Bill Giduz, Inventor of Joggling, Dies at 72

Bill Giduz, credited for inventing the sport of joggling, died at age 72 on May 11 of complications from Parkinson's disease. Giduz achieved legendary status within the tight-knit joggling community, with jogglers from around the world expressing their condolences on the Jogglers United Facebook group. 

Bill Giduz joggling on campus at Davidson College, North Carolina
(Photo courtesy of the Giduz family, via Joe Salter)

The family's obituary includes some amazing details from Giduz's life, which he clearly lived to the fullest. The genius of combining juggling with running and naming it "joggling" is but one tiny blip in his long list of achievements, adventures and community-building work. Hilariously, according to the obituary, Giduz used to literally juggle his kids: "His love of juggling carried over to his family. His children remember being his 'juggling props,' Luke, his son, said. 'He used to juggle us as babies along with two balls,' added his daughter, Jenny."

Bill Giduz (Photo: Giduz family via News of Davidson) 

Giduz invented joggling by accident in 1975, according to a 2015 Huffington Post story on the history of the sport by writer Kevin Bell, when he brought his juggling balls to the North Carolina State University track to work on some juggling tricks after a running workout. 

"That day, he started jogging as he juggled and discovered something amazing: the pace of a three-ball juggling pattern easily matches with a wide range of running cadences," Bell wrote. "In other words, every throw coincides with the natural motion of the arms. Bill realized that the motions complemented one another beautifully, and he called it 'joggling' almost immediately."

Four years later, Giduz, a Columbia journalism grad, became the editor of the International Jugglers' Association (IJA) newsletter and began writing a column about joggling called Joggler's Jottings. I discovered some of these columns online when I first began joggling in 2005 and was amazed learn the history of the sport, and that the guy who came up with the idea was still around. It's like if you were a basketball fan and James Naismith were writing about the NBA. 

In one of the Joggler's Jottings columns, Giduz included some quotes from the late New York City Marathon race director, Fred Lebow, a joggling fan and a joggler himself:

"Lebow first heard of joggling from Billy Gillen, a Brooklyn resident now well known for his five-ball joggles around Central Park," Giduz wrote. "However, Lebow only took it seriously after watching Albert Lucas joggle the Los Angeles Marathon last spring."

"Lebow immediately recognized a combination of beauty and athletic benefit. 'The normal person can't believe someone can juggle and run that fast at the same time,' he said. 'I figured if Lucas could do a marathon juggling, I should be able to do it standing still.'"

"So Lebow set out to learn, and found it surprisingly easy to master the cascade. He began using one-pound Exerballs to build upper body strength. And now that he can juggle standing still, Lebow wants to begin joggling."

"Bigger than his personal discovery of joggling, however, is his decision to allow Lucas and Gillen to joggle in the upcoming New York Marathon. 'I see joggling as only positive,' Lebow said. 'Normally I might not allow it in a race because some people might think it interferes with runners. However, these two people are experienced. We'll play it by ear and see how it develops. We don't have a joggling division yet, but you never know what can happen.'"

A quote from this column appeared in the New York Times story by Lindsay Crouse in 2015 about the New York City Marathon banning me from joggling the race on a security technicality. 

U.K.-based data scientist and joggler Scott Jenkins recently brought back the Joggler's Jottings column to complement his database of joggling results that he's compiled with fellow U.K. joggler Chris Edwin. Jenkins was hoping to get in touch with Giduz to let him know that the Jottings column had been re-joggled and asked me if I had any contact info for him. I found Giduz's email from the News of Davidson site where he worked, but unfortunately he was likely too sick by the time Jenkins tried to reach him. I was really hoping to one day meet Giduz, or at least exchange an email or two, but was very touched that his son Luke took the time to reach out to me on Instagram.

Although I never met him, by all accounts, including this wonderful obituary for the IJA by juggling historian David Cain, Giduz was a kind, generous and funny person. I know for sure that he has not only inspired hundreds of people to take up joggling, but has also brought joy to millions of spectators of the sport, through smiles, laughs, ooohs and aaahs from all the people who've watched others joggling since that day Giduz decided to take his juggling balls to track practice almost 50 years ago. Thank you, Bill.

Bill Giduz winning the 100m joggling event at an IJA festival in Atlanta.
(Photo courtesy of Bill Giduz, via Kevin Bell)

IJA festival joggling races

People often ask me if there are joggling world championships. The answer is no, there are no official world championships for the sport, but every year the International Jugglers' Association holds a series of joggling races. This year's event is in Winston-Salem on July 17. I would love to be there and compete in some of the track events, but my schedule is too busy.

Joggling pioneer Bill Giduz is the official joggling director for the event and here's what he has to say about the venue:

In my capacity as IJA joggling director this year, I traveled to Winston-Salem today for a first-hand inspection of the joggling track for the races, which will be held Tuesday morning, July 17. It's a very nice, and slightly quirky, facility. The track is a six-lane, black, rubberized surface that's just a year old. It's well maintained, and the starting points for all the races are clearly marked on the surface. The track is in Hanes Park, probably about a mile-and-a-half from the convention center. There are two fairly large pavilion areas to give shade, a mister where the runners can cool down, water fountain, and clean bathrooms.

The quirky part is that about half of the inside of the track is a tennis facility, with a clubhouse and eight or so courts. So at no point can you see the whole track, because it's obscured by the tall fences around the tennis courts. It won't be a problem for the 100, which is all on a straightaway, but the 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 5 k will all feature limited sight lines. For the 200, the officials at the finish line won't be able to see the start line, so we'll need a starter's pistol to signal the timers that the race has begun. I don't think that'll be a problem with the other races.

I'm happy, though, that it's a well-maintained, high-quality track, and located so close to our convention site. It's operated by the municipal parks and recreation department, and two of its officials, Tim Grant and Todd Barr, gave me the tour. They are very accommodating, and eager to do whatever's in their power to make sure we have a good event.

I'll be posting more about the races soon, but in the meantime please tell your friends to start training!

Also, I'll be looking for 8-10 volunteers to help with registration, judging, and timing. Give me a holler if you or your friends are interested in that, or if you have any questions about this summer's event.

Bill Giduz