On June 11, 1993, a group of scholar-athletes and scholar-artists joined President Clinton for a morning jog in Washington, DC. It was that jog that sparked President Clinton’s interest in the World Scholar-Athlete Games, an interest that would result in the President’s keynote address at the 2006 World Scholar-Athlete Games.

John Mulligan
The Providence Journal
June 19, 1993

The 3-mile run promoted the World Scholar-Athlete Games, to be held in Rhode Island.

WASHINGTON – Maybe Bill Clinton’s presidency is plagued with false starts, but that old Clinton body is “really in good shape,” according to one Rhode Islander who was up and running with him long before rush hour yesterday.

And the jogging President is “a really nice guy” to boot, said Arondae Washington, 16 of Providence, a freshman starter this year on the Hope High School varsity basketball team who joined in Mr. Clinton’s morning ritual on the Mall.

To promote the World Scholar-Athlete Games, which open Monday in Rhode Island, Mr. Clinton ran with participants Washington and Tasha Cronin, 17, a soccer player for Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, Va. Tagging along was Matt Doyle, 19 of Hartford, a student at Duke University and son of Games organizer Dan Doyle.

They arrived from Rhode Island by train late Thursday with Games official Brian Shanley and met briefly with Senators Claiborne Pell and John H. Chafee.

Yesterday, they met Mr. Clinton before 7 a.m. in the diplomatic receiving room of the White House and presented him with a gold commemorative medallion of the games.

For the run, Mr. Clinton wore his trademark white baseball cap, green shorts and another gift from the scholar-athletes, a red and white World Scholar-Athlete Games T-shirt emblazoned with a list of events from poetry to sailing.

They took Mr. Clinton’s standard course, running along the museum studded strip of the Mall from near the Washington Monument to the Capitol, up its East Front steps and back down to the White House.

They logged about 3 miles in 25 minutes, frequently skirting groups of tourists and office workers oblivious to the celebrity among them.

It was muggy and sunny with haze on the Mall. Mr. Clinton’s mood was sunny, too. Asked whether he was mad at the networks that didn’t carry his press conference Thursday night, he answered with a smile, “No, I’m grateful for those who did.”

The White House grounds were rigged up with a huge white tent for another event with a Rhode Island angle – last night’s concert commemorating the anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival – and Mr. Clinton was asked when he might visit the state.

The commander-in-chief answered noncommittally. But he used the chance to make a pitch for Rep. Jack Reed, a retired major in the Army Reserve. “You know, Congressman Reed went with us up to West Point when we went up for commencement (last month). He’s a West Point grad,” Mr. Clinton said.

Reed has said he was sorry to have missed a presidential jog on that trip, Mr. Clinton was told.

“Well, we’d like to have him come with us on one. He’s a good man,” he said.

Doyle said Mr. Clinton “kicked at the end” of the run, and then the group cooled down with a leisurely stroll along the South Lawn of the White House. Mr. Clinton pointed out the flowing Southern Magnolia outside the South Portico, chatted with the runners in the Rose Garden and gave them a tour of the Oval Office.

But the high point of the Arondae Washington’s 60 minutes of fame may have been the glimpse of the presidential basketball court. “It’s really nice,” said Washington – half court, just right for a game of one-on-one.

Maybe Bill Clinton is learning his limits. He didn’t venture to challenge Arondae Washington at hoops.