Rex Harvey

Masterstrack.com: As the overseer of the World Veterans Athletic Championships, the vice president is crucial to the meet’s success. This may be the most important office in WAVA after the presidency.

Rex Harvey: First, I want to point out that I am not a member of the WAVA Council at this time. However, I do serve as the WAVA information technology (IT) coordinator as appointed by the WAVA Council. And I do serve on several WAVA committees and subcommittees most notably the Stadia Committee and I have been and will be part of the WAVA General Assembly. These answers however are my own and it should not be implied that they are official WAVA views or policy at all. They simply are my own views.

I don’t think it is important to speculate where the office stands among the others, but I do know that the WAVA vice presidents of stadia and non-stadia are certainly keystone positions in the organization.  They are responsible for directly overseeing the technical rules of the sport and the technical conduct of the World Championships.  For 95 percent of the world’s veteran athletes, the WAVA rules, under which they train and compete everyday, and the WAVA World Championships, the ultimate goal in their sport, are the only knowledge they have of WAVA.  The WAVA president, the WAVA Council, the WAVA General Assembly are all peripheral to their experience.  

The WAVA World Championships are certainly the most important activity that WAVA undertakes.  They are the focus of the organization, the source of most of the income of the organization at this time and the ultimate showcase of what we do.

When and where were you born, and where did you grow up?

I was born in Dexter, Iowa, in 1946 and thus became one of the first of the baby boomers.  I grew up in Redfield, Iowa, a small rural town of 987 persons (986 when I am not there).

Where did you go to school?

I attended Redfield elementary school and Dexfield (Dexter and Redfield consolidated) Junior High and High School along with about 200 others.  I hold a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University where I was a scholarship track and field athlete.  I later earned a master of science degree in systems management from the University of Southern California.

Where do you live now?

My wife, Joni, and I currently live in Mentor, Ohio, an eastern suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

What do you do for a living? (If retired, what was your career about?)
 
My lifelong career has been mechanical engineering.  I have been employed the last 10 years at Parker Hannifin Corporation.  I work in the Gas Turbine Fuel Systems Division.  Along with other work, we design and make about two-thirds of the fuel nozzles that are on the commercial airliners of the world.  I reduced to part time work at the beginning of 2001 and I am eligible for retirement in the summer of 2001.

What are your all-time bests in athletics?

My lifelong avocation has been track & field.  I have continuously competed for the last 42 years since I was 12 years old.  Although I have seriously slowed down the past three years after some back surgery and complications. I have had some success at all levels of competition.  My high school track team won the state championship four times in a row.   In college, I earned four invitations to the U.S. NCAA Division I Championships.  As an elite athlete, I represented the USA on six international track and field teams competing in Italy, Brazil, Sweden and the Middle East, and in decathlon team competition with the Soviet Union and Canada.  I was a U.S. Olympic Trials finalist in 1976 in the decathlon.

What are your masters track accomplishments?

I have been gifted and lucky enough to have some national and international success.  At one time, I had won 13 straight U.S. national decathlon championships.  I have several U.S. pentathlon championships and a sprinkling of other national championships in the pole vault, relays, etc.

I have won several WAVA world championships including the first decathlon in 1989 and again in 1991, where I was able to set a WAVA world record in M45 that still stands.  I won the pole vault world championship in Japan 1993 and was a member of world championship 4X100 and 4X400 relays in 1991.

When did you get involved in masters track administration, and what jobs or offices have you held?

In 1984, I received a call from the U.S. National Convention telling me that I had been appointed the U.S. Masters Multi-Event Coordinator.  That was a surprise out of the blue, but I accepted the challenge as they knew I would.  Nationally, I have headed or served on numerous committees and subcommittees.  Over the 17 years that I have served, I have accomplished many specific projects, one of the latest of which was to serve on a team inspecting the Sacramento site for their WAVA World Championship bid for 2005.

