>In a message dated Wed, 11 Jul 2001 4:43:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>TrackCEO, quoted by GHTFNedit, writes:
>
><< But this time, in Brisbane, WAVA's VP for Non-Stadia Ron Bell made a
>passionate presentation for the change, claiming that $900,000 in
>potential sponsorship money has been lost due to the unpopularity of the
>term "veterans" with sponsors.>>
>
I'm not sure why that term should be "unpopular" with sponsors. In my day,
it was unpopular with me, because of its possible confusion with the far
more usual employment of the word to mean "military veteran" or "veteran of
world war II." It may not have been an important concern, because all of
that original complement of veteran/masters competitors qualified under
whatever definition might fit pre-war athletes eager to have one more try
in our sport.
Whatever we might have chosen to call ourselves, it is clear that
later-arriving other geezer sports, principally golf, have capitalized on
public acceptance of the term, "masters."
Chalk up yet another victory for David Pain, who single-handedly
established the U. S. Masters track movement.
Cheers,
Roger
