Charles Kastner
Charles Kastner is a Seattle based writer and financial manager. The University of New Mexico Press published his history of the first footrace across America in 2007. Syracuse University Press published his history of the second trans-America race in 2014, and his study of one of the leading runners in both races, Eddie Gardner of Seattle, in 2020. Kastner won the Peace Corps Writers 2020 Paul Cowan Non-Fiction Award for his study of Eddie Gardner. He has also contributed chapters to two books dealing with his experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer as well as writing for Marathon and Beyond and Northwest Runner magazines. He holds advanced degrees in business, history, and environmental biology.
Articles by
Edward Gardner (1898-1966)
Championship cross country runner Edward Gardner was born in Birmingham, Alabama in December 1898. Shortly after his birth, his family...
Toby Joseph Cotton, Jr. (1913–1978)
Toby Joseph Cotton, Jr., was born in Louisiana on March 2, 1913. By 1916, his family had migrated to Portland,...
Samuel L. Robinson (1896-1964?)
Samuel L. Robinson was born in Kansas in 1896. He arrived in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in his teens, where...
The 1928 Bunion Derby: America’s Brush with Integrated Sports
In the following account sports historian Charles Kastner describes the Bunion Derby, the 1928 cross country footrace that captured the...
Frank “Black Dan” Hart (1858-1908)
In the late 1870’s and early 1880’s, the sport of “six day, go as you please” endurance racing gripped the...
Eddie “the Sheik” Gardner: An Ultramarathoning Legend and Unsung Hero in the Struggle for Racial Equality in America.
Eddie Gardner Crossing the Mississippi River at St. Louis, 1929 “Image Courtesty of Charles Kastner” In the following account, sports...
Resurrecting the Legacy of Eddie Gardner
In this article below historian Charles B. Kastner describes his new book, Race Across America, on Eddie Gardner, the now...
Alberta Hunter and the Rhythm Rascals in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II
In the following article independent historian Charles Kastner describes the 1944-1945 tour of Alberta Hunter and the Rhythm Rascals who...
