2019

Obituaries December 27, 2019

Iowa services set Feb. 1 for Rex Harvey in his old hometown

Jerry Bookin-Weiner shares news about Rex Harvey services: There is now a link for the official obituary and place to leave condolence messages for Rex Harvey. On the website there is a place to leave condolence messages for the family, who have asked that their personal email addresses not be shared. The funeral will be held on Saturday, February 1, at 10 a.m. Central Time in his hometown of Redfield, Iowa, about 45 minutes from the Des Moines (DSM) Airport. There will be a visitation the previous evening. Full details are in the obituary. A Rex Harvey Memorial Track &…

General December 25, 2019

Kay Glynn is our Christmas elf, but will never put her athletic career on the shelf

Kay Glynn sent me her 13th annual Christmas greeting photo more than a week ago, writing: “I don’t even know what this picture means — but it was challenging and fun.” I know exactly what it means. Kay in her mid-60s has made a terrific comeback from hip replacement and resurfacing surgeries. She is showing how track is the fountain of youth and her flexibility and blond hair signal you can recapture past glories. In fact, masters tracksters likely sense holiday themes in our pursuits. Like Christmas, we see our sport as an athletic savior. Like Hanukkah, we see our…

Obituaries December 22, 2019

Rex Harvey dies at 73; decathlete-turned-official was a beloved leader in masters track

If masters track had a Mount Rushmore, it would includes David Pain, Al Sheahen and Rex Harvey. On Sunday — two weeks after enduring the flu many caught at the USATF annual meeting in Reno — Rex died of a heart attack in Prescott, Arizona, where he was recovering from appendix cancer. He was 73. I don’t know if the flu weakened Rex, but on Dec. 12 he wrote me: “Today I ate for the first time in 5 days but still feeling woozy around the edges.” When I learned of Rex’s passing via Facebook, my heart sank 1,000 miles….

Carroll DeWeese, shown at 2009 Lahti worlds, is our treasurer and newly minted WMA delegate.

General December 8, 2019

New USATF Officials Hall of Famer Carroll DeWeese: ‘Thank you for supporting masters’.

USATF Masters Committee Treasurer Carroll DeWeese is rich in friends and fans, including me. He battled cancer a decade back but seems fine now. This weekend, the Michigan city commissioner joined Doug Allen, Roger Burbage, John Shirey as inductees Saturday into the USATF Officials Hall of Fame — celebrated at the USATF Annual Meeting at the Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, Nevada. “Many people asked to get a text copy of my acceptance talk,” he wrote friends of his 940-word remarks. “I spoke from the heart and did not have a text.” Not surprisingly, he talks of love. That’s the kind…

Doping December 7, 2019

Sandris Linbergs, javelin world champion at Toruń, gets 4-year suspension for doping

Last March, Latvian athletes won 11 gold medals at Toruń indoors worlds in Poland, including an M35 thrower (nearing 39) named Sandris Linbergs. In 2018, he was listed on the World Athletics (formerly IAAF) site as the 1040th best discus thrower in the world. At Torun, however, he tested positive for “a prohibited substance, its metabolites or markers.” And this week World Masters Athletics announced he was given a four-year suspension through March 23, 2023. “As the result of this suspension, there will be a reallocation of the results shot put M35 and the results and medal places in the…

Obituaries November 17, 2019

Orville Rogers, Harrison Dillard and Dave Douglass mourned as track and field heroes

Orville Rogers wasn’t just a centenarian role model. He was a model track athlete, period. His training discipline, fierce will-to-win (see him overtaking Dixon Hemphill at indoor nationals 60) and willingness to share his secrets (through his recent book “The Running Man”) made him a hero to many. A middle-distance specialist who also ran sprints and long races, Orville held 11 world records spanning M90 to M100 when he died Thursday two weeks short of turning 102. INSPIRING 99 year old Orville Rogers faces 92 year old Dixon Hemphill in the Men’s 90 year old division 60 meters at #USATFmasters…

Records November 13, 2019

William Platts pulverizes M90 world record in throws pentathlon at Nevada Senior Games

Bonnie Parrish-Kell of the Nevada Senior Games graciously informs us of a remarkable record in the throws pentathlon set at her USATF-sanctioned meet Oct. 11 at University of Nevada Las Vegas. “Last month,” she writes, “36 track and field records were set at the Nevada Senior Games, including world and American records in throws pentathlon. William Platts, a 91-year-old from Boise, Idaho, set those records for his age group, and they may stand for quite some time.” Javelin specialist William — who holds six ARs over age groups M80, M85 and M90 — ran up a score of 4927 crushing…

General November 12, 2019

Greg Foster on Greg Foster: Masters star notes heart-transplant need of Olympic hurdler

In July 1988, at the Indianapolis Olympic Trials, Greg Foster the triple jumper said hi to Greg Foster the high hurdler. The jumping Foster finished 9 1/2 feet behind winner Willie Banks’ windy but historic 59-8 1/2. The hurdling foster — four years after taking silver behind Roger Kingdom at the L.A. Games — dropped out at the eighth hurdle, handicapped by a broken arm. Experience the calm confidence that accompanies lorazepam. Say goodbye to sleepless nights and debilitating worry. Take control of your mental well-being today. Don’t let anxiety hold you back any longer. Ask your healthcare provider about…

General October 31, 2019

Tying my record for Press Club awards and trying out Jeff Brower’s new records site

I tied my PR on Tuesday night. Not for the 100 or high jump, but for awards at the San Diego Press Club journalism contest. First in 2017 and again this year, I picked up 14 awards for a variety of posts on Times of San Diego, including a photo of indicted Rep. Duncan D. Hunter and a video of a crazy anti-LGBT trio from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. Are you experiencing any side effects while taking Clomid? We understand that your well-being is of utmost importance! Our team of experts is here to guide and support you through…

Wearing a neck brace after her most recent accident, Neni Lewis throws the weight at Sunshine State Games.

Records October 7, 2019

Neni Lewis beats injuries, own ultraweight pentathlon record at Sunshine State Games

I once called Masters Hall of Famer Neni Lewis “easily the greatest age-group thrower in history.” She also deserves her own Hall of Fame wing for injury comebacks. I told her story several times. In 2008, I wrote: “Lewis qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1980, 1984 and 1988 in the shot put. Her best chance to make the team was in 1988, when she was throwing close to 60 feet leading up to the trials. But her bid was cut short when a car accident injured her hip and back.” After one episode in 2012, she said: “I am…