Greetings, all: Former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, a dear friend of track and field, died earlier today (Sunday) at his home in Los Altos Hills of as-yet-unknown causes. I met him only once -- as a member of the TAFNOT tour to the Atlanta Games. But I saw him run in several masters sprints. He also was instrumental -- back in the early 1970s -- of getting the AAU and IAAF off the back of masters, who wanted to compete during ITA meets but were threatened with the contamination rule. >From the Web: Cranston lettered twice in track at Stanford, and was on its mile relay team—the fastest in the nation—in 1935. His undergraduate best time in his regular event, the quarter mile, was 48.0. His best time in the 100-yard dash was 9.9. Cranston resumed running in organized track meets in the early 1960s. "Track and Field News" records his having set the world record for 55-year-olds with a time of 12.6 in the 100-yard dash at the Masters Meet in San Diego, July 4, 1969. The record is now held by another runner. Cranston’s best time in the senior 100-yard dash is 12.4 which he set at the Penn Relays in 1972. He has since run in senior events in the AAU-sanctioned Sunkist International, Los Angeles; the San Francisco Examiner Invitational; the Sports Arena Indoor Games, San Diego; and the AAU Masters, Randall’s Island, New York He also ran on the U.S. Masters International Track Team in Helsinki and London in 1972. Cranston is an artist as well as an athlete; three of his oils hung in his Senate office. Me again: If you have any personal remembrances of Cranston as Athlete, please e-mail them to me. I'm planning to write a newspaper tribute (for the sports section). Ken Stone http://www.masterstrack.com
