

Favorite runner: Francie Larrieu Smith 

 

Favorite location to run: Trails, Turf, Track, and Treadmill

 

As a kid Rich started running delivering morning newspapers. He never imagined a morning paper route would propel him toward a decorated running career. Rich moved on from paper routes to being a member of the inaugural cross country teams of both his high school (in western PA) and college. Rich has lived in the Dayton, Ohio area since graduating from Cedarville College in 1967 where he was the captain of the track team and earned MVP honors in cross country.

 

After college he landed a teaching position in the Dayton area and trained with the Bob Schul Racing Team for many years. Rich achieved success on the national level as a distinguished master's runner. Every year, from age 32 through 43, he ran a personal best at some distance. His personal best in the 5K (15:38) was set at age 42 and in the 10K (32:49) at age 43. Rich represented the USA in two World Veterans Track and Field Championships at 5,000 meters; competing in Eugene, Oregon in the 40-44 age group and in Turku, Finland in the 45-49 age group. He was the only American to advance to the finals in Turku, placing 9th in 16:22. At age 42 Rich was the master's winner of the 1988 Dayton River Corridor Classic half-marathon. In 1990 he became responsible for assembling the master's field for the 1990 race. 

 

Rich has been an USA Track and Field Master's All-American at both 5,000 and 10,000 meters in 3 different age groups. While competing in the 50-54 age group he was the USATF Master's National 8K Cross Country bronze medalist, the sliver medalist at 10,000 meters in the USATF Master's National Track and Field Championships, and the USATF National Champion at 12K on the roads. A veteran road racer, he has completed 35 marathons, which include seven finishes in the Boston Marathon. His best Boston performance was in 1986 when he was the 8th American Master finisher. 

 

He is retired from a 30 year career of teaching and coaching in the Centerville City schools and the Sugarcreek Local schools in Bellbrook, Ohio. His 1976 boys cross country team qualified for the Ohio High School Athletic Association's State Cross Country Championship. In 1997 he became the head coach for the University of Dayton FLyers Men's Cross Country team and was named as the 2008 "Division I Coach of the Year" by the Ohio Collegiate Cross Country Coaches Association. 

 

Rich has coached the four Flyers who have earned the Atlantic 10 Conference's "Top Rookie" award and the six Flyers named as A-10 "All-Conference" during their four years of eligibility. Additionally, coached by Rich, were the 2009 Atlantic 10 individual champion, two NCAA National Championship qualifiers in 2008 and one NCAA National qualifier in 2010. Flyer teams coached by Rich have twice won the Cross Country Only National Championship in as many appearances. 

 

Rich lives in Centerville, Ohio with his wife Doris.