Paul de Bruyn (October 7, 1907 – April 5, 1997) was a German athlete. Born in Weserdeich (

Berne, Germany Berne is a municipality in the district of Wesermarsch, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is on the left bank of the Weser, approximately 20 km east of Oldenburg and 25 km northwest of Bremen. Notable people The Canadian photographer Le ...

) he became a Navy sailor and settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he started long distance running. He became the first runner from outside North America to win the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

in 1932. De Bruyn defeated defending champion Jimmy Henigan in 2:33:36, pulling ahead through the final two miles of the race and winning with a margin of 56 seconds. De Bruyn went on to participate in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

s of the

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. He finished 15th in 1932 and gave up at km 35 in 1936. Not fitting into the training regimen of German athletics he returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, quit road racing, married and became a U.S. citizen. As volunteer at the Navy in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was severely injured by an exploding ship's propeller in October 1945. After the war he worked as engineer in

. In 1967 he retired and moved to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, where he kept himself fit by long hiking tours and swimming. He became an honorary member of the ''Daytona Beach Track Club'' and was subsequently commemorated by the ''Paul deBruyn Memorial 30K'' road race, which is held annually in

New Smyrna Beach, Florida New Smyrna Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States, located on the central east coast of the state, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its population is 30,142 in 2020 by the United States Census Bureau. The downtown section of ...

. One year after he was invited to the 100th edition of the Boston Marathon, he died in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

External links

''Boston Marathon''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

, May 2, 1932 1907 births 1997 deaths German male long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics German emigrants to the United States Boston Marathon male winners 20th-century German people People from Wesermarsch {{Germany-longdistance-athletics-bio-stub