A journalism and English teacher at Northeastern University, and later a sports writer at the Boston Herald and a sports editor and columnist for the Boston Post, Cloney is better known for what he did on the side. From 1947 to 1982, Cloney was the director of the Boston Marathon, overseeing it from a local race where only 147 men competed to a major international event which welcomed both male and female competitors.
“He embraced all sports,” says his daughter Kathleen Cloney Dodge, “but that marathon was his baby.” The first woman ran in 1966, but she was disqualified since the American Athletic Union prohibited women from competing in the same events with men, and “He was a stickler for the rules,” Dodge said. But once the gender rule changed, “He encouraged it and embraced it.” Cloney died January 16 at 91.