History
Mission Statement
The Dallas Running Club is a volunteer-based organization that provides a supportive community for every runner.
Our Founder – Tal Morrison
Tal Morrison was the founder and first president of the Dallas Running Club, named Cross Country Club of Dallas from 1969 through 2006.
Tal started running in 1960 inspired by President Kennedy's push for physical fitness. Three years later in Washington, D.C., Tal ran his first 50-miler race named after President Kennedy.
When he retired in 1967, he continued running and usually found himself at White Rock Lake. He decided to start a running club, and he wanted to pattern it off the New York running club, which had a race the first Saturday of every month at 8 a.m. To get members, he would stop other runners he would see at the lake and ask for their contact information.
Humble Beginnings
Dues the first year, dues were a whopping $3 a piece and Morrison managed to gather together about 20 members. One of those members was none other than Don Lucas, a lawyer turned shoe salesman, who ended up naming his first running shoe store after his dog, Luke.
Morrison remembers well November 1969, which was the first running of the Dallas Turkey Trot. "We had about 15 of our members run the race and everyone placed," he says proudly.
In honor of the great contribution Tal Morrison has made to the DRC and the Dallas running community, the DRC's April race is officially called The Tal Morrison Classic and a scholarship program, Scholars On The Run, The Tal Morrison Scholarship fund, has also been organized in his name.
Tal died the night of June 3, 2015, National Running Day, at the age of 93.
Leaders
Here is a list of club presidents and their years served since the founding of the club in 1969.
President
Term(s)
Tal Morrison
1969-1973
Ralph Taite
1973-1974
Norm Alsobrook
1975-1976
Dave Debell
1976
Dave Branning
1976-1977
Dale Hager
1977-1978
James Thruston
1979-1982
Dan Millet
1983
Ed Weadock
1984
Peggy Tibbits & Bob Hancock
1985-1986
Jean Millet
1987-1989
George Eastes
1990-1991, 1993-1994
J.D. Miller
1992-1993
Cricket Griffin
1995-1996
Dan Lipshur
1997-1998
Horace Duncan
1999-2000
Cline Taplin
2001-2004
Glenn Carter
2005-2006
Libby Jones
2007-2008
Greg Hall
2009-2010
Peggy Munroe
2011-2012
Kyle Wills
2012-2014
Lisa Garris
2015
Teresa Pennington
2016
James Jessup
2017-2018
Alex Delacruz
2019-Current
