Andrew Wagaman of The Morning Call in Pennsylvania and Trey Alverson of the Fayette County News in Georgia get our latest gold medals for MSM writers telling masters track stories right. (I just invented the award.) No feigned amazement over middle-agers running track. No cliches about over-the-hill athletes. Just mature reporting, with great quotes and details. Check out Andrew’s story here. Kevin Forde, speaking for many, told Andrew: “I’m not the smartest guy or the wealthiest guy and I’m not the best-looking, but I was blessed with the talent to run.” Gotta love it. Kevin telegraphed the newspaper story on his blog, writing on December 30: “At lunchtime I got an email from Andrew Wagaman from the Allentown Morning Call
asking if I could call him for an article he was writing…..WOW!”  And here’s the story about new Masters Hall of Famer Bill Daprano by Trey.

Here’s the Allentown piece, in case the link evaporates:

Former Southern Lehigh, Lafayette runner part of world record relay

By Andrew Wagaman

OF THE MORNING CALL
January 8, 2010

When a bunch of past track stars who still love competitive running got together to break a national club record, Bob McGinty and his teammates found out they had a lot more left in the tank.

On Dec. 27, the 43-year-old Coopersburg resident and three other members of the Greater Philadelphia Track Club set a 40-49 age-group world record in the 4×800 relay at the Armory Holiday Classic in New York.
McGinty, a five-time District 11 track champion at Southern Lehigh and a distance medley record-holder at Lafayette, knew that with a time of 8:07.48 the team had broken not only the American club record of 8:15.29 — its original goal — but also the overall American record (without club affiliation) of 8:07.60.

Not until the drive home, however, did the four discover that the previous U.S. record also had been the best in the world for that age group.

The final surprise was a fitting end to the day.

”This is the first time I did anything like this with the club,” McGinty said. ”I didn’t think [the race] was a big deal, but when we took the victory lap at the end, it was like nothing I have ever
experienced in my racing career. There are certain highlights in my mind, and this is one of them for sure.”

McGinty, whose Southern Lehigh 4×800 relay team set a school record (7:46) in 1983 that still stands, is not the only team member with previous record-breaking experience.

Scott Landis, a 45-year-old Wissahickon High School graduate who ran the first leg of the race, helped set a national high school record in the 4×800 at 7:36 in 1982 that was not broken until earlier this year. The anchor, 40-year-old Nick Berra, was part of a relay that ran a 7:45 at Cumberland Valley in 1987.

Their talent for running is the simple reason why all four men have continued to treat the activity as more than just a hobby, even as they have aged.

”Honestly, I wish I was good at golf — it would be a lot easier,” said McGinty, who runs up to five
miles a day. ”But this is what I seem to excel at. I’m just trying to relive the glory years.”

Teammate Kevin Forde, 46, shared the same sentiment.

”I’m not the smartest guy or the wealthiest guy and I’m not the best-looking, but I was blessed with the talent to run,” he said.

McGinty did not get back into running until he turned 40. Lacking energy, he began eating better, and the diet change soon led to a renewed interest in running. He has since lost 20 pounds and said he is close to his college weight of 160-165 pounds.

”I run my own business [Basement Builders of Lehigh Valley], so I am more flexible than a lot of people,” he said. ”Once or twice a week, I’ll go over to the track at Lehigh University at lunchtime and do a speed workout. Other times I’ll try to get home early and run. It’s tough, but you have to make time for it if it’s important.”

Forde said many former track athletes get back into running at their age because they have more time for themselves. A passionate runner and two-time Fifth Avenue Mile age-division winner who writes a blog called ”Running Free,” Forde did not truly dedicate himself to the activity until he was nearly 40.
”They have had their college years and they’ve gotten married and had children,” he said. ”They say, ‘OK, now what do I do with myself?’ What got me serious about running was that I finally reached an age where I could be disciplined enough.”

The hard part, according to McGinty, is also knowing and accepting that their bodies are not quite what they once were and staying motivated despite the gradual decline. By setting challenging goals, he provokes himself to work hard enough to reach them before it is too late.

”Sometimes I’m out on the track and I wonder, ‘What am I doing? Why am I doing this?’ ” he said. ”I’m running against the clock because as I get older I get slower, so I feel a sense of urgency to try to meet my goals.”

McGinty credited Chuck Shields, the treasurer and one of the founders of the Greater Philadelphia Track Club, for getting him interested in masters track. Shields also put together the relay team that competed in New York; it was the first time the four men ran together.

