SWIF employee suffers heart attack during half-marathon
51-year-old Kent Hodges dies while running

By Zsombor Peter
Staff writer

GALLUP — The Squash Blossom Classic took an unexpected and sad turn Sunday morning when a participant in the event’s half marathon collapsed from a fatal hearth attack during the race.

According to event organizer and friend Bob Rosebrough, Kent Hodges, 51, was within a mile of finishing the 13.2 mile race along Gallup’s High Desert Trail when he suffered the attack. Friend and fellow runner Bill McCarthy said the attack occurred at approximately 9:30. He had only recently passed Hodges ahead of the 12-mile marker and noticed no problems. Others reported Hodges in good spirits joking with some of the runners along the course.

McCarthy knew of no ailments Hodges, who had submitted to a physical earlier in the year, might have been suffering from.

“He was in excellent shape, as good a shape as you can be in at that age,” said McCarthy, who trained with Hodges and worked with him at the Southwest Indian Foundation, where Hodges managed the Gallup Cultural Center. “There was no red flag to indicate anything like this would happen.”

McCarthy knew Hodges since 1977, even before his move to Gallup in 1994 from Kansas, where his family still owns a farm.

“He’s just the finest man you’d want to know,” McCarthy said.

“Kent was a very outgoing, gregarious person ... a good friend to everyone he passed in life,” said Rosebrough, who know Hodges since his move to Gallup. “His death just leaves a huge hole.”

The Squash Blossom’s Saturday-Sunday schedule included various events for runners, mountain bikes and cyclists. In its three years, Rosebrough said, “we’ve never had anything close to the seriousness of this in nature.”

McCarthy said the funeral service was scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m. at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Hodges is survived by his mother and son.