Will Cloney

William Thomas Cloney (October 29, 1911 – January 16, 2003) He was the sports editor of The Boston Post from 1953 until the paper ceased publication in 1956. In 1964 he succeeded Brown as president of the B.A.A. He made most decisions regarding the marathon unilaterally.

Cloney also oversaw the Boston Athletic Association Indoor Games, an indoor invitational track meet held at the Boston Garden and the B.A.A.'s annual schoolboy meet, which was held on the same day as the B.A.A. Games. When Cloney first became race director, the B.A.A. Games, not the marathon, was the association's premier event. It attracted top athletes, including Cornelius Warmerdam, Wes Santee, and Ron Delany. However, as the years went on, attendance declined (dropping from 13,645 in 1960 to 9,008 in 1971) and overhead costs increased, making the meet unprofitable. In 1971, Cloney made the decision to end the B.A.A. meet.

In 1966, Cloney rejected Bobbi Gibb's application to enter the race on the grounds that women were physiologically incapable of running 26 miles. Gibb nevertheless ran unregistered and finished the 1966 race in three hours, twenty-one minutes and forty seconds. The following year, Cloney and Jock Semple attempted to physically remove Kathrine Switzer's numbered bib off of her running clothes. Switzer got away and finished the race. Semple's attack was captured by photographers and the melee on the course made international headlines. After the race, Cloney stated that "Women can't run in the Marathon because the rules forbid it. Unless we have rules, society will be in chaos. I don't make the rules, but I try to carry them out. We have no space in the Marathon for any unauthorized person, even a man. If that girl were my daughter, I would spank her." In 1972, women were allowed to officially enter the Marathon.

In 1980, Cloney disqualified women's winner Rosie Ruiz after a week-long investigation by the B.A.A. found that she had jumped into the race in the final mile. The decision to commercialize the race was controversial and caused its longtime benefactor, Prudential Insurance Company, to end its relationship with the Boston Marathon. The contract with Medoff was also criticized because it was possible that Medoff could take in significantly more money from sponsors than the race organizers. On June 16, 1982, Cloney resigned under pressure from the B.A.A. board of directors. In 1984, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Medoff's contract was "void and unenforceable".

Later life After leaving the B.A.A., Cloney remained involved in marathon racing as chairman of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races and a commentator for WNEV-TV's coverage of the Boston Marathon. He spent his later years residing in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He predeceased by a daughter and a son, William III, who was killed in Vietnam.