Leon Joslin is like a 1950s pop star -- he keeps getting rediscovered every decade by a new generation of media types. In 1997, at age 85, he was profiled by Craig Smith of the Seattle Times, who quoted him as saying: "Golf is for old people. This is a lot more fun and more physical. . . . Throwing weights is good exercise."
Leon is a weight man -- but not the usual shot, discus and javelin chucker. He hurls the hammer and ultra- and superweights -- implements as heavy as 56 pounds. That caught the eye of Seattle Times photographer Alan Berner in January.
Berner wrote of Joslin, then 95: "They call him 'Mr. Fancy Pants' at his West Seattle retirement complex because of the brightly colored fabric he added to the outside seams of his pant legs. . . . But Leon Joslin . . . takes it in good humor because he's used to standing out. This summer he earned the world championship in the discus for the 95-99 age group with a toss of 52 feet, 8 inches, beating the record by 4 inches, at a sanctioned meet in Redmond, Wash. He previously held discus world championships in other age groups."
Last Thursday, it was TV's turn. Michael King of Seattle station Channel 5 gave Joslin's story three minutes of air time -- an eternity in this medium. (You can find links to these stories and the video clip at my blog on masterstrack.com.)
Now 96, Joslin is shown heaving a superweight (a big iron ball with a triangular handle attached to a short chain.) But the venue's significance isn't mentioned. In early September, the site will play host to the USATF Masters Weight and Superweight Championships and the Ultra Weight Pentathlon Championships.
In the TV video, Joslin retells the familiar stories -- how he played on a Michigan state high school football championship team with a kid named Gerry Ford and how he shared laughs on the 1934 Ohio State track team with a fellow thinclad named Jesse Owens.
It's too cute by half. Reporter King -- a smarmy gent in his late 20s or early 30s -- is shown in a community room at Leon's retirement home, saying: "While Leon's cohorts are playing a rousing game of bingo here where he lives, he's out there heaving heavy metal."
King strangely errs at one point, saying Joslin "just eats right, doesn't drink much, never smokes (and) loves his wife, Betty." (But the January story in the Times notes that his wife of 67 years died in 2006.) Oh well.
Still, Leon eats up the attention and rocks on, pulling out his well-practiced quips.
"When I get older, I'm going to start playing golf," Joslin says with a chuckle. "I'm not old enough to play golf yet."
Tags: Weight Throwing Joslin
