Arthur Vincent Roth (December 4, 1891 – October 10, 1950) was an American long-distance runner who won the 1916 Boston Marathon and competed in the men's marathon at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Roth was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1912 and 1913, he competed primarily in 10-mile road races. Roth competed in the 1913 ''New York Evening Mail'' Modified Marathon and placed 31st out of 1,500 runners. In 1914, he finished fifth at the Boston Marathon and was reported to have been from

Roxbury, Massachusetts Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...

. Representing the Mohawk Athletic Club, he won a five-mile race put on the Bronxdale Athletic Club in February 1915 (27:04). Three months later in May 1915, Roth finished fifth in a ten-mile contest through the streets of Jersey City and

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,69 ...

that was sponsored by

The Jersey Journal ''The Jersey Journal'' is a daily newspaper, published from Monday through Saturday, covering news and events throughout Hudson County, New Jersey. ''The Journal'' is a sister paper to ''The Star-Ledger'' of Newark, ''The Times'' of Trenton an ...

. By 1916, Roth was reported to be a "tracer in an architect's office". On February 22 of that year, he won a 25-mile-marathon in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, in a time of 2:48:40. Representing the Dorchester Club at the 1916 Boston Marathon two months later, Roth became the first Boston resident to win the event. He was given a silver

punch bowl A punch bowl or punchbowl is a bowl, often large and wide, in which the drink punch is served.''The Language of Drink'' Graham and Sue Edwards 1988, Alan Sutton Publishing Origins The word ''punch'' is a loanword from Hindi. The original drin ...

for his victory. The bowl was eventually loaned to the

Boston Athletic Association The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...

after a BAA intern observed it being used to hold beer cans at a party. In February 1917, Roth finished third in a 25-mile race in

(2:43:35). Later that year, he finished fourth in a 25.5 mile race in

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population is 105,643 as of the 2020 United States Census. Along with Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County. It is the sixth-largest city in Mas ...

. The 1920 Boston Marathon served as one of the selection races for the United States Olympic Team at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Roth, this time competing for the St. Alphonsus Association, secured a spot on the team by finishing second to Panayotis "Peter" Trivoulidas of Greece in a time of 2:30:31. At the Olympic marathon on August 22, he lined-up with competitors from 17 nations, but failed to finish the race after dropping out 14.5 miles into the race. On October 11, 1950, Roth died at his home in Natick, Massachusetts.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, Arthur 1891 births 1950 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics American male marathon runners Olympic track and field athletes of the United States People from Roxbury, Boston Boston Marathon male winners