Long Beach Marathon Legacy Runners may be dwindling, but there still are some determined to be at the start line Sunday for the historic race which started in 1982.
They will once again line up for the 41st time at the marathon’s starting line along with thousands of others competing in the grueling 26.2-mile race.
Legacy participant John Sumpter holds a few of his Long Beach Marathon completion medals on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, on a portion of the route at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) John Sumpter holds a framed rendering of the Long Beach Marathon circuit in his home office on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) John Sumpter displays a t-shirt from the first Long Beach Marathon in 1982 in his home office on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Legacy participant John Sumpter walks along the Long Beach Marathon circuit on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Long Beach Marathon completion medals hang in John Sumpter’s home office on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) John Sumpter looks at a framed rendering of the Long Beach Marathon route in his home office on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Legacy participant John Sumpter appears on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, on a portion of the route at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Legacy participant John Sumpter appears on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, on a portion of the route at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Legacy participant John Sumpter walks along the Long Beach Marathon circuit on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) John Sumpter displays a few of his Long Beach Marathon completion medals on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, on a portion of the route at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Show Caption1 of 10Legacy participant John Sumpter holds a few of his Long Beach Marathon completion medals on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, on a portion of the route at Marine Stadium in Long Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Expand(The math is not a mistake. There was no race for two years because of financial problems).
The Legacy Runner moniker comes from having competed in some way in every Long Beach Marathon since the first one in 1982.
Because of the inevitable aches and pains from advancing age, not many of the 15 current Legacy Runners will actually run a full marathon. In fact, at press time, we could reach only two who will be at the start line today. Another one or two may be there also, according to John Sumpter, one of those who will be starting today.
Sumpter, who just turned 81, said he was amazed that he was participating in a marathon in his ninth decade on earth. “My goal now is to get to my 50th marathon, but, with the way my knees are, I may have to do that in a wheelchair,” he said with a grin.
Sumpter, former head golf coach at Poly High, is facing a second knee replacement next month. He has broken up his marathon participation into walking two half-marathons on the course which conveniently is just outside his house near Marine Stadium on Long Beach’s eastside.
Last week he walked a half marathon. He will be at the start line today to walk his second half marathon. Sumter said he had been running for a few years when he heard about the first marathon for Long Beach.
“What could be better than my first marathon coinciding with the first in Long Beach?” Sumter said. “And the course passed by my home twice, just past the 15-mile mark and just before the 20-mile wall.”
After running in the first five marathons, he received a medal saying, “FIVE YEAR FINISHER.”
Legacy runners who’ve participated in every Long Beach Marathon pose for a traditional pre-race photo on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, prior to the 40th running of the event. From left, John Sumpter, Kenny Williams, George Williams, Gordon Watson and Tom Frost. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Legacy runner, Tom Frost, 69, crosses the finish on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, at the 38th annual Long Beach Marathon in Long Beach. The Laguna Woods resident has participated in all 37 previous Long Beach Marathons. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Legacy Runners John Sumpter, Jim Warnemeunde and George Wallims celebrate finishing the half-marathon at the 2022 Long Beach Marathon. (Photo by Rich Archbold, Press-Telegram/SCNG) Legacy Runner Tom Frost’s daughter, Lisa Ann Frost, made a poster for the 15th year of the Long Beach Marathon. His daughter died during the 9/11 attacks. She was 22. (Courtesy of Tom Frost) Show Caption1 of 4Legacy runners who’ve participated in every Long Beach Marathon pose for a traditional pre-race photo on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, prior to the 40th running of the event. From left, John Sumpter, Kenny Williams, George Williams, Gordon Watson and Tom Frost. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer) Expand“That was the first-year that medals were awarded,” he said. “If that’s what we got for five years, what would the 10-year award be?” he said. “I was hooked on the Long Beach marathon.”
He had a misfortune in 2020, which almost kept him from running in anything, let alone a marathon. An avid cyclist, he was riding in Buena Park when he hit some kind of obstacle and was thrown from his bike and knocked unconscious. Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet and recovered to run again.
