Runners making their 26.2-mile trek from Hopkinton to Boylston Street in two weeks will see a friendly face; a face supporters believe will serve as inspiration.
Spencer, the golden retriever affectionately known as the Boston Marathon dog, is now immortalized along the route in Ashland, near where he and his owner Rich Powers, of Holliston, stood and cheered on runners over the years.
A large crowd of friends, family, community members, and of course, golden pooches and other friendly doggos, gathered Saturday for an unveiling of a bronze statue in honor of Spencer, across the street from the Ashland Community Center.
“There was definitely a need for this,” Powers said. “The statue isn’t for me, and I don’t want anyone to think an arrogant guy had a statue made of his dog. That’s not what we did.”
“This is for the world,” he added. “If you don’t know his story, I think the statue is going to mean something to you. For those who know Spencer, he was a sitting angel who just lived in our house — he was too good not to share.”
Spencer started to grow into an icon around the course’s third-mile mark in Ashland in 2015, his first marathon, as he held a Boston Strong flag and another flag of a heart. The 2022 race was especially memorable, with 20 runners waiting in line at one point to meet Spencer who sported an official race bib, and to take pictures with him.
Sadly, Spencer died from cancer in February 2023, and his sister Penny died eight days later from a tumor on her spleen and liver that caused internal bleeding.
Carrying the heart of a champion, Spencer overcame serious health challenges before he ultimately succumbed to his cancer.
In November 2020, a 3.5-pound benign tumor between Spencer’s liver and spleen caused him to bleed internally. Surgery helped save Spencer’s life, which Powers called a miracle.
Months later, a tumor formed on Spencer’s spleen and doctors diagnosed him with cancer.
But the golden pooch’s legacy has certainly lived on. Hundreds of golden retrievers showed up to the Boston Common the day before last Marathon Monday sporting yellow marathon bandanas in honor of Spencer.
And though the Ashland Select Board rejected a proposal last July to place a bronze statue of Spencer at the community center, nearby residents, Robin and Cynthia Hicks, quickly stood up and offered a portion of their 16-acre land as an alternate site.
A GoFundMe collected more than $39,000 from 487 donors for the statue to become reality, and there are plans to add a few sitting rocks and a bench for visitors.
“It’s here forever,” Robin Hicks told the Herald. “My plan is to keep this land as long as I can until I pass and give it to my children and see what they can do with it.”
“This is what it’s about,” he said while watching a crowd of supporters getting their first glance of the statue. “The feel good — that’s what Spencer was about.”
Spencer’s fame caught the attention of those not just in the Greater Boston area but also of those who live outside of the Bay State.
Maine resident Barbara A. Walsh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote “SPENCER: Boston’s Beloved Marathon Dog,” a book that chronicles the golden pooch’s life. She first learned about Spencer when she read his obituary in the New York Times and thought “Wow, a dog gets an obituary in the New York Times — got to be pretty special.”
“I hope it becomes a best-seller because it’s for all ages; it’s not just for kids, this is a story for adults,” Walsh said. “Courage, inspiration, kindness – we could use all of those, and Spencer certainly gave his heart to everybody.”
New Jersey resident Jessica Coyne Ritter and her mother stopped by the celebration on their way back home after taking a trip to Boston. Coyne Ritter ran the marathon last year through the Boston Bruins Foundation and said she felt Spencer’s presence even though it marked the first since his passing.
“Sometimes it can get rough, and you have to dig down deep,” she said of running the marathon, “but you don’t have to dig down deep with Spencer because he’s just there and you get to love him.”
