About Wayne
When teaching high school physics, I would tell my students that teaching is about caring, sharing, and daring. The same is true for life. We care for ourselves, our families, friends, and others. But we should also make time to share the gifts God has given us to do the good works He has prepared for us in advance. Lastly, we can dare to be different and try new things and pursue new adventures to embrace life’s challenges.
My short story is ….. born on Valentine’s Day and raised in Baltimore, Maryland from 1955-1973. Graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy 1977. Officer in the Coast Guard 1977-1989. Masters in Physics from the US Naval Postgraduate School where I met and married Linda in 1982. “Mr. Mom” in London, England 1990-1993. Project engineer and manager in industry 1989-1996. Masters in Education 1996 and high school physics teacher/elementary science specialist 1996-2017. Retired 2017 - present.
Along the way I have been an altar boy when the mass was in Latin, a cheerleader in high school, Big Brother to seven Little Brothers in the Big Brother Program, Sunday School leader for Kids Ministry and Youth Group, Deck Watch Officer on Coast Guard cutters, College admissions officer for the Academy, husband to Linda and father to Megan and Matt, marched in the Macy Day parade, sailed on the USCG Barque Eagle in Operation Sail ‘76, received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching, competed for the 2004 NASA Astronaut Class, lived in nine states and also London, England, collected over 4000 comics and 300,000+ baseball cards, became an evangelical Christian, had four dogs, got involved in Masters Track and Field and Senior Games, learned to cook fancy meals, and retired to Sun City Texas.
I like the saying that those who give their best have no regrets. I agree. From an early age to the M70-74 age group in Masters Track and Field I have always strived to give my best.
As a youngster running in the streets of Baltimore I was always fast. My nickname in the neighborhood was “Kid Flash” and yes, the Flash, and his sidekick, Kid Flash were two of my favorite comic book heroes.
I remember Field Day at St. Elizabeth of Hungry catholic school when as a 10 year old I won the long jump competition with a leap of 12-13 feet. The long jump is now my best event at the National level.
When playing street games such as “Catch One, Catch All” or “Box Free” I was always the last one caught or the one most likely to free the box.
At my high school, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, I was excited to try out for the football team, but at 5’5” and less than 100 pounds, I would have been the bug on the windshield and not the windshield.
I was literally the last one cut from tryouts and I recall vividly even now, standing in line waiting to get my cleats and helmet when the coach told me that sorry there was no more equipment for me.
Not one to give up, I tried out for the X-country team the next day. Unfortunately the workout was unsupervised and we were told to go for a four mile run in the neighborhood. I tried my best, but learned that I am not a distance runner.
After the run I told the coach that cross country is not for me. Wanting to do something at my new school, I somehow was talked into being a cheerleader for the football team. Poly was an all boys school and did not have girl cheerleaders.
Besides cheerleading, I also joined my older brother, Gary, as operators of the scoreboard for the Freshman and JV football games. Other activities my first year at Poly were the aquarium club, chess club, and bowling club.
Later in the year I volunteered as the statistician for freshman basketball, a winter sport, and then as a baseball team manager in the spring. I did try out for the baseball team, but as with football, did not make the cut.
I did make the wrestling team but was never higher than fourth on the depth chart in the 112 pound weight class. My senior year, I volunteered to help “student” coach the JV wrestling team rather than remain on the bench for varsity.
Looking back to my high school years I regret not running track all four years. I do wish one of the coaches would have suggested I run track, especially after I ran 6.0s in the 50y dash in my bare feet as a freshman.
The record for 9th grade was 5.9 and I really wanted to break it. I came close and with any encouragement from a coach I would have joined the track team and competed in the 100y, 220y, 440y, long jump, etc.
In 9th grade physical education class, everyone had to run a 440y for time. I recall my time was just under a minute and I got a “good job” from the instructor. Again, a suggestion to try out for the track team would have been welcomed.
My senior year in high school I talked with a classmate who was on the track team and his specialty was the long jump. I asked what would be a good jump. He replied 17-18 feet. I believe I would have been a 20+ foot jumper back in 1973.
My college athletic career was better than high school, although I again got involved as a manager for the wrestling team, head manager my last two years, rather than try out for the indoor or outdoor track team.
I did play soccer all four years, three years on varsity as a halfback, so I had plenty of opportunities to practice sprinting up and down the field, plus develop aerobic capacity running over 5 miles during the course of the game.
As for track, there was an annual intramural indoor track meet where I had a chance to compete in the 55y dash and 300 yard. My times in those events were around 6.0s and 35s which I did with little training or effort.
As in high school, I wish one of the coaches would have noticed my fast times and asked me to come out and run track.
I also had a 42.1s 300y shuttle run (6x50y), 0.1s off the school record, but that also went unnoticed by the coaches.
It was not until my senior year at the Academy until my roommate, Tom, asked me to come out for the spring outdoor season and help the team in the sprints. The number 2 and 3 sprinters were injured skiing and could not compete.
I accepted Tom’s advice and joined the team in April 1977 and quickly became the number two sprinter on the team, running times of 9.8-10.0 in the 100y, 23.2-23.5 in the 220y, and being second leg on a 42.0 4x100y relay team.
I also ran around a 52 flat 440y as the second runner on a 4x440y relay. When I received the baton I was 30 yards behind two other runners. Having never run a 440y race before, I took off to chase them down.
At the 220y mark, I closed the gap to 15 yards with a very fast 220y split of about 24s. I then made a rookie mistake of passing the two runners on the curve around the 270y mark, going into lane 2.
Feeling confident at 300y I was rudely awaken to the reality of the 440y when the 800# bear jumps on your back and slows you down. The two runners flew by me as I was wondering what happened! Call it the fog of the 440!
Somehow I struggled to my teammate and handed off the baton. I think I kept my form, but lost all of my speed. Nonetheless my time was around 51-52 seconds. We did win that race!
After college, I remained active in sports, mainly playing softball and soccer, but also the occasional track meet. At Fort Ord, CA in 1981 I ran a 9.4 100y dash aided by a 25 mph tailwind coming off of the Pacific Ocean.
It was not until 1990 that I started to learn about Masters Track and Field. Living near London, England at the time, I competed in local track meets in the 100 and 200m races. I was M35 running around 11.0 in the 100m, 24.0 for 200m.
Returning to the states in 1993 and living in Natick, MA, I joined the Greater Boston Track Club and enjoyed indoor and outdoor meets at colleges like MIT, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, etc. I also added the long jump to my list of events.
From 1996-2019 I lived in the Charlotte, NC area where I taught high school physics, helped coach the track team, and competed in Masters Track and Field. I was a founding member of the Charlotte Masters Track Club in 1998.
During those years I enjoyed competing in meets such as the Queen City Invitational, the National Decathlon Championships in Charlotte in 2006 and 2013, USATF Masters Track and Field Championships, indoor and outdoor, South Carolina Senior Games, James Law Classic, and many local all-comers meets.
In August 2019, I moved to Sun City Texas in Georgetown, where I now live and train. My favorite meets in Texas are the Texas Senior Games in San Antonio, and Texas versus the World in Georgetown.
- Athlete, Christian, Husband, Teacher
