Paul Boyer
Memorial Fun Run

It wasn’t uncommon for Boyer to stand in the hallway between classes early in the fall, and “draft” his cross country teams by telling students they “looked like runners.” To be clear, many did not, but Boyer wasn’t just in it for the athletic success (of which his teams had plenty). He was in Toledo to profoundly impact the lives of students, which he did for over three decades of teaching, while coaching cross country, wrestling, and track.

Nearly every person who encountered Paul Boyer has a Boyer-ism to share — some helpful (and often humorous) tenet given by Boyer about any of his many passions: stewardship, reverence for the outdoors, woodworking, natural science, community, and the pride of maintaining one’s personal health.

It’s impossible to know when Paul Boyer first acquired his sea foam green full-sized van — later coined the “Green Machine” by generations of cross country runners, but it was a time machine of sorts, still going strong (with holes in the floorboard and all) until his final year of coaching in 1997/98. Over an era when people were pushing the limits of experimentation, “LSD” for Boyer’s tribe always meant a “long slow distance” and generally happened somewhere along Elk City Road, over seven or eight miles on a perfect fall evening, finishing under an apple tree with sun-ripened fruit and all that life has to offer.

For decades, he took athletes to Crater Lake, Steens Mountain, and campouts in South Track to train during the summer. Training, of course, always being both athletics and life.

No Boyer team experience was complete without the contributions of his wife, Nancy Boyer, whose legendary “Boyer Cookies” were a fixture at meets and events for years. Nancy’s cookies were as much a part of the team tradition as the miles logged on Elk City Road — and we’re proud to carry that tradition forward at this event.

Athletes who Boyer had a hand in coaching appear on the State Honors Board in Toledo’s gym over a dozen times, indicating that they won state championships. But that’s a side note in the legacy of Paul Boyer. He taught generations of kids in Toledo how to be who they are, how to make sense of the world, and most importantly, how to demand the best of themselves in their own success, and in service to their community.

“It is very important that people can volunteer their time, because everybody can donate it, regardless of their financial standing or creed and color. One thing everybody does have is 24 hours in a day.”— Paul Boyer, Toledo yearbook, 1986

Those words continue to inspire us today.