Disney Deads: History

Don attended the main DRS gathering in St Loius in May 1993. About that experience he writes, " It was a blast! I asked
about organizing another DRS gathering for the upcoming WDWM. There was only the marathon then, and not all runners
were marathoners, so it couldn't be a main DRS gathering because not all DRSers would/could run. However, I was given
the okay to start a sublist for DRSers going to the WDWM. This way the discussion wouldn't overwhelm the mailboxes of
those not interested in the event."

Beginning as a simple email list in 1993, the Dead runners met for the first time at the Disney marathon in 1994. Fellow
early dead runner, Holly Thompson of Texas then tells us, "Don was just doing an email forwarding thing (not even a
listserv type of list). It was a small enough group at that time, that he just collected email addresses and I think that
everybody just sent emails to the distribution list." And so the Dead Runners began.

Don helped organized the first two WDWM Dead Runner gatherings. The deads stayed at the Port Orleans resort in 1994
and 1995, back when the northern section was called Dixie Landings. One of the memories Don has of " the 1994 race, is
that the Northridge CA earthquake struck the following Monday. Some DR's were concerned and were anxious to get
home to LA." It remained simply an email list until 1999.

The history and tradition of the list continues as Holly tells us that once the email list needed to be moved off Don's
computer, she "offered to create a web page and have an actual listserv (I think that I sort of "stole" it from him, actually).
So I created the listserv and came up with the name-- Disney Dead Runners.". Holly bought the domain name and spent
her own money having temporary tattoos made. These were the skull tattoos with WDW on them and the dalmatian
neck-cooling things (cool ties). The site still remains, www.disney-deads.com . Once the list moved off his computer, Don
states "
I lost connection to the Dead Runners at that time. I didn't have a home Internet connection for a few years and there was
no way to stay connected to the Dead Runners."

Farol Thomson and Donna McCraw were around in those early years and Farol brought "the Hat" to those early
encounters. "Newbies" to the list and/or marathons were photographed wearing "the Hat" as a way to initiate them into the
Disney Deads. The list was also growing at this point and the group wanted their own time to get together. Charlie
Cangialosi, a local Orlando runner, took on the charge of arranging for an "Alternative Pasta Dinner"
(still affectionately known to this day as the APD), at the Macaroni Grill on Rt 192. This would be away from the traditional
pasta dinner offered by Disney to all athletes. The Saturday night feast was often times the first way Disney deads were
able to put a name with a face to the posts they had been receiving the year prior to the race. The APD tradition remains to
this day.

Holly took many of the early photos out there that can be found in the archives on this website. She served as the official
photographer at all the encounters and hosted the site and the listserv for about 5 years. The expense of maintaining the
website became too much and it was handed over to Jakson Badenhoop. Despite the site not being updated in 5 years, it
still manages to attract runners from all over the US and Canada and international athletes from several countries.

As the Disney deads grew in number, the need for more encounters , or "get togethers" became more apparent. No
longer was a single meeting at the APD enough. The runners wanted to get together and celebrate their triumphs and
challenges. A "bragathon" encounter was added with athletes meeting at the Wilderness Lodge on marathon evening.
Sporting their medals and telling stories, they can be found in front of the fireplace each January, in the late marathon day
afternoon. There are more encounters , warm up runs, River Rapid rides and meetings at the "D" family tent on race
morning now. The deads feel like a family these days and it's only fitting that families get together for fun.
Families have literally grown and grown up in this tight-knit community.

Much has changed since those early years but much has remained the same.
Five Disney dead runners have managed to run all 15 Disney marathons, Mike Lozano, Don Gworek, Rick Whitaker, Lou
Goetz and Jakson Badenhoop. Don has also run the one and only Disneyland marathon, back in 1995. Don tells us an
interesting story about trying to change the Disney marathon course one year. "One thing I tried to do in late December
2003 was weeks prior to the closing announcement of the animation studios. I tried to get the 2004 WDWM to run through
the Animation Building atrium, instead of the the street that runs parallel. Imagine the Disney marathon running through the
Disney Animation Studio. But there simply wasn't the time to do that kind of course change."

What started off as an email list, is much more than that now. The Disney deads are athletes brought together by the love
of sports and Disney, who've now become one big internet, family.

Not a year goes by when someone doesn't recall the sight of the runner who could always be seen on the Boardwalk at
about mile 22, wearing his finisher's medal and encouraging all those still on the course.

That athlete is none other than Don Gworek , the original founder of the Disney Dead Runners.

Kris Kozuch,
Disney Deads Historian