Tom Longboat Facts: Google Doodle Celebrates Long-Distance Runner's 131st Birthday

Monday marks the 131st birthday of Canadian long-distance runner Tom Longboat, the first First Nations member to win the Boston Marathon. Known as “one of the greatest marathoners of all time,” Longboat was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955.

“Tom Longboat’s legacy lives on as one of Canada’s greatest athletes,” Google wrote. “Not only is today his birthday, it is officially ‘Tom Longboat Day’ in Ontario!”

Longboat was inspired by Bill Davis, another First Nations runner who finished second in the Boston Marathon in 1901. Longboat began racing in 1905 as an amateur and won his first Boston Marathon just two years later, in 1907. Longboat lost only three races during his career.

"Longboat was one of the first athletes to use a training technique involving rotating training days of hard workouts, easier workouts and recovery days. While these training methods are widely accepted today, he faced skepticism from coaches and media despite consistent victories and multiple world records," Google wrote.

Longboat’s native name, Cogwagee, meant "Everything," according to CBC.

“During his professional racing career, Longboat also served in the Canadian Army as a dispatch runner in World War I,” Google said in its description of the doodle. “He largely ran across France, delivering messages between military posts. This was dangerous work, and he was actually mistakenly declared dead twice during his service! Once he finished his service for the military, he retired to the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, where he lived for the remainder of his life.”

Longboat was mistakenly declared dead during World War I. During this time, his wife Lauretta Maracle remarried in 1918. Longboat later married Martha Silversmith, with whom he had four children.

Longboat retired to the Six Nations Reserve and died of pneumonia on Jan. 9, 1949, at the age of 62.

In 1976, Longboat was designated a National Historic Person. He was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.