Survivor man

In 1982, Dick Beardsley narrowly lost the Boston Marathon by one-hundredth of a second to Alberto Salazar.

Beardsley, a two-time Olympic qualifier and Minnesota-born athlete, was one of the fastest American runners during his professional career. But his story doesn’t end when he retired his running shoes. Life after running became what seemed like a never-ending series of unfortunate events.

In 1989, Beardsley was mangled in a farming accident. He suffered broken ribs, limbs and head contusions. He recovered, but in July 1992, he was in a car accident that resulted in an injured back and neck.

Then just the next year, while running along the roadside, he was struck by a car.

Recovered from those accidents, Beardsley was out hiking with his son and son’s friend when the snowy ground gave away beneath his feet and he fell down a cliff.

After all these accidents, Beardsley said the worst was yet to come.
The crashes, falls and other accidents left Beardsley addicted to painkillers, and he said dealing with withdrawal while in a rehabilitation centre was the worst time of his life.
"The struggle I had with those – it was very, very nasty," he said. "I’ve had almost 14 years of sobriety now and today life is very good."

Throughout it all, Beardsley believes it was an innate positive attitude and his faith that got him through each ordeal.

Today he shares his story as a motivational speaker and shared a message of faith and perseverance with students at St. Ignatius High School Friday morning.

"I remember what it was like being a high school kid, the difficulties and all the things kids go through and I went through all those things," he said. "I was a terrible runner in high school yet I hung with it and fell in love with the sport and was able to go on to become a top elite athlete."

He uses running to express his message of never giving up, keeping a positive attitude and leading a healthy, active, chemical-free lifestyle.

Beardsley is in Thunder Bay as a speaker for the inaugural Miles with the Giant Marathon set for this Sunday. While he now resides in Austin, Texas, the Minnesota native used to travel to Thunder Bay in the early 1980s to run in the Heart of Thunder Bay half marathon.

"It was a big event back then," he said. "I ran that and was fortunate to win it a couple of times. I made a lot of friends here."

After his farm accident, his running mates from the city threw a benefit to raise money to help cover some of his medical expenses since he didn’t have health insurance.

Beardsley chose to share his story with others because he said he was given a gift of being able to communicate well with people.

"I’ve always felt that things happen for a reason and there’s a reason they happened to me," he said. "I went through some of these struggles so I could hopefully relay my story to these young kids who will go through some difficult times in their life…There may be some ups and downs to get there but don’t ever give up on life; things will work out in the end."