In 1958, 60 students from Missouri Valley College ran from Marshall, Missouri all the way to Orlando, Florida. “There was a group of students that came up with an idea that they should run an Olympic-style type of torch from our opponent's hometown for homecoming,” said Mike Machholz, the athletic wrestling coach.
“Dr. Leslie was involved with that as a student. So, that same year, we had a very good football team and we were selected to play in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida. So, they ran it for homecoming and then they thought, okay this would be a great idea let’s organize this and let’s run it to Orlando.”
The group of students that ran from Marshall, Missouri to Orlando, Florida ran about 1,285 miles from one destination to the other. “They did it and you know it became tradition, from that point forward,” Machholz said.
Dr. Ed Leslie was not only a student that was involved in the Torch Run, but he was one of the founders of this tradition who helped come up with this idea. Dr. Leslie’s wife, Wendy Leslie, said, “In 1958 Ed and his roommate, Terry Shoemaker were both involved in Cross Country and Track.
They just thought it would be neat to have an Olympic-style Torch Run and they came up with the idea to run a torch from wherever we were playing our home football game, that team, into the Valley campus, and then start a bonfire and pep rally the night before the homecoming game. So the first year, in 58 they started in Independence.”
For many years, one boy and one girl from each athletic department would run the Torch Run every homecoming from their opponent's hometown or city in order to honor the original group of runners that ran in 1958.
However, there was a time that the Torch Run tradition did not commence again until Dr. Leslie and Machholz had come up with the 5K race idea. “When Dr. Leslie had his stroke, we had already had conversations about how to change this, he and I had,” Machholz said.
“We decided that we would come up with a different idea. The idea now, to honor Dr. Leslie and that group that did the original run, what we do to keep the spirit alive, is have somebody from the Cross Country team run a lap around the football field with a torch and you know, head out with one lap around campus. So, we still have all the teams involved.
We get two members from each team, each athletic program, and they come together.”
Even though the Torch Run 5K has been going on for only three years, the overall anniversary of the race has been celebrated in different forms for about 58 years.
“It’s our understanding that without him and his passion for it, it just fell by the waste side,” Wendy said. “When we moved back in 87 he revived the Torch Run and it was going strong every year at homecoming.”
This new tradition has allowed the Torch Run's original legacy to be reborn while allowing it to strive with many more generations to come. It has become an important historic, homecoming event for the staff, students, and the Leslie family.
It is an honorable, tradition that will forever change the minds of today’s youth thanks to Dr. Ed Leslie.
