He and his wife, Lois, were sitting in their Lazy Boys one afternoon when he suddenly said, “Someone should do something for these veterans.”
Her reply?
“Well, why don’t you do something for them.”
Hugh Stobbs knew a lot of things about a lot of things, but the man knew road racing better than anyone in the tri-state area. Hugh then made good on his wife’s challenge when he gathered his friends and founded what became the annual Lois Stobbs Memorial Veterans 10K Walk & Run. The event was canceled this past November because of the pandemic, of course, but several members of RWB chose to honor the holiday, and Hugh, by walking the course on the day it was scheduled to take place.
Hugh Stobbs made a difference in his native city because he loved Wheeling, and it started well before he teamed up with the Boury brothers to begin and make the Elby’s Distance Race an international event. Runners from throughout the world descended on the Friendly City each Memorial Day weekend for more than a decade for the cash prizes, sure, but also for Hugh. The man became friends with people like Bill Rodgers, one of the country’s premiere runners through the 1980s and 1990s, because Hugh seemed to make friends with everyone who crossed his course.
He loved to tell the stories he collected through his years. He offered help to anyone who needed it. He shared his treasures with people who cared, and he loved his children like any good father would. Hugh was rightfully proud of the gut-break racecourse he designed and what the events did for his hometown. People used to line the streets from downtown Wheeling to Bethlehem to Elm Grove to Woodsdale, then Fulton, up and over Wheeling Hill and back to the Elby’s country friend chicken lunch at the Wheeling Civic Center.
The Veterans Race evolved into a big deal just like the Elby’s Distance Race was, and Hugh Stobbs made those events that way on purpose because he competed in and learned from the best of the best. He ran all the challenging marathons in places like Boston and New York, but the one race Hugh actually won is the race we call life.
God bless his soul.
