Tom McCall started running on the dirt track of an Illinois prison. On Monday, he'll take on the Boston Marathon.
'I've never even been to a marathon,' McCall said, 'When I ran [my first half marathon] at Fox Valley it had like 3,000 people there, but I've never been to something with 30,000 people racing, fans packing the town cheering them on.
'I'm really looking forward to this.'
That McCall is Boston bound is certainly a story of resilience, his ability to use six years of incarceration to find a way forward rather than sinking into more dismay. But it's a story that resonates beyond one person, speaking to the value of running in itself, how it can help a human's body, mind, and spirit. To the value of community, how being among like-minded people and building relationships can lift you from most any circumstance. To the value of goal-setting, how the determination and discipline it takes to get there can impact every corner of your world.
To the value of second chances, and how if you open yourself up to people around you, you can take full advantage of them.
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For McCall, who was released in 2022, enrollment in the recovery program at Wayside Cross Ministries in Aurora connected him to their unique partnership with a program called
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Tom McCall (second from right, No. 933) is shown with fellow runners of Up and Running Again, including the program's founder Steve Tierney (second from left, wearing hat). Also shown are Bruce McEvoy (left), Sherman Richardson (No. 6050), and Max Hernandez (right).
Tom McCall
From there, a running star was born, with McCall capping his first 12-week program by running that Fox Valley Half in 1 hour, 36 minutes, 57 seconds. Almost immediately, his volunteer coach at Up and Running Again, Bruce McEvoy, a local pastor and running enthusiast with 36 marathons to his credit, challenged him with two letters any respectable distance runner knows well: BQ.
'At first, I thought that meant barbecue, and I love barbecue, it's my favorite food. I had no idea what it meant to Boston Qualify,' McCall said.
But he listened. He upped his training and within months, ran a 3:15:06 marathon. Time to pack his bags for Boston.
'This is a story of a man that has done the hard work,' McEvoy said. 'When he had no other resources, he did it, not on his own — the higher power of Jesus gave him strength — but his relentless pursuit of health, health in the body, to then having the opportunity to be released from prison and then stumble upon a place that was going to be starting a running program.
'He kept getting fortunate, blessed, and a lot call it luck, but I would argue no, he stumbled into good fortune that might allow him to be at a starting line that will ultimately get him to one of the most historic finish lines of all time, but he's doing the work. And his appendix to the story is setting a personal best at Boston and then continuing to launch to the next thing, his vision to use running and the advocacy he has to impact others, others being fellow veterans, to continue to inspire.'
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Tom McCall is looking forward to adding a Boston Marathon medal to his collection on Patriots Day.
Tom McCall
Therein lies the next chapter of McCall's story. When he's not out running, training well enough that he has designs on immediately requalifying for Boston with his time on Monday, McCall's energy goes into his foundation, which aims to open a tiny-home community for homeless veterans, helping them get off the streets and into their own homes.
As McCall writes on a
From where he was, to where he is now, running has been his most reliable vehicle. What started as indoor gym work, where he took assistance from a fellow weightlifter and rebuilt an ailing knee he'd been told would need surgery, eventually moved to the outdoor dirt track, in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What happened from there, well, that's a story only McCall truly knows.
I asked him what running has meant to him. His answer was threefold: body, mind, and spirit.
'Well, health-wise it's phenomenal, I have a 44 resting heartbeat and I expect to break a 3:10 marathon at the age of 54,' he said. 'If I can be in low aerobic capacity, which I believe my body has transformed into, then I can finish strong at Boston and Heartbreak Hill will be a success rather than something hard.
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'Mentally, it makes you stronger, too, when you overcome these challenges. Determination and challenges and overcoming them, that's all mental.
'And whenever your mind starts to break on you a little bit out there, you have some rough sessions, you miss targets, you have shoe failures, whatever it might be, you go into spirit. Especially on long runs, I'll go into spirit, suddenly realizing, 'I don't even remember that mile at all.' Your mind is free. I'll be out there in communion with God, I get rid of all the distractions. It's my go-to, my place away from the world.'
From the prison yard to Boston, running built him a whole new world.