Competing against a ”B” relay team designed to pace it, Landis led off, followed by McGinty, Forde and Berra. Landis (2:01.4) and McGinty (2:02.8) gave their teammates a cushion to beat the 8:15 standard.

Forde, coming off an Achilles tendon injury, ran his first 200 in an astounding 26.2 seconds and held on for a 2:05.8. Berra masterfully ran each split faster than the previous one and anchored with a time of 1:57.4.

Perhaps Forde said it best when asked what the race meant to him.

”I am still coming to terms with the fact that there’s a world record next to my name,” he said.

And here’s the story about Bill Daprano (and I forgive Trey the misspellings):

Fayetteville’s Daprano runs his way into Hall of Fame

By Trey Alverson

Fayetteville’s
Bill Daprano began his track and field career more than 65 years ago at
Atlanta’s now-defunct Tech High, but he didn’t start winning major
national meets until decades later.
  
In 1981, Daprano took his son to watch the much publicized USA Track
and Field Masters National Championship at Atlanta’s Lakewood Stadium.
 He wanted to see legendary Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Bob
Richards in action.  
  
“Bob Richards was the first athlete to appear on the Wheaties Box.  He is a tremendous competitor,” Daprano explained.  
  
“My son and I enjoyed the meet.  Some of the athletes were former
Olympians and were still very good, but some of the others weren’t, so
I asked a coach at the meet, ‘what do I need to do to get into an event
like this?’  He told me I just had to pay the $5 entry fee.  I decided
then and there that I might aught to give it a try.”
  
Two years later, Daprano burst onto the Masters Track and Field scene.
 At 57, he won the National Masters pentathlon Gold Medal. Ironically,
Bob Richards came in second, losing to Daprano by five points.  
  
“That kind of set me on fire,” Daprano stated.  “I’ve never really stopped in the 26 years since.”
  
Earlier this month, Daprano was announced as one of 13 Masters greats
set to be inducted as the Class of 2009 of the USATF Masters Track and
Field Hall of Fame.  He will travel to Sacramento in June to attend the
banquet.   
  
Daprano owns 12 National Masters pentathlon titles and several age group records in the Men’s 70 and Men’s 80 divisions. 
  
He has also won seven World Masters’ Association Gold Medals.  
  
Now 82, Daprano recently won the National Masters Title in the Javelin throw.  
  
“This past year was a good one for me, especially with the hall of fame honor,” Daprano stated.  
  
“Winning the javelin gold in Wisconsin was a real highlight.  I was
competing in a field of eight and three of us had won nationals
previously.  Just about all of us had beat each other at some point.  I
was really pumped for the event and in the end, I got them.  I’m just
as proud of that as I am of the Hall of Fame.”
  
Daprano ran hurdles and sprints for Tech High in the 1940’s and went on
to compete for the University of Georgia track team.  After graduating,
he began coaching both high school track and football.  After stints at
North Clayton and West Fanin, Daprano began the track program at St.
Pius in Atlanta.  He then took over head football coaching duties at
St. Joseph, where he compiled a 44-32-8 record in nine seasons.  In
1970, Daprano hung up his clipboard and began a second career in the
real estate business.  
  
“When I was in the development business, I was a big beer drinker,” Daprano explained.  
  
“I put on a good bit of weight.  I was in my 50’s when a doctor told me
I had high blood pressure and I needed to stop drinking and lose weight
or I’d die young of a heart attack.  That really affected me.  I went
home and started working out in a swimming pool.  When it got too cold
to swim that fall, I started running.  Not too long after that, I
participated in some road races and later, I went to that track meet in
Atlanta.  
  
“I really think track and field saved my life.  When you’re competing,
it makes you eat right, rest and get enough sleep.  Those are the side
effects of competition.”
  
Daprano still trains consistently.  He has a pole vault pit in his back
yard and he is a regular fixture at McCurry Park — either running a
perimeter loop or doing sprint workouts on the track. 
  
When Daprano vanishes from McCurry for a few days or a week, he is likely off competing in a masters meet.  
  
Last year, he traveled to Finland and Australia for international
competitions.  Next month, Daprano is headed back to Wisconsin for the
National Masters Indoor Championship, where he is one of the age group
favorites in the pentathlon.      
  
Daprano said there is more to his involvement in the track community than competition alone.   
  
“There’s a lot of comradery.  You see some of the same people from meet
to meet.  Some of the athletes take themselves a bit too seriously, but
you develop a lot of great friendships,” Daprano noted.  
  
“That is one of the most important things about masters — the
relationships.  Track and Field has been good to me.  It’s really the
best way in the world to spend your old age.”