Army vet Motley, 79, marks return to marathons

HAMDEN – Mountains, marathon, or jumping out of an airplane?

John Motley had turned 62. Semi-retired, the U.S. Army veteran and successful businessman was looking for an outlet.

“Running won. Climbing a mountain came in a distant third,” Motley said of his first choosing to run a full marathon in 2004. Two marathons followed before he was waylaid by a car accident.

Saturday’s Eversource Hartford Half Marathon will mark his return.

“I like to do things that are meaningful and have an impact. The Hartford Marathon fits the bill,” said Motley, now 79 and a Hamden resident since 2018. “The marathon and the half marathon are challenges. I like challenges. A marathon is goal oriented. You have to get ready for that day.”

Motley, who visualizes goals then pursues them with passion, revealed his game plan for a return to competitive running.

“I’ve been preparing for 79 years,” he said with a chuckle. “Most especially the last six months. I set up a regimen to build myself up and pretty much stick to it no matter what. It encourages me to get outside four or five times a week. It gets my mind right, as they say in ‘Cool Hand Luke.’”

Motley has pushed the cultural envelope since his return from the Army. He served three years, the last in Vietnam, and was awarded a Bronze Star.

Motley used the G.I Bill to attend Southern Illinois University. Working by day in Chicago, he attended DePaul University’s College of Law at night. Then he graduated from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Breaking down barriers is part of his DNA.

Motley served as president of the Wadsworth Atheneum, the first African American to head an art museum in the nation.

“I have often been the first African American or the only African American in different areas of business,” Motley said. “In many situations, I’m the only or one of few. It always comes together.”

Motley moved to New York from Chicago to work for Chemical Bank, now part of J.P. Morgan Chase.

“I immediately fell in love working with non-profits. The first was Amistad Foundation, now the Amistad Center for Art & Culture,” said Motley, past president of an institute that collects artwork and artifacts that reflect the African American experience.

Amistad named a room for him, the John Motley Study, in 2015.

Motley was born to serve. “I’ve been alive for a third of our nation’s history. I’ve seen a lot of things,” he said. “I helped establish the Northern-most chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee working out of Southern Illinois University. I’ve attended two SNCC conventions in Nashville (1963) and Atlanta (1964), where I met John Lewis at both those events. It’s part of my time, part of my personality. I’m not afraid of being the first,

the only, or standing out in a crowd.”

That brought him back to this week’s half marathon.

“Now I’ll be part of the crowd. I’ll mask up at beginning and I’ll mask up at the end,” he said. “I expect by the finish it won’t be as crowded. I’ll be among a few of us walking at the rear of the marathoners. My goal is to cross that line.”

Motley