The world of track and field lost one of its most interesting citizens on November 25 as Mike Fanelli died from glioblastoma (brain cancer) at his home in California. He was 67. Fanelli fell in love with the sport at a young age and in junior high school began a collection of athletics memorabilia that would grow into one of the largest in the world. He developed into a tenacious distance runner at Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and went on to set school records in the 10,000 meters at City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University. Over the course of his career he clocked 4:16 for the mile and 2:25 for the marathon, and he logged more than 115,000 miles in his long love affair with running. After founding the Greater San Francisco Track Club in 1979, Fanelli's activity as a coach, meet director and commentator grew exponentially. He was the color commentator for the Bay to Breakers road race from 1984-2005 and also served as elite athlete coordinator for several major marathons. He worked for Reebok International in their promotions division for three years and was the head coach of the Impala Racing Team from 1990-2000. As a coach, Fanelli guided 14 athletes to Olympic Trials qualification and was involved with USATF's national cross country committee. He also served with national teams at international distance events. Outside the world of athletics, Fanelli was an elite realtor, specializing in wine country properties in California for Healdsburg Sotheby & International Realty since 2006. He was consistently among the nation's top real estate professionals and was in demand as a lecturer on business success strategies. Fanelli's collection of memorabilia, affectionately known as "The Garage", encompassed more than 150 years of items covering the gamut of the sport, including meet programs, magazines and artifacts that reflect the global nature of track and field. He entertained fans with his frequent Facebook posts that included historical tidbits from his collection and was the de facto go-to guy for factoids and trivia about the sport. Inducted into the City College of San Francisco Hall of Fame in 1988 and the San Francisco State Hall of Fame in 2011, Fanelli has a scholarship named in his honor at SFSU and the Mike Fanelli Classic track and field meet was established in 2019 at his alma mater. Fanelli is survived by his wife, Renay Weissberger Fanelli. A memorial service will be held in January. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Mike Fanelli Scholarship Fund at SFSU. Photo Credit: Paul Merca, 2021