Sumpter enjoys the marathon so much that he has a personalized license plate, reading “42195 LB” as the main lettering with “Int’l City” on the top of the frame and “Legacy” on the bottom. He said if you don’t know what 42195 is, you should Google it. (Tip: It has to do with a unit of measurement.)
Only one Legacy Runner – Kenneth Williams – will actually be running a full marathon. To no one’s surprise, at 63, he is the youngest of the Legacy Runners.
“I got started by my high school track coach who told me the marathon was going by my house,” Williams said. “He said if I couldn’t finish I could just walk home. God has blessed me to run every marathon. Now, I run to honor Lisa Frost.”
Lisa Anne Frost was 22 when she boarded United Airlines Flight 175 heading home to Orange County from Boston University before starting a job in San Francisco. Tragically, that plane crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and she was killed.
Her father, Tom “Frosty” Frost, 72, of Rancho Santa Margarita, was in Long Beach for the marathon but ran a 5K on Saturday instead. “This is the third year after having a stroke in January, 2023,” Frost said. “It was nice of the race committee to allow me to maintain my Legacy status.”
Frost said his most memorable Long Beach marathon was Nov. 11, 2001, his 14th and two months after losing his daughter in the 9/11 tragedy.
“All of the Legacy runners wore shirts with Lisa’s picture on it,” he said. “Some still do. I remember at mile 21 another runner passed me. As he did, he told me, ‘I know who you are. I know what you’re doing, and it’s the most courageous thing I have ever seen. I’m running the last part of my race for your daughter.’ He and all my Legacy brothers have my undyinggratitude.”
Frost said he is still participating in the marathon to honor his daughter. “She was watching me in a stroller in 1982,” he said. “She would not want me to quit.”
One of the most disappointed runners who will not be in Long Beach this weekend is Jim Warnemunde, 84, who spent 35 years at Long Beach College as a speech communication teacher and dean of the creative arts department. He retired in 2000 and moved to Redding, where he built a new home after his former one was destroyed during the devastating 2018 Carr wildfire in Northern California.
He has since moved to Sacramento where he suffered a broken back falling while working outside his house in 2023. “Breaking my back impaired me more than any other injury I have had while competing in over 300 marathons,” Warnemunde told me. After wearing a brace, he is getting better and can walk around a lake near his home.
“I have just come to a place where I no longer have the strength, energy, desire or need to compete anymore,” he said. “I think that breaking my back was God’s way of telling me that I had run enough marathons, and I decided to listen to Her. I’m lucky to be alive.”
Another Legacy runner, Ken Purucker, 88, will be at the race today, but he won’t be in the marathon.
“I will be fast-walking with my cane now and cheering on my seven nephews and nieces and son-in-law who will be running in the race,” said Purucker, a retired Long Beach dentist who lives in Leisure World in Seal Beach.
“They are all participating, they say, because of the legacy left from me and my brother, David (also a Legacy Runner), who has passed away. I will be there with my wife, Anne, cheering them on. I will be wearing my 1982 Long Beach Marathon finisher shirt with great joy and appreciation for the years I enjoyed and was able to participate in that marathon, the best!”
Wayne Fong, the oldest Legacy runner at 91, will not be in Long Beach. “Right now I walk with a walker,” Fong said. “I still walk outside about three times a week. Thank you for writing about us.”
Calvin Lau, 78, retired from the dental faculty at USC, has had a knee replacement and no longer participates in marathons. One of his most memorable marathons was finishing on crutches after he had broken his leg skiing the week before at Mammoth Mountain.
Legacy runners who could not be reached included George Wallims, Gordon Watson, Tom Pontac, Phil Newberg, Steve Harvey and Michael Benov.
Lorenzo Herrera, who ran in last year’s race, said at the time that that would be his last race.
Another Legacy Runner who has not been running since 2000 is Audrey Hauth, who just celebrated her 92nd birthday. After her running days were over, she spent many years volunteering on race day.
Hauth has had several health issues, including surgery for two replacement hips, a broken leg when she fell off her bike and a more recent fall, tripping on a curb.
“I just love the Long Beach Marathon, but my running days are long over,” she said. “I will do anything I can to help it. After a while, a marathon kind of becomes part of you.”
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