Special to MSR from Mike Bendzinski
Editing and Graphics by Ron Knapp
This past Tuesday afternoon, the Connecticut running scene lost a prominent individual as Robert ‘Bob’ Moran passed away. As one of our well known figures on the race start line over the past 40 years Bob was an integral part of so many lives. His life-long friend Mike Bendzinski, former coach at Manchester and RHAM, has graciously shared the following as his tribute to Bob, his family and to Bob’s many friends.
Who do you know that would call you on your birthday every year without fail and sing “happy birthday?” Who do you know that would always answer your “have a great day” with “I always do.” That was Bob Moran. Going out of his way to make your day a little brighter with a corny joke or an act of kindness. Bob was failing for the last 9 months and yet he never wanted anyone to know. My wife Meg and I sat with him in his backyard last Thursday and only then did he open up to us that he was “near the end.”
Bob was a sprinter at East Hartford high school and CCSU. He would always tease me by saying, “one lap around the track is enough.” (my shortest race was the 880.) And he backed it up with a PR of 49 seconds in the 400 and the anchor of East Hartford’s State Championship 4 x 400 team. One of the most amazing stories about Bob was as a freshman at CCSU he ran in the freshman 4 x 400 relay indoors at Coast Guard Academy and anchored his team to victory. 20 minutes later he was back on the track with the varsity squad subbing in for an injured runner and ran another 49 second quarter. According to Bob, “the varsity guys picked me up after the freshman race and turned me upside down (to drain the lactates) so I could run again.”
Bob and I served on the CCSU Track and Field Alumni Association for many years. Bob would hand write Christmas cards to all of the donors to the program. He volunteered his starting duties at CCSU home meets and if there was a function at the college, he would be the first to write a check or make a donation, even though he was of modest means.
Bob was a starter for over 40 years for high school dual meets all the way up to the state meets. Bob had a very keen eye and would try his best to not disqualify a sprinter. If he saw someone leaning he would shout “stand up.” My wife Meg worked with Bob assigning positions on the track so he could start. Bob would go out of his way to give any athlete that would listen a tip if…
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