With renewed passion for track and field, octogenarian dominates the competition
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the May 17, 2017, edition of The Ark. It earned second place for Best Sports Feature Story in the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s 2017 California Journalism Awards contest.
By JEFF DEMPSEY
jdempsey@thearknewspaper.com
Larry Stotter lettered in track and field in high school. Today, he ranks among the top five decathletes in the world in his age group, No. 1 in the U.S.
There just happens to be a 70-year gap between those two milestones.
Stotter, now 87, ran the hurdles in 1946. When he left high school the next year, he hung up his cleats.
“I had nothing at all to do with track after that,” says Stotter, a Tiburon resident. “Not until 2014.”
That year, he turned 85, and his son, Dan, who is a track enthusiast, suggested Stotter take up the sport again.
“He pointed out to me that I’m in better health than most of the guys that are in their 60s and 70s,” Stotter says. “Now that I was 85, I had reached the upper age group of the (U.S.A. Track & Field) Masters program. And he felt that if I wanted to start competing, I could possibly get myself a bronze medal. He thought I could be in the running with these guys.
“I kind of laughed it off, but he kept the pressure on.”
The more Stotter thought about his son’s suggestion, the more attractive it seemed. He began to train, and in 2015 he competed in his first event, the Hayward Classic at the University of Oregon. There, he did better than a bronze medal: Stotter won two of the three throwing events he entered and won the 100-yard dash.
“That was the big surprise,” he says. “Both my wife and my son felt that they did not like the idea of an 85-year-old doing the 100-yard dash. They were joking that maybe we’d better have an ambulance at the end.”
With his love of track and field rekindled, Stotter now competes in several events a year as a decathlete. He trains for throwing events a few days a week in the field behind Tiburon Town Hall, and he does strength training at Corte Madera’s Bay Club Marin twice a week.
Stotter’s hard work has paid off. At the 35th Hayward Classic on April 30, he won gold medals in six events and a silver medal in a seventh. The real highlight, however, was the announcement of world rankings for the Masters program.
Among U.S. decathletes ages 85–89, Stotter has no equal. In the world, he ranks fifth.
“That blew me away,” he says. “It’s shocking. I don’t understand it.”
Self-deprecation aside, Stotter says he owes his ranking to his diversity. He says most athletes his age compete in one or two events, such as throwing or running. The fact that he competes in 10 events sets him apart. He’s not stopping at 10, either.
“As a matter of fact, I went up this year to start working with an organization in Eugene, Ore. to learn pole vaulting,” he says.
Stotter says the reason he trains diligently is simple: It’s about testing his limits.
“It’s the competition with myself,” he says. “That’s the point. Say you can throw the javelin 13 meters, and 14 meters means you’ve reached a certain standard. Well, by god, then I’d like to do that.”
And, he says, it’s just fun.
“Nice part about all this is the camaraderie and the willingness of the really skilled people in every event to talk to other people and give advice,” he says. “An excellent example of this is when I did the decathlon last year. Most of the men and women who do it are magnificent athletes in their late 30s or early 40s. They are doing terrific things. And at almost every event, they took the time to talk to me about how I might do better.”
Stotter says when he practices throwing he is often approached by those passing by who want to ask questions or just pat him on the back. Sometimes, he invites them to pick up the javelin. You never know, he tells them — maybe you’ll discover a passion for it, just like he did.
“I always tell people,” he says. “Give it a try.”
Jeff Dempsey is The Ark’s assistant editor for production and the youth and sports reporter. Reach him at 415–944–4561.
