The 1929 Bunion Derby
Johnny Salo and the Great Footrace across America
by Charles B. Kastner
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Pub Date Mar 31 2014 | Archive Date Mar 02 2014
Description
On March 31, 1929, seventy-seven men began an epic 3,554-mile footrace across America that pushed their bodies to the breaking point. Nicknamed the "Bunion Derby" by the press, this was the second and last of two trans-America footraces held in the late 1920s. The men averaged forty-six gut-busting miles a day during seventy-eight days of nonstop racing that took them from New York City to Los Angeles. Among this group, two brilliant runners, Johnny Salo of Passaic, New Jersey, and Pete Gavuzzi of England, emerged to battle for the $25,000 first prize along the mostly unpaved roads of 1929 America, with each man pushing the other to go faster as the lead switched back and forth between them. To pay the prize money, race director Charley Pyle cobbled together a traveling vaudeville company, complete with dancing debutantes, an all-girl band wearing pilot outfits, and blackface comedians, all housed under the massive show tent that Pyle hoped would pack in audiences. Kastner’s engrossing account, often told from the perspective of the participants, evokes the remarkable physical challenge the runners experienced and clearly bolsters the argument that the last Bunion Derby was the greatest long-distance footrace of all time.
A Note From the Publisher
6 x 9, 304 pages, 25 black-and-white illustrations, 11 maps, 3 tables, appendixes, notes, bibliography, index
Advance Praise
"Editor’s Choice" for Spring 2014
I’m delighted to highlight this season’s "editor’s choice" selection, a fascinating but forgotten excerpt from the history of sport in America. Kastner tells a compelling human interest tale about the trans-America footrace,
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run just as the country teetered on the brink of the Great Depression. Accompanied by infamous sports agent C. C. Pyle and his "Cross Country Follies," seventy-seven athletes attempted to run 3,554 miles beginning in New York City and ending in Los Angeles, maintaining a marathon pace for nearly two months. From the pack emerges blue-collar hero Johnny Salo, a policeman from Passaic, NJ, who beat his closest competitor by two minutes in what reporters called "the most exciting finish in the history of sports." This remarkable account of human endurance and long-distance running unfolds against the backdrop of America’s swift decline from the heady Roaring Twenties to the devastating Great Crash, and is precisely the kind of underdog story that university presses bring to light. Please enjoy this new offering from Syracuse University Press.
—Suzanne E. Guiod, Editor-in-Chief
"This book reveals how C. C. Pyle and so many others who are part of our strong national ultramarathoning history persevered in such challenging times! Wonderfully inspiring."—Gary Theriault, ultramarathoner and ten-time Kona Ironman triathlon finisher
"It reads like a tale of shipwreck survivors adrift at sea. Yet these men could end their suffering at any time. They chose not to because they saw a better future, a chance to deepen their human experience, or both at the finish line. Kastner’s commitment to accurate historical documentation combined with gripping personal accounts of the race make for a compelling and motivating story."—Kevin Patrick, Washington, DC, reporter and ultramarathoner
Marketing Plan
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780815610366 |
| PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
