Bob Hewitt says he heard of his selection as USATF Masters Male Athlete of the Year from a friend in Stockholm, Sweden. “Lars Wennblom emailed me congrats for being selected male AOY. I told him he must be confused with my 75+ award from 2013,” Bob, now 81, graciously told me via an email Q&A. “After he guided me to the web posting, I emailed Mary (Trotto) and she confirmed the selection. I was both shocked and thrilled.” He told his family, tennis friends and the Portland Masters Track Club. “They are collectively surprised (as am I), supportive, happy, proud and grateful. Of course, they all suspect I may have to replace my existing headware.”

Here’s the rest of our Q&A:

Masterstrack.com: Is this your biggest masters honor to date, or anything else more notable?

Bob Hewitt: This is tops for me. 

What did you do for a living? How did your career develop?

I am a chemical engineer and spent 36 years with Shell Chemical. I started in the lab and spent the last 22 years in the head office in technical/management positions. We lived in California, Ohio, New Jersey/New York, Texas and retired in Oregon. The army took me for a couple of years and I helped them make nerve gas in Alabama.

Did you run track much as a kid? Best marks?

At Sandy High School in Oregon, we had track only my sophomore and  senior years and no track to train on.  My marks were nothing special. I was known more for wrestling and football.

If you’d been serious, and competed as a collegian, how would you have done in the dec?

Are you kidding?? I could have done maybe five events and none of them very well. Bob Mathias was my hero and inspiration back then, but I had no realistic expectation of ever doing a decathlon.

What’s your best event? Why?

My best event is probably the heptathlon. As far as I know, there have been only two marks over 6000 in the men’s masters hep and I have both of them.  Why? I’m not the best in any one event but even though I am self-taught in most of the events, I can achieve All-American marks in all (50m, 60m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 60H, 80H, 200H, HJ, LJ, TJ, PV, Shot, Disc, Jav, Pent, and Dec) except the 1500m. In the individual events, I think the triple jump may be the best. I may have to start practicing it. I only do approach runs.

I don’t see many USATF meets to your name this year. How often do you compete every year?  
      
I try to attend at least one national championship meet and the local meets each year. As you know, it is expensive to travel, eat and bunk at every big meet. We have the PMTC classic and the State Games of Oregon here in Gresham. I have been to only two WMA meets — San Sebastian and Kamloops. I try to do more when I hit a new age group.

How do you deal with injuries? Anything notable in recent years?

Injuries?? Prevent them at all costs. I had four eye surgeries on each eye that prevented me from serious training for nine months. It took about two years to regain my conditioning.  My other weakness is a tender right hamstring, but I now know when to ease up (I hope).

What are your plans for 2015? Lyon worlds?

Lars W. wants me to come to Lyon next year. He won the dec in San Sebastian when I took third (my first dec).  I think he will be in a new age group and wants to beat up on me one more time. He is a fine man and athlete.

What do you think of your 200 hurdles mark not being submitted for record consideration?

My hurdle mark was not submitted until September so I think it was not early enough to be considered this year. I will try to talk with Sandy [Pashkin] to see if there is any other problem. There was also a TJ mark of 8.34 meters for an AR in the same package.

What should be done to improve masters track in America? In the world?

I would like to see more participation in both local and national meets but realize this has been a problem for years. I think more publicity would help. 

For example, I don’t think The Oregonian has ever mentioned any of my achievements. Is there a non-self-serving way to inform them? [Ken: I’ll handle that, Bob.]

Recruiting new track club members is something we are striving to do for PMTC. The other thing I would like to see is better officiating at local and national meets. I have exceeded several ARs which have never been recognized because there was no wind gauge, no steel tape or no realization a new mark had been set. 

I know that in national meets any jump mark that exceeds an American Record must be steel-taped, but if the AR is not listed on the results sheet, a new mark may not be noticed. 

What keeps you going?

The friends and the competition. You may have noticed, Ken, that you meet the nicest people at track meets. If I had only known, I would have started my 15-year career earlier. Masters track has allowed me to know so many outstanding people — not just record holders but competitors just the same. 

There is always something to spur the competitive side whether it is to win the gold, set a record or to set a PR.  For all of us, if we set a PR it can’t be a bad effort.