Dave Clingan resigns from USATF Masters T&F committees
Several years ago, my friend and co-webmaster Dave Clingan announced his retirement from running, citing severe knee issues. Turns out that was premature. He eventually returned to world-class middle-distancing and made the M55 finals in the 800 at Lahti last summer. But his latest retirement announcement is irrevocable, he tells me. And it’s a huge loss to our sport. Here’s the note he sent this morning: “Dear friends and colleagues: I need to let you know that I am giving up all of my administrative, support and volunteer responsibilities with USATF and the Masters Track and Field Committee, effective immediately. This includes MTF webmaster, awards chair, and support roles in the media, rankings and invitational committees.â€
Dave (far left) worked hard to make the finals in Lahti 800
— but not as hard as he toiled for USATF Masters Track & Field.
Dave continued in his email:
I have no desire to create a commotion over this decision and I have given it a lot of thought. Suffice it to say that, in my opinion, the USATF national office has let me down personally and professionally. My life is extremely busy now, and it is necessary that I move on to other urgent priorities.
I am willing to help transition my responsibilities to other personnel to the best of my ability. My involvement with masters track and field has been extremely rewarding over the years, mainly because of all the wonderful friends I have made.
I admire and respect all the hard work that everyone does to keep the masters program afloat.I only hope it will be said that I cared deeply about masters track and field and made a worthwhile contribution to the program during the past 10 years. I wish you all the best!
Sincerely, Dave Clingan
Dave was instrumental in bringing masters track rankings into the 21st century, elevating the profile of our masters awards program and doing a mammoth amount of work on a stand-alone USATF Masters Web site, which is not public yet.
We owe him an incredible debt.
In addition to issues he has with the national USATF office, Dave is working his tail off in a graduate-level guidance counseling program at a university in Portland, Oregon, his hometown. (He has a 4.0 grade-point average, he tells me, but gives his weekends over to academics.) So he needs a break from all his USATF obligations as well.
He is not quitting track, however. He’ll be hammering his beloved interval workouts until he succumbs during a beer mile at age 125. But he’ll be missed in masters leadership.
He deserves thanks for all he’s done for USATF masters track.
22 Responses
As I said to Dave a few minutes ago by personal e-mail, he did a terrific job for masters T&F. And you don’t make a lot of money doing this stuff (!!). Good luck to Dave in his future endeavors.
PLT
There are probably many masters athletes who have no idea how much Dave has done for them. When you meet and talk to Dave it is very apparent how much heart and soul he put into doing the right thing for the athletes; most of it behind the scenes. Yes, we all owe Dave a big thanks for his tireless efforts and masters athletes vocal advocacy. Dave, we really appreciate all you have done.
All I can say is Thanks Dave for everything that you did for us and our sport.
i for one really appreciate all of the hard work that dave has done for our sport through the years, and realize how much time and effort has gone into his service. my hat’s off to him, and a huge thank you , well deserved… best wishes…albert
Always an outstanding host for athletes that come from out of town to the Portland area. And the results rankings were/are great. Thanks Dave!
It was always gratifying to write Dave about some issue because he would always respond, sometime the same day, sometimes the next day. I will really miss knowing that I can write someone in the USATF and be sure that I will get an answer.
Bud Held
Dave, I owe you a debt of gratitude for my involvement in track and field. Seeing who was doing what gave me ideas, and inspiration. Thanks for your many years of service to masters track. We’ll leave the light on for you.
Dave: thanks so much for all you have done for masters track and field. You leave very big shoes to be filled.
Bob Weiner, head of the USATF Masters Media Committee, shared this note to Dave, which he said I could post:
“I just heard (in Indy) about that BS of the max $2K which they imposed on you as max “honorarium”. What nonsense. I told Carroll (DeWeese) and Gary (Snyder) you could just bill the difference as expenses and lay out some specific work. Would have been fine as reimbursement that way. In some ways USATF just does not know how to play. There is no way USATF should not have found a way and I know Carroll was trying to figure one out for you around the system. Sorry. You are one of the best organizers we have… take some time to cool off.”
Thanks, Dave, for all you have done for our sport. We really do appreciate you!
For his work on bringing masters rankings out of the dark ages, Dave should be in the Masters T&F Hall of Fame. As for all the other things he has done for masters T&f, thanks for that as well.
Thanks Dave, your work has been a boon to all masters athletes. I particularly appreciate your work on rankings and your help with Portland Masters Classic.
– John
Thanks Dave for all the work you’ve put in to make our sport enjoyable.
I will publicly honor Dave Clingan for his heroic work for the last full decade in trying to make an official USATF Masters website a reality. The idea was first proposed by Ken Stone at the National Meetings in 1999. Innovative thinking for that era. I chimed in to support the concept and was immediately put in charge of making it a reality. Dave was the first and most enthusiastic recruit–the two of us have been on the committee, fighting to make the website a reality ever since. It is an obscene miscarriage of the public interest, that powers within USATF have hidden, watered down, limited and ultimately PREVENTED this website from becoming public, repeatedly for a full decade. It has been Dave’s hard work to repeatedly give positive examples of what the site should and could be. I want to emphasize Dave’s always upbeat, positive decorum in handling this absolutely frustrating stonewall. I, on the other hand, have not been so pleasant and have made plenty of enemies. And neither approach has had any visible success. Thus Ken’s idea to do it independently on this site has really been the only way to disseminate information.
You’ might have seen the great results Dave has achieved in Rankings and Awards, much less putting on top flight events. You might not have recognized his contributions as Athlete Representative to our Executive Board. His impact to better this sport has affected everyone and we all should be appreciative.
Thanks Dave. Your continual support of Masters Track & Field has been greatly appreciated by all.
Thank you Dave (and also John Seto) for all the work you have done in Masters rankings. For an unknown like myself to see where you rank across the country is a great feeling. The progress over the years has been fantastic. I hope the “powers that be” can see the light – and read all these accolades from the heroes (and Hall of Famers) of our sport – and do the right thing.
It’s USATF’s loss for sure. I’m sorry as we lose a great representative who had political savvy (a rare talent!) and consistently good intentions, sorry for Dave as its sounds less than an ideal ending, but glad we have our great rankings system in place which he helped pioneer, which works really well at its intended purpose— to see how we stack up!
Thank you Dave for your tireless work and dedication to masters track. Keeping up with the rankings is monster of a job and thanks to you and John Seto for that. All of your efforts was very much appreciated. You will be missed and I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
Another burned out volunteer. Such a shame. Dave did fantastic work. Thanks for all you have done over all these years Dave.
I have mentioned in past that professional services such as rankings, records and websites need to be treated as contracted services. The person providing service should just be able to provide the national office with a bill approved by the National Chair.
I believe the national office has been paying a contractor to do records in the past. This is the only way we are going to find and or keep these individuals. They deserve fair compensation for their professional services. Even more than what they have been getting. These are some areas to spend the extra funds that may become available.
George
Dave, you are so awesome. You will be sorely missed. Thank you so much for the great races we witnessed you run and for all your hours of selfless devotion to masters track and field. I hope you’ll be back someday.
To all-
Thank you so, so much for your understanding and support! It is friendships like these that made my decision so difficult. I am truly moved by your heartfelt comments. Most appreciated!
Dave – Thanks for being such a great ambassador for Masters Track & Field. I have read many comments authored by you on this blog (and elsewhere), and each has always been well written and well reasoned. You have carried yourself with dignity both off and on the track. Thanks for a job well done and for making a very worthwhile contribution. All the best to you.
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