Dr. William “Bill” Burke died on May 29, 2026. Bill was 87. The former tennis commissioner for the LA Olympics, Bill, and his business partner, Marie Patrick, led the seventh attempt to give the City of Los Angeles a marathon, and, well, it stuck. The first year, there were over 10,000 starters (1986). Here are some stories about those early years, which I have organized as deep thoughts:
- Bill Burke was fascinated with how Peter Ueberoth saved the Olympic movement. In 1984, in Los Angeles, Ueberroth brought in sponsors galore and saved the financial butt of the Olympic movement. There should be a statue of Ueberoth at the IOC headquarters. Burke loved Ueberoth’s approach and used it in the bid for the LA Marathon. Burke and his partner, Marie Patrick, knew how to pitch the City and gain control of the marathon.
- In 1986, this writer was observing the registration line for the LA Marathon. It was a very long line. People were grumbling. Bill Burke walked around the building and told the runners that this was what successful marathons looked like. The late Fred Lebow and Allan Steinfield told me that the LA Marathon should be one of the great marathons of the world. Bill Burke was a fantastic BS artist. He could wind up a story like few that I have seen. That charm gave Burke the charisma of a circus manager and a used-car salesman, with an iconic LA twist.
- Bill Burke and Marie Patrick built the marathon into a long-lasting event. Six attempts prior to Bill Burke and Marie Patrick had failed. Burke and Patrick were not part of the local running community, but they were able to build on interest in big-city marathons and the legacy of Los Angeles. Their biggest talent was surviving the need to schmooze in Los Angeles.
- Burke and Patrick knew that the LA Marathon and its sponsors provided money and products. Sponsors gave the dynamic duo control over one of the world’s most important marathons. Truth was, Burke, in year one, totally annihilated a relationship with a sparkling water popular in the 1980s, when Burke showed up at a reception holding a competitor’s bottle. Burke was Burke. He did not worry about the particulars. He had Marie Patrick to keep the event’s momentum.
- Through a half dozen footwear sponsors and several presenting sponsors, Burke and Patrick were able to juggle the politics of Los Angeles, the moving parts that is Los Angeles, and the groups hell-bent on the event failing.
- Bill Burke used his skills and those of his partner, Marie Patrick, to build a lasting legacy in Los Angeles. The 27,000 runners and walkers who completed the marathon get it. The City of Los Angeles Marathon gives them a view of LA that few see. The McCourt Foundation, which now owns the LA Marathon, is keeping that legacy alive. To read a tribute to Dr. Burke, by Toni Reavis, one of our sport’s finest writers, please go to: