My M50 hurdler friend David Ortman in Seattle is semi-nostalgic for his high school track days in South Dakota. But he’s also aware that South Dakota is “a USATF masters wasteland.” He writes: ” I don’t believe they have a sanctioned masters meet in the state. So they are left with the South Dakota and other local city Senior Games. So anytime a local South Dakota athlete makes it to a national meet (even if it is the National Senior Games), it’s a big deal.”

Dave continues:
Here is a recent article on Howard Brown a (M50) discus thrower from Brandon, South Dakota. What caught my eye was that he says he was a national champion his sophomore year at Worthington (Minn.) Junior College, with a throw of 168 feet. He’s 51, so he would have been a high school freshman (I presume at Brandon) when I was a high school senior in South Dakota. Since throwing events were not my thing, so I don’t recall ever hearing about him. I did run in the Worthington (High School) Trojan Relays in 1970.
This appeared in the Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus Leader on Aug. 27, 2007, page 3A.
Brandon places at National Senior Olympic Games

By Jill Meier
Brandon Valley Challenger editor
Howard Brown was just a seventh-grader when he got his first taste of success as a discus thrower.
A fourth-place finish at a Canton meet got him thinking more seriously about the track and field event.
“I thought, ‘This might be something I can be good at,’ ” Brown said.
The success Brown had at that first meet has multiplied since then, spilling over into his high school and college careers, and most recently, as a 51-year-old husband, father, grandfather and now, senior Olympian.
In his first year of eligibility for the National Senior Olympic Games, Brown placed fifth in the 50-54-year-old division that had 27 athletes vying for the title. The Brandon U.S. Postal Service employee earned his berth to the national games by finishing second in the South Dakota Senior Games last year. In addition to the second-place finish in discus, Brown won the javelin title for his age division.
Brown and his one-gal cheering section, wife, Nancy of 27 years, made the trip to the Senior Games in Louisville, Ky., this summer. He was one of 12,000 senior athletes competing in 400 events.
“My goal was to make the finals and to throw well,” Brown said.
Brown opened the preliminary competition with a toss of 125 feet.
“Being a little nervous, I think I rushed my first throw,” he said. With a five-minute break before his next attempt, Brown worked on his spin and form. It paid off, and the next throw measured 138 feet.
“After my second throw, I knew I had made the finals, which was my goal,” he said. He wrapped up the prelims with a throw of 142 feet, which ranked him sixth going into the finals.
Brown said he already had a feeling of satisfaction by simply reaching the finals, but he was determined to do even better. His first effort in the finals sailed 143 feet, the second, a whopping 147 feet, and his third throw, 138 feet.
“That last one, I put everything into it, and I pulled something in my back.” The injury kept Brown from training for an entire month.
“I was a college national champ, but I think I was more excited about this than that,” he said.
Steve Patridge of Odonnell, Texas, won the division title. His throw measured 170 feet.
Brown now dreams of winning his age division at the South Dakota Senior Games and breaking the state record of 125 feet. He’ll get his opportunity tat the state games Sept. 8 in Mitchell.
What will it take for Brown to make his dream come true?
“You’ve got to be determined and probably a little stupid,” he joked.
In preparation for the national games, Brown trained five days a week, beginning May 1. “I know there’s lots of people who seen me and wondered, ‘What is that old man out there doing?’ ”
Brown’s no stranger to the medal stand. In his high school senior season, he finished second at the state meet. As a freshman at Worthington (Minn.) Junior College, Brown finished third at nationals, and he was the national champion his sophomore season, launching the discus 168 feet.
“I was a national champion my sophomore year. That was the end of my career and I was just done,” he said. “When I was about 40 years old, that’s when I heard about the senior games, and I couldn’t wait to be 50.”
Brown hopes to pass on his passion to the most recent addition to the Brown family, his 6-month-old grandson.
“He’s a big boy, so we’ll start working with him real soon.”