Dan Gibbons Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 2009 -- Elmhurst, IL

Dan Gibbons Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 2009 -- Elmhurst, IL

"It's the little things that can change the course of our lives ... a casual remark, running into an old friend, turning left instead of right on the way out of a building. In Dan Gibbons' case, it was a casual conversation with a group of friends.

"In was the early 1980s, Gibbons and a group of friends were volunteer grade school football coaches in Elmhurst. At the end of the season the group was relaxing and reviewing the play of their teams.

Changing the subject, Dan began to talk about Eddie Schwartz, WGN-AMs then late night host and the station's Good Neighbor Food Drive for the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation. He had listened to it the previous year over the Christmas holidays. It was his offhand mention of the drive that turned the social occasion into a planning session for a fundraising event on Thanksgiving Day. It changed Dan's life forever.

"The group decided to organize an annual holiday food drive. Dan thought a Thanksgiving Day run would be a perfect fundraiser. It was obviously Dan's baby and they dubbed the event the Dan Gibbons 5K Turkey Trot. Inauspiciously on a cold, rainy Thanksgiving morning in 1984, 74 hearty runners and walkers, all friends and relatives of Dan Gibbons, assembled along the Elmhurst portion of the Illinois Prairie Path to participate in the first Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot. With hand-made numbers, and an ancient stop watch, the event raised a little more than $500.

"They did it again in 1985 with 232 runners and the sponsorship of Elmhurst Police Athletic Association. The following year, there were 407 runners. In the past few years as many as 6,000 runners and walkers have flooded the streets of Elmhurst on Thanksgiving morning. Suddenly, it was a new world for the owner of Gibbons Painting and Decorating" ... (see link for more).

Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot:
http://tiny.cc/62iWi

Video features John O'Toole, Gary O'Toole, and Patrick O'Toole.
Videographer: Therese O'Toole
John O'Toole's Site: http://tiny.cc/d66Fb
YT Channel: http://tiny.cc/g882E

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot
• Elmhurst IL
• Thanksgiving
• jogging
• running
• drinking beer