Dr. Paul E. Spangler (March 18, 1899 – March 29, 1994) was a retired

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

surgeon, who took up the sport of

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

at the age of 67.

Early life

Spangler was born on March 18, 1899, in

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. He graduated from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. He joined the Navy for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. He was Chief of Surgery at the naval hospital near

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

December 7, 1941 The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

. He retired from the Navy in 1959, then joined the charitable hospital ship

SS Hope SS ''Hope'' was a hospital ship operated by Project HOPE. This vessel was originally a US Navy hospital ship, . ''Consolation'' was donated to Project Hope in 1958, and under its new name served from 1960 until 1974, when she was retired. ''Hop ...

as its chief medical officer. He later moved to San Luis Obispo, California, and took the job as Chief Surgeon at the nearby

California Men's Colony California Men's Colony (CMC) is a male-only state prison located northwest of the city of San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California, along the central California coast approximately halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Facil ...

prison which he held for ten years until he "was retired" in 1969 "because he was too old."http://www.mastershistory.org/USMITT/1976-09-b-USMITT.pdf USMITT Sept. 1976 P13

Running career

Spangler was chairman of his chapter of the American Heart Association. As a result of this, he felt that merely being a weekend athlete was not adequate to stave off heart disease. Spangler was well into his running program in 1975 when the Corona Del Mar Track Club held a meet in San Luis Obispo. He entered the mile, 2 mile and 3 mile. After running the mile he went home to rest. When he returned to the track, he was informed he had broken the world record. And "the bug hit him." In his late 70s his training schedule was a ten mile run at 5:30 a.m., six days a week. Spangler currently holds the American record for 90-year-olds in every metric distance race between

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

and

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

, including the 5,000 metre racewalk, with all records set in 1989 He also holds the 85-year-old record for 3,000 metres. He completed the

New York Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...

later in 1989 and continued to train with the goal of competing at age 100. In his 28 year running career, Spangler claimed 85 national age group records at various distances. He was a pioneer into the limits of Senior athletics by frequently being the oldest competitor. paving the way for successors into the upper age brackets. He died shortly after turning 95 while doing one of his regular 7 mile training runs.

Honors

50 Plus Fitness, now called the Lifelong Fitness Alliance, a Senior Heath organization, hosts an annual 8 kilometre run for Seniors at Stanford University named in Spangler's honor. USA Track & Field (USATF) named its annual award for the outstanding Masters Long Distance Running athlete after Spangler. Spangler was elected into the

USATF Masters Hall of Fame The USATF Masters Hall of Fame is the Masters section of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. It is intended to select worthy athletes from the various divisions of Masters athletics involved in the sports of track and field, road running an ...

in its second year, 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spangler, Paul American surgeons American masters athletes Track and field athletes from California 1899 births 1994 deaths American male long-distance runners Sportspeople from Southern California Sportspeople from Eugene, Oregon People from San Luis Obispo, California Harvard Medical School alumni University of Oregon alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century surgeons United States Navy Medical Corps officers Military personnel from California Military personnel from Oregon