Al Oerter could have been an Olympic contender in 1984 — at 47
Saturday, I made more progress on the National Masters News project — uploading 60 issues to mastershistory.org. Now 88 issues (the first nine years) are online as PDFs. So many revelations, so little time. But a favorite was the issue of August 1984, which told of hammer-star Ed Burke making the Olympic team at age 44. But I didn’t know Al Oerter had his eyes set on a fifth gold medal — at 47. Al Sheahen was editor, and even though his byline was missing, I presume he wrote about Al’s stepping in a “hammer hole” and injuring himself two weeks before the Trials. Al also quoted Al: “What about 1988? ‘Well, they say I’m already old at 47. I’ll be 51 then, so what the hell,’ [Oerter] laughed. ‘I know I’m going to be throwing over 200 feet, but how far over, I don’t know. But if I can make the qualifying distance for the Trials, obviously I’ll try to make the next team.'” Actually, I’m still missing Issue 74 (October 1984). I expect that soon from the commercial outfit that finished scanning 2,000 pages this month. In any case, check out these marvels of reportage. Sheahen was a helluva writer and hell-raiser.
One Response
Jeff Davison - September 28, 2014
Thank you to NMN.
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