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Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
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French Open takeaways: Two thrilling finals, the best shots and the funniest moments
Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court. This week, the French Open concluded with two incredible finals. Coco Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka in a wind-buffeted thriller, before Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner delivered five hours and 30 minutes of tennis psychodrama in one of the greatest Roland Garros matches of all time, Alcaraz closing the tournament with a running forehand winner. Advertisement 's tennis team, Matthew Futterman, Charlie Eccleshare and James Hansen, present their takeaways from the second Grand Slam of 2025, from the best shots and funniest moments to the biggest disappointments and the most incredible matches. The best match? Charlie Eccleshare: Maybe this category should be 'best match other than the men's final.' which realistically has this category sewn up. One I enjoyed a lot was Jack Draper's four-set win over Gaël Monfils in the second round. It had so many ingredients: late night, a home player, amazing rallies and drastic swings in momentum. Draper got the victory but the crowd, including the journalists, spent most of the match marveling at the athleticism and skill of the 38-year-old Monfils. Matthew Futterman: Of course the two finals were the best matches. Both went the distance, with so much on the line. All the wind-induced errors in the women's final didn't bother me at all. It added to the suspense, turning tennis into a psychological survival contest that the cool-headed Gauff won by a mile, even if the scoreline was closer than that. Advertisement Besides those, I will go with Novak Djokovic's surgical dismantling of Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. Djokovic dropped the first set, which turned out to be an information-gathering exercise. By the fourth, he was floating around the court, tossing up drop shots from behind the baseline before suddenly unleashing point-ending power. He played with so much surprise and creativity. There are many versions of Djokovic; the artist is my favorite. James Hansen: Sabalenka vs. Iga Świątek — yes, including the last set, because of what it displayed about elite tennis. The two most dominant players of the 2020s got only their second Grand Slam meeting. Świątek's title defense was on the line, as was Sabalenka's validation as a clay-court player to compete with the best. The fears realized in the first five games, as Sabalenka streaked away and the forlorn Świątek of so many recent first sets appeared. The forcing quality of the play, as Świątek flattened her forehand and increased its speed to meet Sabalenka's barrage. The comeback to 4-4, the rise into the tiebreak. Sabalenka's toughness to put aside a lost lead and take the first set. Świątek showing the world why she is a four-time French Open champion, taking the second by hitting the shots and using the footwork that only she has. And then the clouds clearing for Sabalenka in the third, and Świątek having to accept that even if only for one set, the mountain was just too high to climb. The funniest moment? Eccleshare: With Świątek facing the winner of a match between Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, many tennis fans were desperate for Ostapenko to set up one of the most intriguing matchups in tennis. Despite her general inconsistency, the Latvian has beaten Świątek, the five-time Grand Slam champion, in all six of their meetings. Advertisement When I asked Świątek if she had a preferred opponent in her third-round news conference, I expected the usual straight bat players give to this question. That's initially how Świątek responded, answering 'no.' We maintained eye contact, as I wasn't sure she was being entirely genuine. At that point Świątek burst into laughter and said: 'Am I a good liar?' She added after more laughs, 'Oh, my God. I couldn't play poker.' It was a particularly enjoyable moment because Świątek has had a difficult time of late, and has not always been at her most relaxed. She also got her wish: Rybakina beat Ostapenko, before Świątek beat Rybakina in a thriller to reach the quarterfinals. Futterman: Ben Shelton loves the show. In his opening match, he flipped a desperate passing shot over the net while sprinting toward the back of the court. It felt great off his racket, and with his back to the net, he didn't see the ball land. Advertisement When he heard it called out, he asked the chair umpire how close it was to the line. These questions usually happen when a ball is an inch or less out, with the chair umpires pinching their thumb and forefinger in the universal tennis sign language for 'pretty close.' I've never seen an umpire hold his hands more than a foot apart the way this one did. Hansen: Gauff admitting that she aired a message from Alcaraz on social media when she made her breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2019. The worst prediction? Eccleshare: I thought Sabalenka would beat Gauff in straight sets in the women's final. I said they'd be tight, but I just thought Sabalenka would be too strong. In the end, it was Gauff who brought her best level, outlasting and ultimately outplaying the world No. 1. Advertisement Futterman: With Alcaraz down a break late in the fourth set of the men's final, I wrote on our live blog: 'Carlos finally looks like this is a lost cause.' That