Clipper Smith (runner)

Clipper Smith
Personal information
Born(1913-01-14)January 14, 1913
Oakdale, California, US
Died(1979-05-01)May 1, 1979
Van Nuys, California, US
Spouse
Kathryn Link
Sport
SportLong-distance running
Events

Leland “Clipper” Smith (January 14, 1913 — May 1, 1979) was an American long-distance runner. After being adopted at age seven from a San Francisco orphanage by a Healdsburg couple, he won the Healdsburg Fitch Mountain Footrace in 1931 as a high school student.[1][2] Clipper won the inaugural 1935 Petaluma Spartan Marathon, a qualifying race for the Berlin Olympics.[3] Clipper won the Petaluma marathon five additional times.[4] He ran some fifty thousand miles[5] and collected 95 trophies and 50 medals by 1945.[6] Clipper only failed to place in three of the 106 marathons that he had entered by 1945.[7] He was reported to held the world record for the marathon, establishing a time of 2:47:22 at the 1938 Petaluma Spartan Marathon "smashing a 1932 Olympic mark."[8] Smith broke the Petaluma marathon record in 1943 with a time of 2 hours 32 minutes.[9][10] A conflicting report put the 1943 time at 2 hours, 47 minutes, 20 seconds, and 1938 time at 2 hours, 51 minutes, 21 seconds—course records, but not besting the 1932 Olympic marathon time of 2:31:36.[11][12] Clipper won the 1938 San Francisco cross city race, now known as the Bay to Breakers.[13]

Smith held the Amateur Athletic Union's Far Western marathon championship for eight years.[14][15]

Olympics

Smith competed in several Olympic tryouts, the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the 1940 Tokyo Olympics, and the 1944 London Olympics. He was “favored as the United States chief hope in the Olympic games of 1940,”[16] originally scheduled in Tokyo but cancelled due to the escalating Sino-Japanese War. The games were rescheduled to Finland and ultimately cancelled due to WWII. Smith also qualified for the 1944 London Olympics which were similarly cancelled. In 1945, Smith was training for the 1948 Olympics running six to eighteen miles everyday and bicycling to his job.[17]

Chris Jennings, a Healdsburg department store worker, was Clipper's trainer for many years.[18][19][20]

Career

Smith served in the Coast Guard[21] during WWII at Moffett Federal Airfield.[22] After the war he worked as a laundry routeman in Van Nuys, California.[23]

References

  1. ^ "LELAND SMITH WINS MARATHON". Healdsburg Tribune. 20 June 1931. Retrieved 19 January 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  2. ^ "ODD FELLOWS CONFER DEGREE". Sotoyome Scimitar. Vol. 33, no. 13. 9 July 1931. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  3. ^ "A Local Boy at Olympiad Try-Out". Sotoyome Scimitar. Vol. 37, no. 2. 11 April 1935. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  4. ^ "Smith Heads Field In Petaluma Race". Oakland Tribune. Vol. 138, no. 107. 17 April 1943. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Valley Man Holds Far Western Championship For Marathon Racers". Valley Times. Vol. 9, no. 63. North Hollywood. 9 August 1945. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  6. ^ "Clipper Smith Holds Western Championship For Marathon Racers". Healdsburg Tribune. 24 August 1945. Retrieved 16 January 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  7. ^ "Smith Runs in 'Big C' Race". Valley Times. Vol. 9, no. 91. North Hollywood. 15 November 1945. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Smith Seeks Ninth Win in Marathon Run". Valley Times. Vol. 9, no. 28. North Hollywood. 9 April 1945.
  9. ^ "Clipper Smith Sets Marathon Record". Santa Barbara News-Press. 20 April 1943.
  10. ^ "Clipper Smith Sets Record In Marathon". Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar. Vol. LXXVIII, no. 29. 23 April 1943. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  11. ^ "Los Angeles 1932 results". Olympics.
  12. ^ "Leland Smith Wins Marathon for Fifth Time in Fastest Time of Nine Annual Runs". Petaluma Argus Courier. Vol. 15, no. 228. 19 April 1943. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  13. ^ "CLIPPER SMITH WINS THIRD IN NATIONAL RACE". Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar. Vol. LXXIX, no. 9. 3 December 1943. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  14. ^ "Clipper Smith Holds Western Championship For Marathon Racers". Healdsburg Tribune. 24 August 1945. Retrieved 16 January 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  15. ^ "Valley Man Holds Far Western Championship For Marathon Racers". Valley Times. Vol. 9, no. 63. North Hollywood. 9 August 1945. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  16. ^ "'Clipper' Smith Being Groomed for Olympic Marathon Race In 1940". Healdsburg Tribune. 3 May 1938. Retrieved 16 January 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  17. ^ "Valley Man Holds Far Western Championship For Marathon Racers". Valley Times. Vol. 9, no. 63. North Hollywood. 9 August 1945. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  18. ^ "'Clipper' Smith Being Groomed for Olympic Marathon Race In 1940". Healdsburg Tribune. 3 May 1938. Retrieved 16 January 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  19. ^ "CLIPPER SMITH WINS THIRD IN NATIONAL RACE". Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar. Vol. LXXIX, no. 9. 3 December 1943. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  20. ^ "Local Boy Beats North Wind in a Sunday Marathon". Sotoyome Scimitar. Vol. 41, no. 52. 18 April 1940. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  21. ^ "Clipper Smith to Compete at Boston in AAU Marathon". Press Democrat. Vol. 88, no. 26. 30 January 1944. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
  22. ^ "'Clipper' Smith Second in Race At Petaluma". Healdsburg Tribune. 9 December 1940. Retrieved 19 January 2026 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  23. ^ "Enumeration District 66-134 pg 20". 1950 Census. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
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