“He just devoted a lot of himself to helping other people,” said Williamstown resident Amy Eddy, 43, a member, with Brown, of the River City Runners Club. “He ran with a lot of new runners. He would always run along with them and help them achieve their best.”
Brown died Sunday at age 65 after collapsing near the end of a half-marathon in Detroit. Autopsy results released Monday for Brown and two Michigan men who died at the race were inconclusive, and toxicology tests have been requested. Friends and family of all three men have said they trained for the race and were in good shape.
Brown was a constant presence at area races, said his friend, Chip Allman, president of the River City Runners group. But he was also known for his ability to bring in and encourage other runners.
“Rick was so good at recruiting runners,” Allman said. “Rick was a great coach. He knew a lot about running.”
Eddy was among those coached by Brown. When she started running four years ago, a friend suggested she head over to the Parkersburg City Park where other people ran regularly. Brown was the first person she met. He introduced himself to her and some other members of his regular running group.
Soon, Brown was teaching Eddy about competitive running and how to train for events.
“Being a novice runner, I would just go down to the park and start running laps,” she said.
Vincent resident Jocelyne Majoy, 50, had been running for about a year when she sought out Brown’s help. She and some other newcomers joined up with Brown’s group that met at 4:30 p.m. each weekday at City Park to run. Brown gave them schedules for training and helped Majoy prepare for her first marathon in Columbus.
“I qualified for Boston because of him,” she said. “That was because of his schedule.”
Although Brown helped many runners, Majoy said she, and they, never felt like they were just part of a crowd.
“You felt you were special. He really cared,” she said. “He had a true gift.”
Brown would congratulate the runners he was coaching and offer suggestions for improvement, but was never negative, Majoy said.
Allman and Majoy were part of a group of local runners, including Brown and his wife, Vivian, who participated in either the half-marathon or full marathon in Detroit this weekend.
Majoy said she knew Brown had been having some breathing problems (a fellow runner told The Associated Press Brown had asbestosis but had been cleared to run), but he’d been running well leading up to the half-marathon, even tackling a hilly route in Ripley, W.Va., the week before.
The next local event on the River City Runners schedule is the Nov. 7 Toys for Tots Trot on Nov. 7. Brown’s fellow runners aren’t sure how it will feel to not see him there.
“It won’t keep us from going because we’ll be doing it as a tribute to him also,” Majoy said. “We’ll have Rick with us.”
The daily runs at the park will go on, too.
Majoy said the group got together Monday, running just a couple of miles to get out some of the muscle soreness from the previous day’s event. The run had benefits beyond the physical, she said.
“It’s emotionally cleansing,” Majoy said.
Admiration of Brown, a retired pipefitter, wasn’t limited to running matters. Allman said the two were like family and recalled Brown’s friendly attitude. Eddy called him a good friend, husband, father and grandfather.
“He had an impact on so many people — runners, but other people too,” she said.
Brown’s funeral has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at Gilman United Methodist Church, where he was a member.
Visitation will be 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Marietta Chapel of Cawley & Peoples Funeral Home and one hour prior to the services at the church.
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Rick Brown