Runners Mark Your Calendars For The Deerfoot 5K

When: Saturday, April 20 at 9 a.m.
Where: Ninigret Park
What: A 5K to commemorate Deerfoot (Tarzan Brown)
Cost:  $25 – Link for registration form

Held annually in Ninigret Park, the Deerfoot 5K commemorates the accomplishments of Charlestown’s Ellison Myers Brown Sr. (September 22, 1914 – August 23, 1975), who was widely known as Tarzan Brown and known as Deerfoot among his people of the Narragansett Indian Tribe.

Brown was a two-time winner of the Boston Marathon, in 1936 (2:33:40) and 1939 (2:28:51). A direct descendant of the last acknowledged royal family of the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island, he also participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Brown was scheduled to be in the 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, but they were cancelled due to WWII.

Stories about Brown often appear in the Boston media at race time. One is that, in 1935, he ran the last miles of the race barefoot, having discarded his tattered sneakers approximately 20 miles into the race. Another is that, in 1936, the defending champion overtook Brown on what soon came to be known as Heartbreak Hill, reportedly giving Brown a pat on the shoulder; Brown rallied and won the race. Another is that, in 1938, along the way to the finish in Boston, Brown jumped into Lake Cochituate in Natick to cool off.

Brown is one of two Native Americans to have won the Boston Marathon. Brown also set American men’s records for a marathon at the 1939 Boston Marathon (2:28:51) and at a 1940 marathon in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts (2:27:30).