Don Pellmann may be oldest to appear in SI’s Faces in the Crowd

Age before beauty

Don tops the list.

Michelle Xiao was a Nebraska state Junior Olympic 200-meter hurdles champion who attended my archrival high school in Omaha (Westside). I went to Burke my senior year. Now she’s a soccer midfielder as a Stanford freshman. But she’ll never forget this week’s honor — appearing next to 100-year-old Don Pellmann in Faces in the Crowd. That’s the Sports Illustrated feature masters get into every blue moon. (In December 2006, Bill Collins made the 50-year anniversary issue. In August 2009, Lisa Valle made it for Lahti worlds, and M95 Leland McPhie made it. In July 2010, it was Mary Harada. And in September 2011, it was Anselm LeBourne.) I’m checking with SI to see if Don is the oldest in FITC history — yet another record for the Santa Clara superstar.

Don tops the list for FITC in the Oct. 5 issue of Sports Illustrated.

Photo of Don was by Chris Stone for Times of San Diego. Her credit is itsy-bitsy.

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October 3, 2015

3 Responses

  1. Alan Kolling - October 4, 2015

    Irene got a FITC “update” in March 2014 since she had been profiled decades before in the ’60s and the special column focused on her breaking the 200m world record and becoming the oldest 80 year old ever to break 40 seconds.

  2. Ken Stone - October 6, 2015

    Here’s my latest story on Dandy Don:
    http://timesofsandiego.com/sports/2015/10/06/san-diego-feats-earned-centenarian-15-days-of-fame/

  3. Ken Stone - November 30, 2015

    Swedish TV show features Don at beginning and 10:25 into clip:
    http://www.svtplay.se/video/4849584/korrespondenterna/korrespondenterna-sasong-12-avsnitt-7

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