Bill Michaels, who died of lung cancer Monday at age 54, established himself in the 1970s and 1980s as Denver’s impresario of road-running events, organizing hundreds of events from the former Mile High Marathon to the popular First Night New Year’s celebration.
Born in a small town near the Finger Lakes district in New York state, Michaels was a latecomer to fitness. In college, he smoked cigarettes and weighed a solid 225. The pounds melted when he moved to Washington state and, lacking a car, rode his bicycle to a physically demanding job.
By the mid-1970s, Michaels was living in Denver and was a devoted member of the Rocky Mountain Road Runners. He volunteered to organize a marathon in 1977 and discovered that arranging the logistics absorbed more hours than his day job.
Vowing to organize future events only if he were paid for his efforts, Michaels found a ready market in the nascent running boom.
Likable and with a knack for drawing funding from well-heeled sponsors who often became friends, Michaels surged to the front of Denver’s road races.
“When I came here in 1978, he was the guy leading the charge in road racing, and it was very clear that if I were going to get in the game as an event director in this community, I had to go through his door,” said Creigh Kelley, whose company, BKB, stages the Colfax Marathon, Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, Running of the Green and other perennial races. “And he didn’t just organize. He participated. He prided himself on being an athlete, and he had a right to.”
For the past 19 years, Michaels took pride in running every day. The daily runs included 23 marathons, with a personal-best time of 2:51, and sprints up and down the halls of oncology wards when his cancer, diagnosed in 2005, took a turn for the worse.
He also ran May 18, the day he was inducted into the new Colorado Running Hall of Fame.
At Michaels’ request, the family suggests donations to the Family Resources Center, the nonprofit agency he directed to help 70,000 of Colorado’s neediest residents.
Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, who worked with the Family Resource Center, said Tuesday night that he “felt lucky to have known Bill Michaels. The world needs more people like him. He really cared.”
A service will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Rodef Shalom, 450 S. Kearney St., followed by burial at Emanuel Cemetery within Fairmount Cemetery.
Besides his wife, Laura, survivors include daughters Anna Michaels and Grace Michaels and son Henry, all of Denver; and two brothers, Lee Michaels of Skaneateles, N.Y., and Rabbi Jim Michaels of Rockville, Md.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
