First available SFVTC newsletter.
left an incredible legacy in masters track. But he was more than the fire-breathing editor and publisher of National Masters News and longtime WAVA officer. He once held the M40 American record in the 400 hurdles at 61.9 in 1973, and he produced an amazing newsletter chock-full of age-group resources for his hometown San Fernando Valley Track Club. The last tidbits emerge from perusal of the
SFVTC newsletter, which I’ve added to mastershistory.org — our online museum. The first of nearly two dozen issues available is dated May 1975. Check out
pages 7 and 8 — a compilation of world age-group records in the three “classes” of the day — M40, M50 and M60. (No women’s records were kept apparently, or for older men’s age groups.)
Virgil Mcintyre of Prescott, Ariz., held the M60 WR for 100 meters at 12.8. (It’s now 11.70, and the current M70 WR is 12.77.) If it weren’t for the SFVTC newsletter, whose issues here end with June 1977, we might not have gotten NMN, which
launched in summer 1977.
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Very cool. Great info.
Jan. 1976 issue has a note: pole vaulter Cornelius Warmerdam won a Masters M60 Decathlon competition beating Bud Deacon on Dec. 1975 at Glendale College.
Some of the issues talk about “new” meets
SC Striders and the West Region Champions hips. … these are two meets that were started in the 1970s .. and are still around today.
Unfortunately some “new” meets mentioned from the 1970s such as the Orange Games,meet in Irvine and the Grandfather Games no longer exist.
And it looks like Dutch Warmerdam might have held the M60 decathlon record. And as many know later went to coach at Fresno.
And it mentions Olympian discus thrower Gordien being a Masters athletes and coach in San Bernardino…. who put on an all comers meet that included Masters. I remember being on the Cal Poly track team with his son .. whom held the school shot put record.
We all owe a lot to Al. We were lucky he came along when he did and was so selfless.
Oh those were the “glory days” of track & field in So. Cal. During the summertime you could compete in an all-comer track meet 5 days a week in the L.A. area. On Wednesday nights at Pierce College, they would run 20 heats in the 100. They ran a steeple chase and guys would enter just to wash the sand off their feet after a long day of surfing at Malibu Beach! Olympic athletes like Vince Evans, Bob Seagren and Bob Shull would show up on a regular basis.
One night after one of the meets had ended, John Pennel showed up and with no lights on in the stadium and the pit surrounded by automobile lights jumped over 17 feet!
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