In Jalapa, Mexico, in 1992, I helped write a new NCCWAVA constitution and was elected to the presidency of that organization and served there and as the North American delegate on the WAVA Council until my term limits ran out in 1998.  In the years that I was not on the WAVA Council, I was elected to serve as one of the U.S. delegates to the WAVA General Assembly.

Bob Fine involved me in the WAVA Stadia Committee in the run-up to Melbourne’s 1987 WAVA championships.  I have been a member and increasingly active on that committee since that time.  From 1995 onwards, I have acted as the recording secretary for the committee.  As a member of the Stadia Committee, I have been very active -- not only in the technical inspection of WAVA Championship sites, but also more importantly in furnishing the day-to-day technical advice to the various LOCs as they prepared for and conducted the championships. 

It has not all been smooth sailing, and I have worked as many as 42 hours in a row at championships when troubles arose.  I have served as the WAVA information technology (IT) coordinator which included founding and maintaining the WAVA website at  wava.org.  I have headed the WAVA Combined-Events Stadia Subcommittee since its inception.  I was very active along with the WAVA Age Grading Stadia Subcommittee in creating the WAVA Age Graded Tables. 

In the 1993-94 time period, when the WAVA Council decided to reorganize the WAVA Handbook into more or less its current form, I did the actual reorganization and typing following Council recommendations.  In 1998, I was able to use my organizational and computer skills to put together the hard work of several dedicated persons in South Africa whereby we were able to finally publish and distribute the official results book of the 1997 WAVA World Championships.

WAVA has had great success with recent world meets, including Miyazaki, Buffalo and Gateshead, but also has had some disasters -- such as Durban and Puerto Rico. What can the vice president (Stadia) do to assure a successful meet?

I have been intimately involved in all of the WAVA World Championships from 1987, in Melbourne, and onward.  How much of a success a meet is certainly derives from one’s own personal experience.  I know of every recent championship being honestly spoken of as being the “best ever,” or the “worst ever” depending on the particular experience of the speaker.  It certainly is the job of WAVA to insure that the experience of each and every competitor is as good as possible.  Not just the runners, but also the throwers, jumpers and accompanying persons and everyone involved. 

WAVA had to withdraw its 2003 world meet from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  What, if any, mistakes were made regarding Malaysia?  In hindsight, what could you have done to avoid this mess? 

Actions like this are not the direct responsibility of the VP-Stadia. But as far as I understand the public reports of the WAVA President, Torsten Carlius, the decision to withdraw the bid was not made for technical reasons but for organizational reasons.  Jim Blair, the current WAVA VP-Stadia, has made repeated visits to Malaysia and has reported that their facilities are second to none in the world.  I myself made a visit last year to Malaysia at my own expense to see the facilities available and talk with those most likely to be on the LOC and especially those most likely to be in charge of technical matters for the WAVA Championships.  I agree with Jim that the track and field facilities in Kuala Lumpur are exceptional, unmatched anywhere in the world.  Insuring adequate facilities is the Stadia Committee’s first responsibility and was, and is not a problem.  Unfortunately, we did not get far enough along to assess their technical organization.

What role does the vice president (Stadia) have in making sure that all WAVA regions offer championship meets?  Some regions, such as Africa and Asia, have few WAVA regional meets. What can you do to assure competition for athletes of these regions?

The VP-Stadia has little direct role in insuring Regional Championship competition as he/she has no direct authority.  Each regional organization is independent and, while influenced by WAVA recommendations, is certainly not directly controlled by WAVA.  The WAVA VP-Stadia, while usually a respected voice,  is only one of 14 or 15 on the WAVA Council, and only one of 130 or so usually in the WAVA General Assembly. 

What can WAVA do to attract more and better bid candidates for the WVAC?

That is very simply answered.  Simply do all that can be done to make each and every WAVA World Championship as good as it can be for the athletes.  Satisfied athletes return and attract others as the word gets around.  Large numbers of satisfied athletes generally make it possible for local organizers to be successful.  And successful organizers attract other organizers who would like to get in on what they see.  It builds on itself very much.  I should also point out that the opposite is also true and that decline is probably faster than improvement.

