There are nearly 332 million people living in the United States and, according to legend, Santa Rosa’s Darryl Beardall ran more miles than any of them.

In a 2012 profile that appeared in Runner’s World magazine, Beardall’s exploits were listed: 55 entries in Marin County’s legendary Dipsea Run, the Deseret News Marathon 40 times, and the Napa Valley Marathon 32 times.

The Tamalpa running club in Marin County, a group that Beardall raced with for decades, credits him with 23 California International Marathons, four U.S. Olympic Time Trials, as well as 50-mile and 100-mile finishes well before those were a thing.

Runner’s World writer (and runner) Amby Burfoot interviewed Beardall, weighed his math, took into account a lack of records and logs, and concluded Beardall had likely run in the ballpark of 279,860 miles — the most he could find in the entire United States.

By a fair piece.

And consider this: That calculation was made a decade ago, and Beardall spent the last 10 years showing up to races here, there and everywhere.

His final race, run with his daughter DeeLynn Southwick, was a 10k in Salt Lake City on July 24.

Beardall, an avid runner, coach, volunteer and father, died of cancer on Monday. He was 87.

Born in Utah on Oct. 22, 1936, he was the oldest of five kids born to Ila and Ray Beardall.

The family moved west from Utah to Northern California in 1950.

Beardall attended Santa Rosa Junior High, Santa Rosa High and Santa Rosa Junior College, before moving back to Utah where he ran for Brigham Young University, Southwick said.

Back in Northern California, he met Lynne Tanner on a blind date. They had arranged to met — yep — at the finish line of the Dipsea in 1962.

They were married Nov. 1, 1963.

The couple raised five kids in Santa Rosa. They divorced in 2005. Lynne Beardall died in 2011.

Southwick remembers running with her dad over the hills that are now traversed by Fountaingrove Parkway. He’d spend hours on his feet, always running.

It was something that came naturally to him and tapped into his natural gifts, she said.

“He was bullied as a kid,” she said. “My theory is that (running) was something he discovered, he loved it, and he was good at it, and it was his way of coping with all of the challenges of his life.”

It didn’t hurt, she said, that he had an inordinately high tolerance for pain and a “tenacious, can-do attitude.”

If something around the house broke, he didn’t call in help, he tried to fix it himself. If he didn’t know how, he tried to figure it out, she said.

He had a stubborn streak, but it came from a good place, she said.

“He always worked hard,” she said. “There was never a ‘I can’t do that.’”

A career railroad man with Northwestern Pacific Railroad, Beardall sought out running and runners in every free moment. He joined the Tamalpa running club long before Sonoma County’s Empire Runners club existed.

And when they formed in the 1970s, he joined them too.

He was known for running back-to-back races, sometimes two days in a row.

Locally, he ran 49 out of 50 Kenwood Footraces. He took on the Santa Rosa Marathon multiple times, the Resolution Run on New Year’s Day every year — any opportunity to put on a pair of running shoes, there was Beardall.

And he wasn’t in it just to be in it. He was there to win it.

He won the legendarily difficult Dipsea twice. His all-time best marathon time was 2:28.

In remembrance of their fallen peer, the Tamalpa Running Club credited Beardall with a 15:38:38 second place finish in the Camelia 100-mile race in Sacramento in 1972. In 1967, he won the Pacific Association of the AAU 50-miler, the club said.

His best 5K time, according to club records? 14:45. For a 10K best, they clocked him at 29:50.

He was named to the Empire Runner’s inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2008.

He coached, along with his daughter, Wendy, teams at Elsie Allen, Windsor and El Molino high schools.

Even as he slowed, he never stopped.

Even after a hip replacement. There was Beardall.

Even after he transitioned to using a walker, there was Beardall.

“He always had a race bib on,” said longtime Santa Rosa High cross country and track and field coach Carrie Joseph.

When he wasn’t running, he was helping.

For years, Beardall could be counted on to help Santa Rosa High host both cross country and track meets. For three decades, at least, Beardall showed up and helped his alma mater.

“The one thing I would say about Darryl, that I think everybody would say about Darryl, is he is the happiest guy in the world. He always had a smile on his face,” Joseph said. “He was absolutely in his element when he was around meets and running events.”

After Beardall’s beloved brother, Alan, died in a car accident in 1987, Beardall sponsored an award each season for both the Panther cross country team and track and field team.

“It’s the only award the kids vote on,” Joseph said, and it’s given to the most inspirational athlete.

It wasn’t just running that Beardall supported.

He ran the game clock for both girls’ and boys’ basketball teams for years.

Without fail.

“He was one guy I could rely on all the time,” Santa Rosa High co-athletic director Kenny Knowlton said. “Always. There was never a time where he did not show. He was always there. Sometimes that could be four nights a week.”

His payment? A hot dog at half time.

“Any time you’d turn around, there was Darryl at any event,” Knowlton said. “He always had a smile on his face.”

“He bled orange and black,” he said. “He was a great man.”

In recent years, Beardall started going not just to the home games, but would travel to the girls’ away games, too.

Head coach Luis Patrick said it started one day when Beardall said, “When are you picking me up?”

So Patrick did pick him up for that game. And every game after that.

Beardall rode with Patrick to Livermore, to American Canyon, to tournament games, to North Bay League games.

“He never wanted to miss a game,” he said.

Patrick said those rides, sometimes hours long, and Beardall’s hard won perspective, were times he came to genuinely appreciate.

“We got in a routine,” he said. “It built a great friendship, a great relationship, with somebody for me who is that much older than me. It helped me.”

“And it was a little bit of therapy for me on the rides home, to keep things in perspective,” he said.

And Beardall loved every minute of it.

“He was our biggest supporter,” he said. “The girls were always really happy to see him.”

Even when Beardall’s health started to deteriorate, he still showed up.

He ran races pushing a walker. He moved through the gym and into the bleachers pushing the walker.

He always showed up. And he was always smiling when he did.

A service is scheduled for Darryl Beardall at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1725 Peterson Lane, Santa Rosa

In addition to his daughter Southwick, Beardall is survived by daughter Wendy Keeler; sons Scott Beardall, Kelly Beardall and Clay Beardall, and five grandchildren.

You can reach Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.