LIFE IS A JOURNEY! - Born in January 1944 in San Francisco, I have lived on San Francisco Bay for my entire life except when I attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale from 1962-68. In high school, I had intended to be a “computer scientist” once I graduated from college, but my life ahead was full of changes.
When I started college, the only computers were large “mainframe” models, with IBM “punch cards” and magnetic tapes as the input media… no such thing as a “personal computer” back then! The current Apple Watch has more computing power than the spaceship computers that took us to the Moon in 1969!
Back in high school and college, I was a top student and only decided to become “athletic” in my junior year at Hillsdale High in San Mateo. My driver-education instructor, Connie Smith, was the track and cross-country coach and was always looking for prospective athletes. I remember him telling me I looked like a good candidate for the cross-country team (I didn’t even know what cross-country was in 1960!). So I joined the team and ran an 11:23 two-mile on the track in my first race.
When I graduated, I had lowered that time to 9:40 and also did a 4:21.5 mile! Needless to say, he was an excellent coach, as our distance teams set two U.S. records that still stand as Hillsdale all-time marks! A photo on the left shows our 8-man varsity team.
In 1968, I purchased a new VW Westfalia Camper (at top left), and it currently has a million kilometers on it! After graduating from S.I.U. with a B.S. I continued with an M.S. in Engineering with a concentration in Computer Science. I was hired by the U.S. Navy at Hunter’s Point in San Francisco by the U.S. Radiological Defense Lab. I also repaired ships for the U.S. Navy, including the U.S.S. Midway aircraft carrier. When the Navy wanted me to go to San Diego, I was not interested and chose to “retire”…taking a year off and then working for Runner’s World Magazine for several years in Mountain View. In 1977, I started my own company, Jack’s Athletic Supply, and it became a one-man company until 2025, when I retired for good. I had 7 years of over a million dollars in sales, selling decorated apparel to running events throughout the West, as well as large corporations like PowerBar and Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
After graduating from college, I continued to improve my long-distance running skills and became President of the West Valley Track Club in 1969 for about 15 years. Our individuals and teams were nationally ranked, not just in distance events, but in any other track events as well. I started a Club newsletter that became a regional magazine for 12 years: the Northern California Running Review. It had over 3,000 subscribers at its peak. On the left is a photo of the last issue, showing Duncan Macdonald on his way to winning the Honolulu Marathon. Profits from this publication helped send our athletes to events throughout the country. I was the editor, doing everything on an IBM Selectric Typewriter (with no correcting ribbon!).
In 1981, I decided it was time to start a family with my then-wife, Judy Gumbs. Family life added way too much work, along with my one-man business and training, but added the joy of two wonderful children, Erika (1981) and Chris (1985). I managed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in 1972 with a 2:25:15 for 22nd place at the Boston Marathon (12th American). I dropped my mile best to 4:16. Judy also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in 1984 and ran 2:45. This was the first year the Marathon was held for women in the Olympics. We divorced in the late 1990s.
The two photos on the left include our family. The one with the three of us standing in front of a “memorial bench” in Indian Springs Park is for our parents (Jack, Don, and David). At the bottom is a gathering in Feb. 2026 (Chris, Kathy, Violet, Travis, Erika, Rhoan, and Jack). Violet and Rhoan are Chris and Kathy’s children, and Travis is Erika’s boyfriend.
I decided to choose my place of burial in 2025 at Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, where my parents, Phyllis and Carl, are also buried. Mom’s parents are also buried there. I decided to do something different and also signed up with Celestis for a perpetual orbit around the Sun, which will hopefully stay aloft forever. Now, at 82, I can truly say that “LIFE IS A JOURNEY." My DNA will be aboard the Celestis satellite along with several hundred others!
