National Track Meet Makes Stop in Hometown of Program Founder : Looking For a Race, Pain Became Master of the Masters

David Pain thought it a shame that athletics were wasted on the young. So in 1966, the La Jolla attorney did something about it--he began Masters track and field.

Pain’s idea was simple. Allow athletes to compete against others their own age. Let 34-year olds run against no one younger than 30, 74-year olds against no one younger than 70.

It was an idea that quickly caught on. Now, 23 years after its birth, Masters track and field has hundreds of thousands of competitors worldwide, Pain says.

Some 1,600 of them are gathered here this week for the TAC/USA National Masters Championships, which begin today and run through Sunday at both San Diego State and Balboa Stadium.

“It’s the equivalent of rolling 20 track meets into one,” said Dixon Farmer, the meet director and a former CIF state champion at 440 yards and the 180-yard low hurdles in 1958 and 1959.

And of course, David Pain is right smack in the middle of organizing the monstrosity.

“I’ve never seen anyone who has such an attention to detail,” Farmer said.

But could anyone expect something less than obsession from the father of Masters track?

Pain was 45 in 1966 and realizing just how difficult it was to juggle a lawyer’s calendar with a social calendar.

“I was competing in handball at the San Diego Athletic Club,” Pain recalled. “I enjoyed the game, but there’s always problems with a court game, having to sign up for a court, be there at a certain time and only have one hour. As a lawyer it was pretty hard to say, ‘I’ll be there at 4 p.m.’ and keep that commitment.

“So I started running, and the thought occurred to me, ‘Why not have a Masters mile?’ ”

Pain got ahold of Les Land, who at the time organized a track meet here. Land, too, asked, “Why not?” He consequently added an over-40 mile to his meet. Pain and several others competed.

“I think I pulled a muscle and pulled up lame in that one,” Pain said. “But that’s part of the game. In athletics, you have injuries.”

It was an inauspicious debut for Pain, who never competed in athletics in college or high school. But the injury did not hamper the idea.

Organizers of the San Francisco Examiner indoor meet, of the Los Angeles Sports Arena meet and finally the Millrose Games all asked the Master milers to compete.

“Then I thought, ‘Why not have a Masters track meet?’ ” Pain recalls.

Though a success with some 400 athletes, the first meet--held in San Diego--did have some glitches, not the least of which was the fact that only a handful of the athletes were women.

“We had to run all the women in one race because we didn’t have enough in each age division,” Pain said.

There were also several events--pole vault, hammer, triple jump and decathlon among them--not included because Pain and others thought older athletes ought not attempt them. That was soon regarded as backward thinking.

“We quickly learned that Master athletes could do all disciplines without exceptions,” Pain said.

Pain and his colleagues have been going forward ever since. How far? Well, the biggest-ever Masters meet will begin next week when more than 5,000 athletes from some 55 different countries descend on Eugene, Ore., for the world championships.

“He just got this idea,” said Linda Pain, David’s wife, “and it took off.”

“Like the guy who invented the safety pin, or the guy who invented the paper clip,” David added.

But for those who participate, Pain’s idea added more to life than just convenience.

“The things people write to me makes me think we created something good for people,” Pain said.

Perhaps the best indication of that came two years ago at a banquet following the world championships in Melbourne, Australia.

“A gentleman went up to the microphone unannounced,” Pain remembered, “and he said, ‘I want everyone here to know that Dave Pain gave me a rebirth. He gave me a new life.’ And he said it with such sincerity. There were so many people in the room who sort of said amen to that in agreement. It gave me a wonderful feeling to know that there were so many people whose life had been made better because of this program . . .

“It gives people a forum in which they can compete regardless of age as long as they have a competitive spirit and athletic ability.”

Pain, now 67, still competes in the middle distances. His best year came in 1971 when, at the age of 50, he ran 800 meters in 2:18.7, not world-class but respectable.

Some of the other athletes who will compete beginning today include:

--Paul Spangler. At 90, Spangler will be the oldest American competing (There will be some “guest” Finish athletes competing over that age). Spangler is a multi-record holder in the 10,000, 5,000 and “everything down to the 800 meters,” Pain said.

--Payton Jordan. Jordan, who coached at Stanford and the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, was a national-class sprinter at USC in 1939 but stopped competing after college. Until, that is, he turned 55 and entered the Masters program. At 72, Jordan has run the 100 meters in 12.9 seconds (hand timed).

--Derek Turnbull. Turnbull is a 62-year-old sheep-herder from New Zealand who two years ago in Melbourne won five gold medals, in the 800, 1,500, 5,000, 10,000 and marathon. After all the preliminaries and finals in those events, and just four hours after finishing the marathon, Turnbull came back for an encore and participated in an exhibition mile, finishing in less than five minutes.

--James King of San Diego. King, who recently turned 40, set the world record in the 35-39 age group in the intermediate hurdles at 52.8.

“Without Masters,” Pain said, “athletes like James King would fade away. But now every five years he can look forward to new records and stay interested.”

--Stan Whitley. Like King, Whitley is an intermediate hurdler. “He and King will be battling it out, and you’ll see a new (Masters) world record from one of them,” Pain promised.

The meet already has taken a crooked turn. About 60 of 100 flags borrowed from Balboa Park’s United Nations display were set up along San Diego State’s track Tuesday afternoon. Sometime that night, they were stolen.

“Whoever did it had to jump the fence to get in there,” said Steve Levon of The Athletics Congress. “It wasn’t an easy task. They’re going to cost between $25 and $30 apiece to replace, so we’d be happy to take them back, no questions asked.”