Jim Patterson’s career as a track official hits the home stretch

CEDAR RAPIDS — Jim Patterson pondered this 10 years ago.

“I was standing along the fence (at Kingston Stadium) along with (former Cedar Rapids Washington boys’ track and field coach) Bill Pinckney, and I told him, ‘Maybe it’s time to give this up,’” Patterson recalled.

Pinckney’s reply: “Do you still enjoy it?”

Patterson thought for a moment, and answered: “I enjoy being around the kids. This keeps me young.”

Pinckney’s reply: “Then don’t quit.”

Patterson didn’t quit as a track and field official then. And he didn’t step down last year, after undergoing open-heart surgery.

“Last year was going to be my final year, but I wasn’t in condition to start track meets, and that’s not how I wanted to go out,” he said.

He’ll go out May 5, after starting an MVC divisional meet at Kingston. That will conclude his 50th and final season.

“I need to quit,” the 80-year-old Patterson said Tuesday. “There’s a scarcity of track officials, so it’s time to step aside and let somebody else do it.”

As an educator and as an official, Patterson has been a longtime fixture for the youth of Cedar Rapids. He served as an elementary PE instructor for 36 years. He helped start the Iowa Skippers rope-jumping club in 1989.

His officiating career began with football, a 37-year run that included nine championship games and concluded in 2002.

Track and field, that was a side job, beginning in 1972.

“I love working with kids,” Patterson said. “And I’m a sports fanatic.”

Patterson grew up on a farm southwest of Riverside. He played all of the sports at Riverside High School, from which he graduated in 1960.

“I was just average,” he said.

He still plays golf and works out almost every day at the YMCA, cycling, walking, maybe a little jogging and some weight training.

“I credit that for (my longevity),” he said.

Patterson worked the Draxton-Stiers/Wilkinson Relays on Saturday at Kingston. The weather was decent, the meet ran smoothly.

But for a starter, it was a non-stop eight-hour grind.

“Saturday was a lot of fun,” Patterson said. “But I was tired.”

Patterson isn’t going to disappear completely from the track and field scene after May 5. He will continue to help with the long jump at the Drake Relays and the state meet. He has four cross country meets booked for next fall.

And he said, “I’ll go and help out next year when the weather is warm.”

2nd on Saturday, 3rd all-time

Two jumpers in two different stadiums moved to the top of the all-time list in the boys’ long jump Saturday.

Abu Sama, a junior at Southeast Polk, soared 24 feet, 10 inches in a meet at West Des Moines Valley. That ranks No. 1 all-time, eclipsing the former all-time Iowa best by Chris Walker of Davenport Central (24-9 1/2, 1984).

Meanwhile, at Davenport, Lisbon senior Kole Becker jumped 24-5 1/4, which moved him into a third-place tie all-time with Kenny Gilmore of Davenport Central (2011).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com