DALLAS MASTERS TRACK & FIELD CLUB

GREETINGS TO ALL OF YOU AT THIS JOYOUS TIME OF THE YEAR. WHETHER YOU CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF MY LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OR PROFESS OTHER FAITHS, “HERE’S WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS”

This was a very good year for yours truly and for several of our members. There were several national titles by club members and even some world titles earned. We are all winners for having competed and enjoyed the camaraderie of the other competitors. Ours is such an unusual sport in that we support and encourage our competition to do as well as they can and offer advice and coaching that may cause us to lose to them. This is what I love about masters track and field. I see it every where I go. The throwers are especially good at helping newcomers to the sport to get acquainted and giving them pointers on how to get better. They have more time for this between throws than we sprinters do because they have to stay around the area. We sprinters go off to seek shade and a place to sit or lie down immediately after finishing a race. I pride myself on trying to be available to answer any questions asked and have been known to give some advice that wasn’t asked for. Some of it wasn’t accepted and some was.

Our most outstanding member has to be Emil Pawlik from Jackson, MS. Emil continues to set new records in the multi-events and keeps on winning national and world titles. On top of all this, he is such a great gentleman and his wife Karen is a pretty good athlete in her own right. They are a real delight to be around.

Lester Mount, yours truly Wayne Bennett, Roger Conboy, Rick Easley and Joe Summerlin all won national titles this year. We had very few club members at Nationals this year and still finished 15^th in the club scoring and some of our members didn’t get counted because Indianapolis refuses to recognize them as members because they do not live in the Southwest Region. All in all, we have a great club and hope to keep it going for a long number of years. Whether you won any titles or not is really not the reason for wanting you as a member of our group. We want to encourage each of you to stay physically fit and lead a healthy lifestyle. We need to be examples for others to follow.

I want to try and recap some of the activities that our members competed in during the year. We were represented at the Penn Relays, UTA Invitational, Luke’s all-comer meets in Dallas and Fort Worth, USATF Masters Indoor and Outdoor championships, Southwestern Association meet, our own Texas Masters Championships, World Masters Athletics championships in Riccione, Italy, Texas Senior Games Championships and several local senior games, Lions Waterloo meets in Austin (2) and others I am sure.

I apologize for not writing more newsletters this year. I will try to do better in the coming year if I am re-elected to this position when we have our annual meeting sometime in the next few weeks. We are trying to come up with something special that will draw more people to the meeting. I will keep you informed about the meeting as soon as we get the plans drawn up.

We are trying to get an indoor meet set up in Houston sometime this winter. One of the things I need to know is how many of you would try to attend this meet. In order for the University of Houston to put on this meet, they need at least 125-150 participants. Please let me know sometime in the first two weeks of January if you think you would attend this meet. There is also an all-comers meet at the University of Houston in February. Entry forms are available on the UH website. Due to last year’s ice storm and dwindling participation, Texas Tech is not having a masters meet this year.

It is time to renew your membership in the Dallas Masters Track and Field Club and also your membership in USATF if you do not have a multi-year membership. Our Club membership number is 26-0018 if you want to compete at nationals for the club. The annual dues are $16 for the Dallas Masters and $29.95 for USATF. You have to renew through the national office at usatf.org for that card, required only at nationals and some regional meets such as the Southwestern Association meet held each June in Dallas. For the Dallas Masters, make your check payable to DMTFC and mail to 1501 W. Lavender Lane, Arlington, TX 76013. We genuinely appreciate your membership and your help in promoting and supporting masters track and field.

A special thanks to our officials and all of you for your support and help and participation.

WAYNE BENNETT