Before the Peachtree Road Race was the world’s largest 10km race, with 60,000 runners and Olympic champions running through downtown Atlanta, it was merely a small group of people getting together for a holiday run. And in that first year, Bill Thorn was there.
“It was obviously nothing compared to what it is now. Even going into the first two or three or four years, you still didn’t know exactly what was going to take place, it just kind of became a thing to do on the Fourth”
Bill Thorn was there for the first race, and he was there for the next one. And the one after that. In fact he’s been to all 46 Peachtree Road Races, even the latest, this June, at the age of 86.
“It’s just something that’s a part of me. Even in the very beginning of my life, when things were tough, I’ve been a driven person. A few weeks from now I’ll be 87 but I’ve never retired and I still coach varsity track and cross country full time.”
As Thorn says himself, the things he tends to do last a long time. He’s been married for 63 years – every one of those years in Atlanta – and has worked as a coach as a high school coach for 62 of them. And while running has always been a part of his life, he played a role in the local soccer scene as well.
“I started a program back in the 60’s at Headland High School in East Point. I was looking for something to do to keep the development going for the players I had. So I took all the boys that I had in the football program that would play and our uniform was a pair of shorts and a football jersey.”
Bill’s decades of experience have given him a unique first-person view of the evolution of sports in the Atlanta area, including the growth of soccer, from the less successful times in the 60’s and 70’s to indisputably thriving market it is now.
“I remember the early days of Atlanta soccer, it was a struggle. The big thing is getting people interested in it and following it as fans, and it just seems at this particular time and era, that’s not going to be a problem.”
While Thorn has been following the creation of the team, the July 4th matchup against San Jose was something he could never had expected, even in a place he knew well.
“Bobby Dodd’s an old place, but I like those kind of things. Atlanta United took something that was old and made it better. It probably has even more enthusiasm than some of our college football teams. It’s just kind of a thing that if you really observe it, you can’t help but notice it.”
Atlanta United fans want this new chapter of soccer in the South to last a long time, and if anyone knows about longevity, it’s Bill Thorn. He says the secret lies right there in the team motto: Unite and Conquer.
“This team hangs in there in adversity. They play together and they play hard, which is key. In everything you do, I suggest that everybody learn right off the bat how to do things hard. That’s what you’ve got to do to be successful. And it seems to me that they will.”
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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