MESSAGE FROM GARY CORBITT
Subject: Ted Corbitt Archives: Course Certification Records - Follow-up
Date: 11/27/2008 8:45:09 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
From: corbittg@comcast.net
Each of you have been great stewards of the pioneering work of John Sterner, John Jewell, Aldo Scandurra, my father, and others to legitimize our sport with universal standards, procedures, and record keeping. My father felt his course certification work was by far his greatest contribution to the sport. He worked tirelessly with you for years as each of you led this effort in your various capacities.
My father threw nothing away. As Jennifer mentioned most of his correspondence was done in duplicate. Thanks for all the feedback on my initial note. The attached document is that feedback. Here are some follow-up thoughts:
My long term goal is to establish a museum/library that inspires generations of young people about the history of our sport. I’ll be also looking for colleges to donate papers and correspondence of my father in running, physical therapy, and integrated health approaches.
I’d like for the USATF/RRTC to develop recommendations at the convention for what to do with my father’s course measurement records. I hope to close out the apartment by the end of January.
For the Ted Corbitt Archives, I’m pulling out correspondence and a sampling of races and examples of the paperwork showing the certification process. I’d also like to develop a historical course certification time-line of key events/changes in procedures/controversies of note, and keep documents that tell the story. This could include races with unique issues. I’d like your feedback on key historical moments in course certification history.
I feel Pete Riegel offers a good model and a number of you have concurred that scanning materials into electronic form and putting on a CD is necessary. Pete has sent me and my father a historical compilation of certification materials in a CD. The historical time-line mentioned earlier could perhaps be gained from this CD.
Ted’s records are organized by year. The original envelops are labeled with the race name and includes the certification paperwork. These files and boxes appear to be purely race specific certification materials.
I’ll be at the apartment twice in December and invite anyone in the tri-state area to visit me and review the materials. My New York dates are 12/4 – 12/7, and 12/18 – 12/27.
If we decide to save marathon records only as Rich suggested, who’d receive these documents?
My father kept small binders that I believe list all courses that were certified in a given year. There are probably twenty of these binders. I haven’t spent time looking at these, but I believe they contain basic info about the race, the course, and date of certification. Jennifer mentioned rectangles of paper, perhaps this is what’s in the binders.
Alan Jones – I haven’t seen your correspondence with my father yet, but I expect to find it when I start concentrating more on these files.
Gary