Ray Feick, an M75 thrower and newly minted Masters Hall of Famer, was profiled in his local paper a few days ago, and said: “I enjoy competition. I went into a diet contest one time and they said I’m so competitive, I would cut my arm off to make sure to win.” And he’s a gamer, too, reports the Pottstown Mercury in Pennsylvania: “He had his right knee replaced a year ago, took a few months off to heal before coming right back throwing like his old self. And he has no intention of slowing down.” Certainly not for the next couple years: “I’m hoping to get to Kamloops, Canada, in March for the World Masters Indoor Championship. And then in 2011, they are going to have the World Outdoors in Sacramento, California.”

“After 30 years of masters track, that’s just the icing on the cake.”

Here’s the article, in case the link goes down:

Feick named to Masters Hall of Fame

Monday, December 14, 2009

By Rosemarie Ross, rross@pottsmerc.com

GILBERTSVILLE — It came as no surprise to anybody versed in track and field, except to the man himself, that Gilbertsville resident and former Pottstown High School superintendent Ray Feick was among the select few recently chosen to be inducted into the 2009 USA Track & Field Masters Hall Fame.

“It’s quite an honor, I’m really happy about that and just really pleased,” Feick said. “After 30 years of Masters track, that’s just the icing on the cake.”

Each year, only 10 inductees are chosen from across the entire United States. He had no idea this would be his year.

Feick, a Birdsboro native, has long been one of the top Masters throwers in the country and in the world. He is equally adept in all of his events — hammer throw, shot put, discus, javelin, the 16-pound and 35-pound weights.

Dr. Norman Green, head of the USATF Mid-Atlantic Chapter, informed Dr. Feick a week ago when this year’s inductees were announced at a USATF meeting out in Indianapolis.

“It was just a big surprise,” Feick said.

He will first be presented with a plaque, January 23rd at a banquet, hosted by the Mid-Atlantic USATF Chapter at the Baptist Center in King of Prussia. At the next national championships the USATF will host its traditional big dinner to honor the newest awardees.

Feick was also previously inducted into the Tri-County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (1989) and into the Albright Athletics Hall of Fame (1998).

“This is athletically and it’s national,” he said. “I was honored by being the 33rd degree Mason last year in Washington, D.C., but that’s a different honor than this. I’m just thrilled that they selected me.”

He played sports in high school, college and while in the Army, coached back in the 1960s, and has been competing in the Masters-level track and field now for 30 years.

Feick has competed across the country and all over the world in those 30 years, from China to South Africa, Norway, Germany, England, Canada, Finland, Australia, Switzerland and Japan.

The list of his throwing accomplishments goes on and on. Twelve World Games titles, 18 total World Games medals; 33 gold, 10 silver, six bronze WMAN (World Masters Association) American/Caribian medals; 12 National Masters Championships and seven American records.

Feick has additionally served as a USATF Masters Level official in South African, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Penn Relays, and at more than a dozen colleges and universities high-profile meets, along with serving as a PIAA official in a number of sports for 20 years.

He turns 78 on Dec. 31 and sports has been part of life from the time he could walk and toss a ball.

“I enjoy competition,” he said. “I went into a diet contest one time and they said I’m so competitive, I would cut my arm off to make sure to win. I like a challenge and I work at it in order to do my best, whatever it is. I’ve just been competitive all my life.

“I grew up with seven brothers and two sisters, so we had a lot of competition right in the family. My brother Roy won the 1956 mile on the state level with a 4:31. He also was an outstanding soccer player. My brother Morris pitched for the American Legion in Pottstown for years. Everyone of my brothers had some kind of an athletic ability and we all went out for sports.”

A Birdsboro High School graduate, Class of 1949, Feick played soccer, basketball and baseball in high school. He was drafted in 1952 during the Korean War, played basketball and baseball in the First Army in the New York area.

He subsequently attended Albright College from 1955-58, where he switched to track and field and instantly became a standout, medaling in the discus (sixth) and javelin (fifth) at the Mid-Atlantic Championships, qualifying for the IC4A Championship meet.

After graduating he became the Pottstown High school cross country head coach from 1958-63, interupted by one year to earn his master’s degree in mathematics from Ohio University in 1961. During his Trojans’ cross country tenure Pottstown won 32 of 33 dual meets, three Ches-Mont League titles, two District 1 championships and placed sixth at states. He also coached basketball and the field events alongside Trojans track and field head coach Heber Myers and coached track and field at Albright College for three years.

Feick left the area for a few years, serving as an assistant professor at Moravian College from 19963-66, where he again coached cross country. But it seems he couldn’t stay away from here and in 1966 returned to Pottstown, this time as Assistant District Superintendent. In 1970 he was named the superintendent of the Pottstown School District, serving as such until he retired in 1991.

“From ’66 until 1980, I was really out of sports officiating because I was a superintendent,” he said. “You put 60, 65 hours a week in when you’re an administrator — at least I did — so I gave up officiating,”

But he didn’t give up sports though, finding racquetball in the 70s.

“That was a favorite sport of mine. I loved racquetball,” he said. “I actually played the fellow that won the state championship, took third against him up in Allentown. He also competed in the triathlon in the 90s, qualifying for the nationals one year.”

And no matter how the long hours of work, Feick would find time somewhere to keep in competitive shape.

“When I was working as a superintendent, I did a lot of running on weekends,” he said. “My lifting, instead of having lunch, I would go down to the (Ricketts) Center with Clapper White. He really helped me lift and get myself really strong.”

His Masters throwing career had started a decade earlier, while he was still hot and heavy into playing racquetball, when a friend invited him to compete in a Masters meet at Muhlenberg High School in 1981. He threw the shot put and javelin and did well.

Someone told him about a Hammer Throw-A-Thon in Illinois and he went. Hammer throwing was something new to him, but he liked it and again instantly did well.

“That was in 1982,” Feick recalled. “I learned to do 360. Some people spin three times. But because of my discus (background) I guess, I spin one time with the hammer. It’s just kind of a natural thing for me. I love the hammer. I have the national record for the hammer when I was 75 and still hold it.”

He had his right knee replaced a year ago, took a few months off to heal before coming right back throwing like his old self. And he has no intention of slowing down.

“I’m hoping to get to Kamloops, Canada in March for the World Masters Indoor Championship,” he said. “And then in 2011, they are going to have the World Outdoors in Sacramento, California.”

These days he practices five days a week, three days lifting, and during these winter months throwing indoors — the shot put, the 16-pound and 35-pound, but not javelin, discus and hammer in the winter.

The memories of those Masters years are as plentiful as the awards that fill his trophy room.

“One of my highlights was when 26 of us went into China for three dual meets in 1993,” Feick said. “It had to be stadium built in the late 1800s, and it was just amazing. They didn’t have five-year age brackets, only had 50-and-over. I happened to win the shot put and javelin and took second in the discus. This Manchurian came up and he felt my arm, pulled his wife out of the audience and had my picture taken with them. That was just such a thrill to be there.”

But the biggest thrill of all came 10 days ago when he found out he is now in the USATF Masters Hall Fame.