Looking back at Buffalo: 10 years since 1995 worlds
Speaking of anniversaries. Ten years ago this week, Buffalo was hosting the XI World Masters Athletic Championships. It was the last meet to have only a paper trail — no presence on the fledgling World Wide Web. But, again, I’ve rectified that oversight by posting an image PDF and a searchable PDF (both 99 pages long!) of the Buffalo meet results book. Better have broadband, or tremendous patience. It’s big.
Buffalo boasted one of the most competitive and memorable world masters meets in history — where 3,000 spectators saw Jim Barrineau beat Dwight Stones in a clash of the M40 high jump titans. Barrineau beat Stones with a then world-record 2.11 (6-11) jump.
Phil Raschker won nearly every W45 event in sight — and pushed Mary Libal to an incredible world-record 56.82 in the 400. (Phil was second at 57.60).
And here’s how the result book described an incident at the Opening Ceremonies on July 14, 1995:
“Ruth Anderson, 65, USA, who has participated in all eleven Veterans’ Games, had the honor of bearing the torch for the ceremonial flame. As she bent over to light the flame, a gust of wind blew the torch from her hands and set her sneakers on fire. Games personnel ran to her with fire extinguishers and put out the flame. Although she suffered some first-degree bums on her feet and hands, after treatment, she returned to the stadium still excited about being a participant.
“The ceremonies, whose theme was “Still Rocking After All These Years,” also included a cast of 700 local dancers and acrobats, flying Elvises parachuting into the stadium, Chubby Checker (the Twist King), and a spectacular fireworks display.”
Enjoy the results. Thanks again to Ed Whitlock for sharing the book.
