Running was Ric Sayre's soul.
His best friend, Erik Wallbank, spoke of the Akron native and the internationally known marathoner who died following a run at his home in Ashland, Ore., Tuesday, as ''the humblest person I have ever known.''
An autopsy showed Mr. Sayre, 57, died of a heart attack or some other sudden heart ailment, said Phyllis Trowbridge, his partner of five years.
''He had so much integrity,'' she said of Mr. Sayre.
After a run Tuesday, she said, Mr. Sayre was talking to a neighbor when he passed out, fell backward and died.
Mr. Sayre moved from Akron to Oregon in 1981, and during his racing career won 12 marathons, including races in Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.; Vancouver and Ottawa, Canada; and Australia, Trowbridge said.
He qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in five different years. In 1987, he was the U.S. Marathon champion and represented the U.S. in the Pan American Games.
''He would fight for what he believed,'' she said.
Mr. Sayre, a graduate of Archbishop Hoban High School, attended Indian River Community College and Valdosta State College in Georgia, as well as Walsh College in North Canton.
''My accomplishment may seem amazing to an outsider, but not to me,'' he said in a 1979 Beacon Journal interview after finishing 29th in the Boston Marathon. ''To be honest, running provides an impetus to prove myself.''
Trowbridge said Mr. Sayre would help anyone at any time and had a tremendous fondness for animals.
''He would come home with a stray dog while on a run,'' and then get the dog to its owner, she said.
''He made me laugh,'' said Trowbridge, an artist.
Wallbank, who built Mr. Sayre's home in Oregon, described Sayre as ''a blue-collar Democrat populist'' who always spoke up for ''the little guy, like a guy who stepped out of a John Steinbeck novel.''
He worked as a clerk for the Ashland Food Coop and was on the coop's board of directors.
''He was 57 but he looked 40,'' Wallbank said. ''How could he die of a heart attack?''
The Ric Sayre/Walsh Invitational 5k and 8k race is held at Walsh University each year. This year, it will be Sept. 10.
Dan McCallion, a professor at Walsh University and soon to be the retired men's track and cross country coach, had known Mr. Sayre since the 1970s.
''He is a sincere, honest, straight-forward guy, easy to get along with,'' said McCallion, who planned to visit Mr. Sayre and Trowbridge in July.
Mr. Sayre and late runners Bill Heideman and Jim Klett were all involved in the Summit Athletic Running Club, McCallion said.
Mr. Sayre dropped the ''k'' from the end of his first name after he moved to Oregon, because he thought it was ''extraneous'' and from then on was Ric, Wallbank said.
Running was the world to him, Wallbank said.
''If he didn't run, he didn't want to be alive,'' he said.
Survivors include his father, Richard, mother Patricia, two brothers and a sister, all of the Akron area, Trowbridge said.
A memorial service for Mr. Sayre is being planned.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
