The kid brother is a best-selling children's author, someone whose biography is readily available on the Internet.

The older brother can be found not on the Internet but rather in a nondescript shop he rents on Sixth Avenue in Racine. Walk into this hole-in-the-wall, which is so easy to miss as you drive west, and you'll be greeted by a grand clutter surrounded by Steve Prefontaine posters.

Kevin Henkes is the best-selling author. Pete Henkes is the one who works in that cluttered Sixth Avenue shop.

And sometimes I genuinely wonder who has touched more people between the two in their respective lives.

That was underscored to me once again Saturday during the 30th Lighthouse Run, for which Henkes has served as race coordinator since 1999. After personally witnessing Henkes once again run himself through the ringer for months to put this event together, I was inspired to write about him.

And everyone - without exception - I pulled aside during Saturday's race raved about him. People like retired Case High School track coach Bill Greiten, whom I have known for nearly 30 years. People like Tommy Schmitz, the third-place finisher in the men's 10-mile race, whom I pulled aside at random and had never met prior to interviewing him.

And after gathering together my quotes, I was struck by two thoughts: First, if original Lighthouse Run race director Don Karkow was the Curly Lambeau of this event, then Henkes is absolutely the Vince Lombardi.

And second, perhaps Racine doesn't know what it has in Henkes, who has been instrumental for generating so much revenue for this area for years.

What is Henkes all about?

Just ask Greiten, who has so much respect for Henkes that he regularly makes a 350-mile round trip from his retirement home in Townsend, Wis., just to help him with races.

"This is not like a basketball game or football game where you get the field ready and have three or four officials and it's in the hands of the officials," Greiten said. "Think about 3,500 to 4,000 pieces of paper coming, the food, the police department, working with the city, working with the Y, doing all these things. And you've got one man trying to do all this.

"And what he brings into this economy on a Saturday like this with the people coming in for the Lighthouse … how many people were here the night before like I was, spending money?

"When you bring 1,800 to 2,000 people in here for the Foot Locker Regional Meet (which Henkes also coordinates), what does that do for the economy on a Thanksgiving weekend? How many hotels are full on a Thanksgiving weekend? Between Racine and Kenosha, he's bringing in millions of dollars."

Just ask Schmitz, who spoke minutes after finishing behind four-mile men's champion Ryan Kleimenhagen Saturday morning.

"With Ryan and I this year, we were trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials and Pete was giving us all his airline miles," Schmitz said. "He's just 100 percent for runners. You don't find that anywhere. Us runners, unless you're one of the elite, you're not making any money and you're living in deficit all the time. Pete at least helps us get to that zero point where we're not spending so much on our credit card or from our parents.

"He's been a blessing for Ryan and I and all the Wisconsin runners."

Just ask Jon Morelli, who worked anonymously Saturday morning on a computer, compiling race results in a dark makeshift Lighthouse Run office on Monument Square.

"He does more for this race than most race directors do for races," Morelli said. "He pays attention to all the small, small details that other race directors don't worry about. Pete is extremely good at what he does. He's extremely organized and he's great to work with.

"If you ask Pete why his races are successful, he'll say, 'Because I surround myself with competent people.' But I think the main reason all of us work with Pete is because we all respect him so much and we want to work with him."

I could tell you all kinds of Henkes stories, such as him getting up at 2 a.m. on race day to personally inspect every possible inch of the course and then sticking around long after everyone else has departed to empty trash cans.

I can tell you about someone who so deftly has handled the potentially contentious task of bringing together all necessary government factions in order to pull off this race each year. So meticulous is Henkes that he has even worn construction clothes while visiting construction sites that could be a concern on race day just so he doesn't present himself as an outsider.

I can tell you about someone who welcomed a young boy into his office and kept him around as an assistant just to give him direction and guidance.

In my conversations with Henkes, he has privately told me what a challenge it is to put on this race every year. And he questioned how much longer he can see himself carrying on.

I'll be honest with you. I quietly reacted in much the way I did more than 10 years ago, when Mike Holmgren was making rumblings about moving on as coach of the Green Bay Packers.

Since the Lighthouse Run's bottomed out to 2,030 participants in 2002, it has rebounded under Henkes' watch to 2,429 in 2003, 2,805 on '04, 2,739 in '05, 2,678 in '06, 3,117 in '07 and 3,555 Saturday. And I personally spoke with numerous runners Saturday who competed just because of Henkes.

The Lighthouse Run needs Henkes. Racine needs Henkes.

And if you don't believe it, show up at the Lighthouse Run next June and start asking around.

"Pete's meticulous," long-time St. Catherine's track and cross country coach Tom Scheller said. "He wants everything done to perfection. His name's associated with it and he takes a lot pride in trying to provide the best possible event for as many people as he possibly can."

Peter Jackel is a reporter for The Journal Times. You can reach him by calling (262) 634-3322, Ext. 323 or by e-mailing him at: peter.jackel@lee.net