was at 7:11 p.m. local time. We all know what happened over the next hour and a half. Hansen: I thought Tereza Valentová had a serious chance of beating Gauff in their second-round match. She has the kind of game that can hurt Gauff and the American hadn't grooved into form. Gauff ran Valentová off the court. The best storyline? Eccleshare: The way elite athletes' sacrifices are lionized is a bit odd, and inconsistent with pretty much every other profession: utter dedication at the expense of all else is expected to be the norm, and anything different to this approach is seen as strange. Advertisement So it was thought-provoking to hear Alexander Bublik, a mercurial talent who represents Kazakhstan, talking about how he works hard but needs to have balance in his life, like seeing friends and having proper time with his wife and son. Speaking to his long-time agent added more color to this complex and intriguing character. Bublik's approach is at odds with most of the tour, but he feels what he does is totally normal. And it took him all the way to the quarterfinals, taking out Jack Draper in the fourth round with one of the finest displays by anyone all fortnight. Futterman: Tournament directors kept putting men in the featured night match, many of which were one-sided affairs over in two hours. The women's matches that would have been obvious choices for that slot produced long, scintillating contests. Nothing like letting the rackets do the talking. Hansen: Alfie Hewett's pain and joy. The British wheelchair tennis legend went through another heartbreaking loss on the Paris clay, but he rebounded from it on the same day to complete one of the most remarkable records in the sport. Advertisement Hewett's rivalry with Tokito Oda, 18 and from Japan, is fast becoming an epochal one. Oda beat Hewett at Roland Garros to win Olympic gold last summer in a three-set thriller. They met again at Roland Garros this year for the men's singles final, and Oda prevailed in straight sets, giving him a 5-2 head-to-head against Hewett in major finals. A few hours later, Hewett took to the court to face Oda again, this time in the men's doubles. Hewett played with Gordon Reid, in a partnership that has won 22 Grand Slam titles; Oda played with Stéphane Houdet of France. Hewett and Reid won the match in three sets, to complete what I am dubbing the Grand Slam double bagel. They are six-time champions in the Australian Open and six-time champions at Roland Garros. A 6-0, 6-0 record at the first two majors of the year. The biggest letdown? Eccleshare: The scheduling was once again a big disappointment. Women were never given the Court Phillippe-Chatrier night session, and were handed the graveyard slot at the start of play every day that it was available. It meant matches like world No. 1 Sabalenka's quarterfinal against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen were played in front of near-empty stands. Sabalenka and other leading players called out the unequal scheduling. Advertisement Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo continues to say that the night session decision is simply because men's matches are longer and so offer spectators better value for money. There's a bigger picture around equality, to which the tournament generally seems oblivious. Futterman: I wanted to see Frances Tiafoe play Alcaraz in the semis. Their matches at the U.S. Open and and Wimbledon have been electric. Alcaraz brings out the best in Tiafoe, and likely would have won, but together they would have put on show. Lorenzo Musetti got in the way — and then he injured his leg in the semifinal and was cooked after just over two sets. He retired early in the fourth. Hugo Gaston, the French drop-shot and underarm-serve artist, pulling out of his second-round match against Shelton's high-octane arsenal, comes a close second. Hansen: The French Open's bafflingly restrictive media rights policy, which limits highlights from being posted outside of official channels and copyright-strikes fan footage, player footage and the montages, GIFs and fan cams that bring tennis stars to a wider audience scattered across the internet. Alcaraz and Sinner's men's final is the kind of cultural moment that can propel tennis back to the relevance that it had in the era of the Big Three and the Williams sisters. Let as many people see it as possible, in whatever form meets them where they are. The best newcomer? Eccleshare: Wild card Loïs Boisson's stunning run to the semifinals was one for the ages: the lowest-ranked woman (No. 361) to reach a major semi in the 40 years since records (collected by Opta) began. Boisson did it playing an exciting brand of tennis that scrambled the minds of top-10 players Jessica Pegula and Mirra Andreeva. Only recently back from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, Boisson is now up to No, 65 in the rankings and tennis fans will hopefully be seeing a lot more of her. Advertisement Futterman: Victoria Mboko, the Canadian daughter of war refugees from the Congo has become the main player I am keeping my eye on right now. I found about her at the Miami Open in March, met her at the Italian Open in Rome in May, and watched her blossom in Paris, surviving qualifying and winning two matches at 18. Hansen: The ITF World Tennis Tour, which became a place of intrigue for more casual tennis fans at this French Open — hardcore followers (guilty) will have watched Boisson, Mboko and Valentová make waves at a Grand Slam and thought, 'Yeah, of course.' Players that break through are so often figured