On November 6, tens of thousands of runners will line the streets of New York City for the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon.
Vincent Chiappetta won’t be running in this one, and his role has changed over the years since he and his co-founder, the late Fred Lebow, created the marathon over 50 years ago. What hasn’t changed is the joy that comes with watching each runner finish the race.
“I stand there and just watch and just enjoy seeing people coming through,” he said. “You see how happy they are just to get through – it’s wonderful. That’s the key of it – enjoying the fact that you got yourself through. It’s something very special. It’s so beautiful.”
Chiappetta loves running, and it’s been a key part of his life for a long time. He’s run 114 marathons over the course of his life and ran with NYU in college. He even coached running at Yeshiva University, where he also taught biology. Running brought something different that other sports didn’t have.
“I ran because I enjoyed it,” he said. “I didn’t like team sports…I couldn’t stand the coaches. Finding track as a way of converting my energy, I really enjoyed it.”
While Chiappetta loved running, the art of running wasn’t a common theme prior to the 1960’s in New York. He wanted to change that.
“We wanted people to be in shape,” he said. “The 60’s started a whole idea of getting in better shape, but no one was running. That’s changed. You see all the joggers out running, and it’s wonderful and good to see. It’s an easy way to be physically fit, and I’m very happy about that.”
During that time period, Chiappetta said there were three or four marathons and that New York didn’t have a marathon. He and Fred Lebow, the co-founder of the NYC marathon, were determined to change that. Even though it was a bit of a hassle, the two race directors were able to get the permit in July of 1970 to host the race in Central Park.
Chiappetta said that he sent out 500 invitations all over the country to garner interest in the race. On race day, 127 runners came out to run. That number continued to grow.
“After the second one, we had over 200, over 1000 in the third one, and in 1976, we had over 2000 runners, and we couldn’t run in the park anymore because we had too many people,” he said.
The marathon then extended to the five boroughs under the leadership of Chiappetta, Lebow and George Spitz, which is the current course that is used for the event. The marathon started with 127, and now has over 50,000 runners who participate in the marathon.
“When the marathon has over 50,000 people running, you know something is big,” he said. “And that’s what happened in New York City.”
But Chiappetta is much more than one of the brilliant minds and directors who started the New York City Marathon. His time as a biology professor led him to become an artist.
“I used to do biological drawings, but I had no artistic talent to go off of,” he said. “One of my students was an artist and said to buy a pad and play with it. So I bought this pad and some pen and ink and I started playing with these pens. And I started to like it.”
https://www.vincentjchiappettaart.agency/
Art was a way for Chiappetta to bring science and the different aspects of science to his students in a different way.
“There’s people in the art world that have to take a course in science,” he said. “What was great was I could show them the fantastic images that are in science. Then I started doing my own stuff, quietly and in my own way.”
He started with black and white portraits and then moved to color portraits. He said that he used to showcase his portraits in faculty exhibits. This year, Chiappetta will have his own table at the NYC Marathon that will showcase his artwork.
“Since I’m retired, I figured I might as well show (the art) around and maybe even sell a few.”
Things have come full circle for Chiappetta, as he’s now able to enjoy the product that he invested in. When the runners from around the world step up to the starting line to run the TCS New York City Marathon, it will be because of the vision that Chiappetta and his late co-founder brought to life.
I’m just a spectator now,” he said. “I’m always excited for what I see, and also I can say I had something to do with it. I did something to get it going and it’s grown into this beautiful thing. I’m just happy that everyone is enjoying it, even if I’m not a part of it.”
Chiappetta’s artwork will be displayed at the 2022 TCS NYC Marathon Expo from Nov. 3rd through the 5th at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
