USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
Deena Michelle Kastor is an American long-distance runner. She was a holder of American records in the marathon (2006-2022) and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She is also an eight-time national champion in cross country.
John Lee Gray Jr. is a retired American world class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time-Olympian (1984-1996) in 1985 he set the US record of 1:42.60 at a meet in Koblenz. That time puts Gray as the nineteenth fastest performer of all time. He came seventh in the 1984 Summer Olympics, fifth in 1988, and won the bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics of 1992. In 1993 Gray was one of the favourites to win a gold medal at the World Championships in Stuttgart as he had won the A-race at the prestigious meeting in Zurich. However, he failed to qualify for the final in Stuttgart. He also set the world 600 meter record in 1986 at 1:12.81. In 1992 and 1993 Gray came close to breaking the world indoor record over 800 m several times. He held the US indoor record at 1:45.00 till February 2019.
Craig Steven Virgin is an American distance runner. He was born in Belleville, Illinois, and grew up near Lebanon, Illinois. While in high school, Virgin won 5 state championships as well as setting the national outdoor high school 2-mile record of 8:40.9. Additionally, Virgin held the Illinois Boys Cross Country all-time state championship record for 47 years, running a 13:50.6 in 1972, a record that stood until November 9, 2019, when Josh Methner of John Hersey High School ran a 13:49.86. Virgin was Track and Field News "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1973.
The National Distance Running Hall of Fame was established on July 11, 1998, to honor those who have contributed to the sport of distance running. Many of those who are inducted have achieved great success as runners, but some members are enshrined for their ability to bring fame and recognition to the sport of running. Many of the individuals inducted into this prestigious Hall of Fame, are extremely influential in regard to the recognition and progress the American distance running has undergone throughout the years.
Payton Jordan was the head coach of the 1968 United States Olympic track and field team, one of the most powerful track teams ever assembled, which won a record twenty-four medals, including twelve golds. He was born in Whittier, California. Jordan was exceedingly successful as a collegiate track coach for a decade at Occidental College and for 23 years at Stanford University. A star three-sport athlete in his youth, Jordan more recently became one of the most dominant track athletes of all time, as a sprinter, in senior divisions. Jordan died of cancer at his home in Laguna Hills, California on February 5, 2009.
Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups. For international events the first age group is 35 to 39. Men as old as 105 and women in their 100s have competed in running, jumping and throwing events. Masters athletes are sometimes known as "veterans" and the European Masters Championships, for instance, is known as "Eurovets". This and other high level events including biennial World Championships cater largely to elite-level athletes, but many masters athletes are novices to athletics and enjoy the camaraderie offered by masters competition at the local, National and International level. Most National governing bodies for track and field hold annual Masters championships. Prestigious National meets such as the Penn Relays and the United States Olympic Trials put on exhibition events for top masters athletes. Masters athletics is growing Internationally with over 6000 athletes competing at recent World Championships. World; National and Regional records are maintained for each age group.
Bob Larsen is a Hall of Fame Track and field athletics coach, known largely for coaching distance runners, though he has had success coaching across a full range of events. His most notable athlete is Mebrahtom Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon. Building on that success, Keflezighi won the men's division of the 2009 New York Marathon, and the 2014 Boston Marathon. Previous to that Larsen coached the UCLA cross country and then track teams between 1979 and his retirement in 1999.
Albert Richmond "Boo" Morcom was an American track and field athlete.
William Collins is an American sprinter, originally running for Mount Vernon High School in Westchester County, New York, where he won four state titles and later at Texas Christian University where he achieved "All-American" status.
Tom Patsalis was an American track and field athlete. He has set 26 World Records in his career, a career that was still active in his late 80s. As of 2014 he is the World Record holder in the M60 Long Jump, set in 1982 and thus a record he has held for more than three decades. As of 2014, only one jumper has come within .2 m. He is also the American record holder in the Long Jump for the M60 age division, has an as yet unrecognized mark that has been pending since 1977 still 7 inches superior to the listed American record and is the American record holder in the Triple Jump in the M60 and M65 age divisions. He was selected to the Masters division of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2003.
Irene Romona Obera is an American track and field athlete, specializing in sprinting events. Over an extended career, she has set numerous world records and has won numerous world championships. She is currently a member of the W70 world record holding 4x100 metres relay team. She also holds the current American record in the W60 and W75 100 metres and the W75 200 metres.
Jack Eldred Greenwood was an American track and field athlete. He is the former world record holder in the 400 metres hurdles in the masters age divisions M45, M50, M55, M60 and M65. His hurdle records were so advanced, the shortest any of them lasted was almost ten years, all but one broken by the same athlete, German Guido Müller. He had a similar record over the short hurdles. He also had his time at the top of the M50 and M60 400 meters and ten years at the top of the M65 200 meters. Two of his marks survive to this day as American records.
Dr. Norman (Norm) Green is an American long-distance runner. He has set numerous American and World records over his career. He still holds the current M55 American record for the 10,000 metres. In 1996 he was elected into the inaugural class of the USATF Masters Hall of Fame, the first long-distance runner. For more than a decade, Green was the director of the Hall of Fame.
Robert Hersh was an American lawyer. He was also the Senior Vice President for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world governing body for the Athletics, collection of sports known in the United States as including track and field, cross country, racewalking and road running. He was a board member of USA Track & Field (USATF), the national governing body for the sport.
The USATF Masters Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national championship for the United States for athletes in masters age groups. Organized by USA Track & Field, the national governing body for the sport, the competition was first held in 1968. Athletes compete in 5-year age groups, beginning from 25 and up to 105. Traditionally limited to athletes over 35, a "pre-masters" group was introduced in 2020 to encourage post-collegiate athletes over 25 to continue competing.
Charles Allie is an American masters athletics sprinter. He has set numerous masters world records in sprint events from 200 to 400 meters.