as unicorns. A trio of players making their first runs on the biggest stage in tennis, all three of whom did it on the back of remarkable win-rates and streaks on the third rung of the professional tennis ladder, is a reminder that looking for signs of sustainability to the success is just as important as celebrating the unexpected. Favorite quote? Eccleshare: Sabalenka delivered a withering news conference after losing to Gauff, criticizing her own play, saying that Gauff had hit balls 'off the frame,' and going as far to say that Świątek would have won the final had she beaten Sabalenka in the semifinals. The American slapped down this notion in her own news conference with an extremely dignified dismissal. Advertisement 'I mean, I don't agree with that. I'm here sitting here,' she said. Futterman: I asked Jasmine Paolini during a one-one-one interview what she thinks her superpower is. 'My smile,' she said. And then she showed me from about 18 inches away. Hansen: Świątek's, 'Am I a good liar?' Best shot? Eccleshare: This one has to come from the men's final. So many to choose from, but the one that stands out to me is the crosscourt backhand passing shot Alcaraz hit at 5-6 in the fifth set, from so deep that he was almost with us in the press box. It took the match into a fifth set tiebreak, and from there he took over to win the title. Advertisement Futterman: Alcaraz's running forehand to win the final. He was ahead 9-2 in the tiebreak, but after all the ups and downs of this match, all the missed chances, there was an urgency to that moment. It was his first match point of seven available, but after five and a half hours, he needed to be done with this in one swing of his racket. On a full sprint across the baseline, he produced a swing-like-you-mean-it grunting stroke that Sinner watched fly past him like the whole match had done. Non-finals choice: Holger Rune's play around the net post against Quentin Halys in the third round. Nothing like defying the rules of the game like that, hitting a winner that never rises more than about eight inches off the ground. Hansen: Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), *5-6, 30-30 Jannik Sinner. Alcaraz has already gotten from 15-30 to 30-30, when Sinner fizzes an arcing forehand return into the corner of the court. Alcaraz, stretching in desperation, flicks out his racket to play a defensive slice. For any other player, the best they could offer would have been a short reply or a miss in the net. Alcaraz curves it all the way back to Sinner's own forehand corner, flipping the point — and the course of the last game of the last set of a Grand Slam final — back in his favor. Sinner puts up a shortish ball and Alcaraz dismisses it with a backhand winner. Then he gets to the tiebreak with Charlie's shot, and wins the title with Matt's. Advertisement Thanks to the aforementioned media policy, we can't show any of them here. Recommended reading: Tennis needed the Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry to be epochal. Their first major final delivered beyond its dreams Coco Gauff's journey into a tennis unknown How Loïs Boisson became the star of the French Open When a tennis court comes alive: The living clay of Roland Garros 🏆 The winners of the week 🎾 ATP: 🏆 Carlos Alcaraz (2) def. Jannik Sinner (1) 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(10-2) to win the French Open in Paris. It is the Spaniard's fifth Grand Slam title. 🎾 WTA: 🏆 Coco Gauff (2) def. Aryna Sabalenka (1) 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 to win the French Open in Paris. It is the American's second Grand Slam title. 📈📉 On the rise / Down the line 📈 Loïs Boisson moves up 296 places from No. 361 to No. 65 after her incredible run to the French Open semifinals. Boisson, who started the tournament as the French No. 24, is now the No. 1 women's player in the country. 📈 Alexander Bublik ascends 19 spots from No. 62 to No. 43 after reaching the French Open quarterfinals. 📈 Victoria Mboko enters the top 100 for the first time, after rising 21 spots from No. 120 to No. 91. Advertisement 📉 Casper Ruud drops eight places from No. 8 to No. 16 after failing to defend his semifinal points from last year's French Open. 📉 Iga Świątek falls two places from No. 5 to No. 7 after Aryna Sabalenka ended her French Open title defense. 📉 Stefanos Tsitsipas moves down six spots from No. 20 to No. 26. 📅 Coming up 🎾 ATP 📍Stuttgart, Germany: Stuttgart Open (250) featuring Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Gaël Monfils. 📍's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands: Rosmalen Grass Court Championships (250) featuring Daniil Medvedev, Gabriel Diallo, Ugo Humbert, Alexei Popyrin. 📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV Advertisement 🎾 WTA 📍London: Queen's (500) featuring Zheng Qinwen, Emma Raducanu, Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys. 📍's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands: Rosmalen Grass Court Championships (250) featuring Liudmila Samsonova, Bianca Andreescu, Maria Sakkari, Danielle Collins. 📺 UK: Sky Sports; U.S.: Tennis Channel Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men's and women's tours continue. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Sports Business, Tennis, Women's Tennis 2025 The Athletic Media Company
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3 days ago
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Pedro Pagés hits a 2-run HR, Sonny Gray pitches into 7th inning as Cardinals beat Dodgers 5-0