The most publicity ever attained by a world WAVA meet was in Gateshead -- and only because of a wrongful accusation that a female competitor was a male. What can the vice president (Stadia) do to promote the meet in the world press and gain it the positive attention it deserves?

The job of WAVA VP-Stadia is more to proactively act than it is to be seen on the spot.  However, the VP-Stadia himself/herself must be of the highest character and readily accessible to the world press in an informative and cooperative manner.  However, the primary job of the VP-Stadia is not to directly promote the WAVA World Championships, but to do everything possible to make the meet is worthy of being promoted, and recognized.  There is something to the saying that one cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. 

Some people have suggested that the world WAVA meet would carry more respect and significance if it established entry standards -- where athletes would have to achieve certain performances to qualify for the meet.  Do you support or oppose such standards? Why?

At this time I would oppose entry performance standards for the WAVA World Championships.  I don’t think that it is in the philosophy that created, and sustains, the WAVA organization.  However, I do think that requirements for entry could be changed in such a way as to improve the overall sport.   For example, what if one was required to compete in a Regional Championship in order to qualify for a World Championship?  And what if one was required to compete in an Affiliate (country) Championship in order to quality for a Regional Championships?  That or other variations of that might be successful if properly applied.  There are many things to explore that have not yet been examined.  People compete for various reasons, but mostly to distinguish themselves.  We need to maximize the opportunities of differentiation. 

There can only be one world champion, but there are many ways to emphasize other achievement levels under that.   I hold several patents and am successful in my engineering career because I am an innovative while practical thinker.  There are things that we could do to improve our organization’s service to our athlete constituents -- we just have not thought of or acted on them yet.

Should WAVA appeal to the IAAF for more money to support the world veterans meets?  If yes, how much? And how would the money be spent?

Of course WAVA should appeal for more IAAF support.  How much?  As much as we could employ to positively influence the sport.  Mere welfare would be nice, but is not justified or sustainable.  To deserve support, we must first insure that our leaders are of highest character and our organization is capable of carrying out the specific objectives of that support.  

In general, I feel that we do not emphasize enough all of the various ways, and all the various levels, that veterans contribute to the sport.  It is not just in their own competition for its own sake, but it is as advocates, coaches, team leaders, officials, administrators, and so on that are established or sustained by veterans track and field competition.  Involvement breeds interest, and that carries over into success at all levels of our sport.

If WAVA  had the money, would you support or oppose using it to award monetary prizes at the World Veterans Athletic Championships -- either to champions or record breakers or both?

They may be a few exceptions, but in general, veteran competitors perform worse than their younger compatriots.  It is a fact of life that our performances do not impress the naive public on their own merits.   Age-grading gives some credibility to what some veteran competitors do, but is not known or trusted by the general public.  I don’t think that there ever would be enough prize money available to capture the public’s interest on its own merit.  

Perhaps “prize” money could be used more constructively to promote World Championships by providing some travel expenses to those that have won Regional Championships or have surpassed certain age-graded standards at Regional or Affiliate Championships.  This would be another way of encouraging participation downward into Regions and Affiliates, thereby helping our grassroots develop.  As one of the creators of age grading, I would welcome that kind of scrutiny of the age grading as mistakes would soon be flushed out for correction.

Many masters take doctor-prescribed medications to improve their quality of life. But many of these drugs run afoul of the IAAF -- forcing older athletes to choose between participation in track and better health. Some people have suggested that drug rules, meant for elite athletes, should be modified for masters.  Do you support or oppose changes in WAVA’s drug rules? Why?

Again, this is not a VP-Stadia specific responsibility.  The WAVA VP-Stadia would be just 1 of 14 on the WAVA Council and 1 of 130 or so in the WAVA General Assembly so would have some, but not much, influence on WAVA drug policy.   If you are interested, my personal view of drug abuse enforcement is the same as that of the current WAVA Stadia Committee --- that it is a competition fairness issue.  It is most important that no one receive an unfair advantage over anyone else.  To do anything else makes a mockery of our competition. 

