Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury-News has written an obituary of Lad Pataki that gives masters their due. Amazing. The M-word appears no fewer than four times in the online version of the obit. (Tomorrow’s print version may be shorter.) This is yet another milestone in our journey into the public vernacular. It shows that “masters” is becoming common knowledge in mainstream media. This is something Dr. Pataki would have cheered. Also: Great work by Elliott in quoting masters athletes as well as Olympians. We are doubly honored.

Here’s the story, in case the link goes bye-bye:

Renowned throwing specialist Pataki to be memorialized
By Elliott Almond
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
Ladislav Pataki, a former Soviet-era sports scientist who became one of the world’s best masters track and field throwers after defecting to Los Gatos in 1985, died from brain cancer. He was 60.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Chapel of Roses at the Oakhill Funeral Home in San Jose. He died Thursday, said daughter Noemi Marozick of San Jose.
Pataki’s journey to America began with the help of Los Gatos Olympian Ed Burke, who he met at the 1983 World Championships in Finland.
They conversed once more at a meet in Budapest, but Burke didn’t hear from Pataki again until receiving a call from Sicily in 1985. Pataki told the hammer thrower he was on a tour with other Czechoslovakians.
Burke gave instructions on what to do next. The Patakis defected in Rome, and then stayed in a refugee camp for two months until Burke got them to Silicon Valley.
When plotting their escape from the former Czechoslovakia, the parents didn’t tell their teenage daughter. Marozick said she was told to pack a few items for an Italian vacation.
“It didn’t dawn on me this is something they would ever do,” she said. “We had a pretty good life over there.”
The Patakis landed in the midst of “Weight City,” a South Bay stronghold for some of the world’s best shot putters, discus and hammer throwers.
Pataki used his expertise in biology, nutrition, physiology, physics and psychology to influence the group, said Mac Wilkins, a four-time Olympian and former world-record holder in the discus.
“It was refreshing,” said Wilkins, the throwing coach at Concordia University in Portland, Ore. “It seemed to be more holistic in how it fit into life.”
Pataki’s influence stretched across the world, touching Milan Jamrich, a professor of molecular & cellular biology at Baylor University and masters high jumper.
“He was so determined to succeed that he was a small-town hero,” said Jamrich, who grew up in Nove Zamky, Slovakia, with Pataki. “Part of his attitude carried over to me.”
Pataki taught Kevin McMahon, a two-time Olympic hammer thrower from San Jose, when he was 16.
“It was the first time I heard somebody from the Eastern bloc,” recalled McMahon, now a Belleramine Prep teacher. “You felt like you were hearing a big secret.”
Pataki preached technique, not brute strength.
“He had that passion that was contagious,” McMahon said. “You couldn’t be around him without becoming a student of the event.”
Pataki first worked at a Silicon Valley firm specializing in aids for visual learning. In 1989, he created a company focusing on athletic training techniques and nutrition.
Pataki also became an accomplished competitor, winning multiple masters world championships and setting world records. Three years ago, he competed for West Valley College – at age 57.
Tom Fahey, a Chico State professor of kinesiology, had been Pataki’s chief rival for the past decade.
“Most view the masters as just a bunch of old people who have play days,” said Fahey, an All-American discus thrower from San Francisco State. “Lad was a fanatic at this. His intensity was scary in how well he was prepared.”
As much as he loved it, Pataki announced his retirement on his 60th birthday last June to protest the handling of some of his world records. Officials had refused to ratify some records because of minor technicalities, Fahey said.
Pataki wasn’t solely a thrower and scientist, though. Marozick, 37, said he loved to travel and sample “the weirdest foods.” She also recalled the rich network of friends visiting them in Los Gatos.
“When he was sick, he had a visitor every day,” said Marozick, whose mother Gisele died of cancer in 2002.
Pataki had declined to undergo chemotherapy treatments during his illness. He had surgery in the Czech Republic last year, but physicians couldn’t remove all of the tumor.
Pataki is survived by a second daughter, Lilly, 1, and brother, Jan, of Slovakia, and grandsons Nicholas Marozick, 16, and Alex Marozick, 9, of San Jose.