Tom fleming marathon runner cartoon

Tom Fleming was always a hard charger, a larger than life presence whether on the road in competition or at the post-race party where stories flew as fast as the miles had just hours before.

With his black Prince John beard and 6’1” frame drawn down by mega 150-mile training weeks, T. Fleming toed the staring line with his fitness visible beneath the barest of singlets, frame in relief, energy up, engagement pending.

There was something chivalric about TF, who left us yesterday at age 65, much, much too soon, his mighty heart beating its last as he collapsed while coaching his Montclair Kimberley Academy team at a track meet in Verona, N.

J.  The running pack will not find another in its midst like him again anytime soon.

A Bloomfield, New Jersey native, Tom was twice New York City Marathon champion (1973 & `75) when the race had yet to leave its Central Park cocoon to bloom across all five boroughs.

Twice more he was runner up in Boston (1973 & 1974) the one race