University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Clarence H. DeMar 1911 - Cross Country, Track and Field
"He did not always prevail - but he always endured," is an appropriate phrase, which attached to the late Clarence H. DeMar, a 1972 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, one of the all-time great marathon performers. Know as "Mr. Marathon", the former Catamount track star won the Boston Marathon seven times and entered the race on 34 occasions. Another incredible statistic in DeMar's track accomplishments is that he participated in over 1,000 meets during his 44 years associated with track and field.
After winning the Boston Marathon in 1911, doctors told him that he had a weak heart, raising doubts as to whether he should keep up the vigorous pace. That was in 1911. DeMar passed away in 1958 - not of a heart seizure, but of cancer. In fact, four days after his 70th birthday, doctors, in a routine examination, discovered that his heart was two to three times the size of one would expect of a man of his age.
DeMar won three letters in cross country and track and field at UVM and was also awarded the "V" blanket in 1957 at the annual University of Vermont Letterman's Dinner. In addition to attending Vermont, he enrolled at Harvard midway through his tenure at Vermont and was awarded the Harvard "H" award in 1924. DeMar also was a three-time competitor in the Olympic Games who finished 12th in the marathon in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, won the bronze medal in the marathon in the 1924 Paris Olympics and finished 27th in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. He also won the USA National Marathon Championship four times in the 1920s.
A native of South Hero, in the 1983 an annual road race in the Lake Champlain Islands was held in his honor. Another race, the Clarence DeMar Marathon has been held annually since 1978 in Keene, N.H. Sports Illustrated selected DeMar as one of the Top 50 Vermont athletes of the 20th Century. The magazine's editors composed a list of the "Top 50 Athletes" in each state in its December 27, 1999 issue to commemorate the millennium. DeMar ranked eighth among the Top 50 Vermonters. In 2000, he was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame.
