Nina Kuscsik, a pioneer in fortifying the inclusion of women in distance running who became the first official woman to win the Boston Marathon, died on June 8. She was 86.
Her family announced her death in an obituary through the A.L. Jacobsen Funeral Home in Huntington Station, New York and said she endured a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and respiratory failure.
Kuscsik was instrumental in the fight to bring women into long-distance running and racing in the face of opposition in the sport. After winning state titles as a teenager in cycling, roller skating and ice speed skating she re-emerged as a runner while raising three children as a single mother.
When her bicycle was in need of major repairs, Kuscsik’s passion for running increased and was often one of just a few women at local races in New York.
But by the 1960s, women’s participation in distance racing was hampered by obstacles and strict race directors who simply did not believe a woman had the ability to complete marathons.
Kuscsik was undeterred and aligned with other women who found unconventional methods of making it onto race courses in high profile moments that are now deeply embedded tales in distance running lore.
At the 1966 Boston Marathon, Roberta Gibb became the first woman to unofficially run the race after hiding near the start and wearing her brother’s clothes. Gibb blended in once nearly half of the field had begun and crowds on the course cheered when it was obvious she was a woman.
Kathrine Switzer defiant stance the following year in Boston sent waves through the sport after an official lunged after her and reached for her bib. Photos of the moment symbolized the magnitude of the hurdles women faced just to reach the start line.
Kuscsik was fully embedded in these efforts by the end of the decade and unofficially ran her first Boston Marathon in 1969, which she did the following two years. In 1970 she became the first woman to enter the New York City Marathon — the first year the race was held, during an period now referred to as the Pioneer Era.
In 1972, women were officially allowed to enter the Boston Marathon and Kuscsik was among the eight who signed up. She won in 3:10:26.
“To us, she was a friend who will always be remembered for her kindness, joyful laugh and smile,” the Boston Athletic Association said in a statment on social media. “Nina held the distinct honor of winning the 1972 Boston Marathon, and recognized the platform that came with that triumphant moment, inspiring thousands of women to reach their own goals and finish lines in the decades since.”
Nina Louise Marmorino was born on January 2, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York to George and Louise Marmorino.
She excelled in cycling, roller skating and ice speed skating as a youth and was captivated by Roger Bannister sub-four minute mile feat in 1954 when she was just 15. It would be at least a decade until she would take up the sport seriously and said she began running in 1967 when she was pregnant with her third child.
Kuscsik cited running with helping elevate her confidence, but her marriage to Richard Kuscsik ended in the 1970s right as she was in critical period of her advocacy for women’s inclusion in the sport.
Her involvement on the road and for changes that defined a the first boom of running only increased after her hallmark win in 1972 in Boston. Kuscsik teamed with Switzer and Fred Lebow that year to launch the Crazylegs Mini Marathon, the world’s first women-only road race, which evolved into the Mini 10K. The race had 72 finishers in its debut and came just weeks before Title IX was signed into law, ensuring girls could participate in school sports. But it also meant the initiatives she helped push for had bought monumental changes in running.
Kuscsik ran over 80 marathons, set the American record for the 50-mile run in 1977 and was inducted into the Long Distance Running Hall of Fame in 1999.
She is survived by her sons, Stephen and Timothy, daughter Chris Wiese, sister, Helen Flamini and brother, George Marmorino.