To this end, I, like the Stadia Committee, support continued drug testing at the highest level practical.  However, I also agree with the Stadia Committee that WAVA should organize professional medical and technical experts to study the existing IOC and IAAF drug abuse programs with special regard to older athletes and to recommend deletions, changes and/or additions to the existing anti-doping rules that should be adopted for veteran athletes.  Education is also very important as there almost always are non-banned alternatives to most medicines.

As the flagship meet of the World Association of Veteran Athletes, the world championships are an opportunity to attract and showcase many former elite and Olympic competitors.  How would you use your office to encourage participation by former open champions?

Normally the office of WAVA VP-Stadia would have very little to do with anything like this other than to provide a good and fair competition.  And perhaps adjust schedules so as to showcase certain events on whatever media coverage that may be generated by the local organizers and/or WAVA commercial management. 

Elite promotion has been tried by several past WAVA World Championship organizers with mixed results.  Most past elite champions usually avoid this situation like the plague.  They have little to gain and a lot to lose by being beaten in such competitions or failing to set records as expected.  Their presence does give the press something to write about, but it is very risky for the press to build up someone that “should” win but doesn’t. 

Doing this sort of thing is usually very expensive for the organizers and I, as WAVA VP-Stadia, would advise that the cost/benefit should be carefully considered before doing it.   Each situation is different, and I am sure that there are some that would benefit from the buildup of former elite athletes.  Remember that there are other ways to use them other than to have them compete.  Somehow, using a portion of self funded athletes’ entry money to pay a few elite people to come in and beat them doesn’t sit very well with most people.

The Paralympics has taken advantage of the Olympics to gain attention for disabled athletes. Should WAVA do likewise, and lobby for masters exhibition events in the Olympic Games? Why or why not?

Personally I think it is a very good idea to pursue.  But again, the specific office of WAVA VP-Stadia would have little to do with promotions such as this other than to arrange for and coordinate any special technical requirements that veterans competition might entail.  For example, it would be very difficult to have a veterans throwing exhibition competition without the proper implements in place and the rules being known.

Do your support or oppose current efforts to find an accommodation with the growing World Masters Games movement -- even if it means WAVA has to give up a say in where and how such world track meets are conducted?

I am personally open to all possibilities and I assume, as VP-Stadia, I would remain so.   One thing is evident -- that Masters Games have the power to attract big-time numbers and therefore big-time sponsorship money.  And they have also demonstrated that they truly are “games” at this point, usually with questionable technical conduct of the competitions.  If WAVA became involved, I am sure the quality of competition would be raised. 

However, it would not all be gravy.  There would be strings on that money.  And we would no longer be the “only game in town” as we are used to.  It would take an extremely close look at the possibilities before proceeding.  WAVA would certainly not be giving up all say in where and how these Games would be conducted.  I see WAVA insisting on having representation and a say proportional to the size and importance of track and field in the mix of sports at any such Multi-Sport Festivals.  As you know, Jim Blair, the current WAVA VP-Stadia, has already been appointed as the WAVA liaison for the upcoming World Masters Games to be held in Melbourne, Australia, in 2002.

Finally: What specific accomplishments or preparation can you cite that indicates you are the best choice for WAVA  vice president (Stadia)?

I offer:  

-- A demonstrated ability at gaining people’s trust and respect and in getting things done, even in the face of extremely difficult circumstances at times. 

-- A personal character that is worthy of the office.  I put the good of the sport ahead of personal benefit.

-- A solid background in technical matters concerning veterans athletics, second to none in the world, developed and honed by thousands of hours of direct veterans track and field work and at the past eight WAVA World Championships .

-- A passion and energy for the sport of veterans track and field that has been demonstrated over the past 14 years or so in ways too numerous to mention here.  Near full-time track and field work and a lot of my own personal money are some indications of my commitment to the sport.

Interview by Ken Stone