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pedro Pagés hit a two-run homer, Sonny Gray pitched into the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 Friday night in a game that started after a 1 hour, 17 minute rain delay. Willson Contreras hit his sixth homer of the season in the eighth inning off Chris Stratton, who was re-signed by Los Angeles before the game, and Nolan Arenado had three hits to help St. Louis improve to a National League-best 21-9 since May 4. Advertisement Gray (7-1) allowed eight hits and struck out five without walking a batter in 6 1/3 innings to earn his second win against the Dodgers in eight career starts against them. JoJo Romero, Phil Maton and Steven Matz combined to pitch 2 2/3 innings in relief to secure the Cardinals' eighth shutout of the season. Pagés lined the first pitch he saw from Justin Wrobleski (1-2) over the left-center field bullpen in the second inning for his fifth home run of the season to put St. Louis ahead 2-0. Brendan Donovan blooped a two-out, two-run single to center field in the fifth inning to push the Cardinals' lead to 4-0. Advertisement Wrobleski allowed four runs on six hits and three walks in a career-best six innings after being recalled from triple-A Oklahoma City prior to the game. Key moment Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts each singled to lead off the third inning. However, Gray struck out Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández, and Max Muncy flew out to right field to end the Dodgers' threat. Key stat Gray has tossed 20 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to the sixth inning of his start on May 25 against Arizona. Gray has not allowed a run in four of his last six starts. Up next Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-4, 2.39 ERA) is scheduled to face Cardinals RHP Erick Fedde (3-5, 3.82) on Saturday. ___ AP MLB: David Solomon, The Associated Press
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6 days ago
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Ex-boxing champ Oliver McCall, 60, fights to bizarre draw 31 years after KO of Lennox Lewis
More than three decades after capturing the heavyweight title, Oliver McCall is still competing. McCall, 60, and longtime journeyman Carlos Reyes, 47, fought to a split draw on Tuesday evening in a six-round affair at the Texas Troubadour Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee. Reyes (7-17-3, 5 KOs) entered the night on a 13-fight winless streak that stretched all the way back to 2015, however a late surge earned him the draw (58-56, 56-58, 57-57) against the former heavyweight champion. Advertisement McCall (61-14-1, 40 KOs) is best known for his 1994 second-round upset knockout over then-WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. McCall dropped out of the heavyweight title picture after his infamous 1997 rematch with Lewis, wherein McCall suffered a mental breakdown mid-fight, refusing to engage with Lewis and even turning his back and walking away from the action on multiple occasions. Referee Mills Lane eventually stopped a tearful McCall in the fifth round, awarding Lewis a TKO victory. Despite that bizarre setback, McCall continued to make frequent in-ring appearances for the next 17 years until hanging up the gloves for the first time in 2014 at the age of 49. His retirement lasted just four years, though, and McCall made an under-the-radar comeback in 2018, beating Larry Knight. He then proceeded to stop Hugo Lomeli before taking another five-year absence from the sport. Advertisement But at 59 years old, McCall announced he was making a second comeback this past November — the same month as Jake Paul's heavily-scrutinized fight with 58-year-old Mike Tyson. McCall recorded two inside-the-distance victories over Stacy Frazier and Gary Cobia in his second comeback, but on Tuesday night, he didn't have it all his own way for the first time in more than a decade. McCall started the contest aggressively, landing short uppercuts on the inside and heavy straight punches at long range on a cagey Reyes in the opening round. Reyes was more active in the first minute of Round 2, pushing McCall back but having little success in terms of scoring punches. McCall connected with a left uppercut just before the halfway point of Round 2 and ended the stanza with a clean right hook. After being outworked for much of the third round, McCall buzzed Reyes with a counter right hand in the final 20 seconds. Reyes continued to pressure McCall in Round 4, but again it was McCall who connected with the more eye-catching punches — albeit there were fewer of them. Advertisement There was some confusion in McCall's corner before the fifth round, with his corner team asking the timekeeper which round was coming up. McCall's team seemed unaware that the contest was scheduled for six rounds rather than four rounds. Bizarrely, in the final two frames, McCall seldom threw a punch. The former heavyweight champion appeared heavily fatigued and chose to move around the ring with a high guard, aiming to see the final bell. McCall's earlier efforts, however, were enough to earn him a draw in the eyes of the three scoring judges. Former two-time heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs was ringside for the contest, with the Triller TV commentary team suggesting a McCall vs. Briggs showdown could be in play for later in 2025. Briggs, 53, will end a nine-year hiatus on July 1. Briggs and McCall's fights are being promoted by Jimmy Adams Promotions and hosted in the same Nashville venue just a few weeks apart.
