Fulfilling His Destiny. Ron Gives And Gets.

Ron Humphrey leaves the field behind in the 200 meters to win gold at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships. The Navy's impact and his own perseverance make Ron's story special to Geezer Jocks, no matter your skill level.  Photo by Rob Jerome. 

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By Ray Glier

Gainesville, Fla.___Ron Humphrey, 66, is a cast-iron Navy man. But you can break through to the softer side of this man just by asking what success in Masters track has meant to him.

His bottom lip quivers and his closed mouth shakes as he tries to answer that question. It took a moment, but when Humphrey could finally speak, it was more of a stammer because he was so overcome with emotion.

“To think a kid, like me, from the projects growing up with nothing, could be asked for advice out here at a national track meet is just overwhelming,” Ron said. “I never thought this would be possible. The medals, the friends, the sharing of my training methods. None of it."

He had to take a deep breath.

“I'm inspired and just blown away how some people look to me as somebody that they can come to to make them better.”

There was no one more qualified—and willing—to counsel athletes at the USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships here Feb. 20-23 than Ron Humphrey. 

Besides the fact he is a certified Level I track coach, Humphrey won five individual gold medals at these nationals, including setting an American record in the pentathlon.

When you grow up sliding broken pieces of linoleum flooring into your shoe to cover the holes in the bottoms to trudge through the bitter Chicago winter, it’s no wonder Ron had no inkling what was in store for him later in life. 

Humphrey, a 20-year Navy veteran, had both warmth and stage here. He is important to Geezer Jocks because he did not allow his experience as a poor kid to shape him negatively.

Ron didn’t allow his size to shape him negatively, either. He is 5-foot-6, 144 pounds, but he will be one of the favorites for a gold medal in the pentathlon at the World Masters Athletes track & field meet, which will be back here, March 23-30. He will be the shortest and lightest among the favorites.

“Some of us may be a little bit more physically talented, but the bottom line is this: in order to be the very, very best, you still have to put the work in,” Humphrey said. “When I first started in Masters track I was the guy getting ribbons for fifth, sixth, seventh, not medals for first, second, third.

“Other athletes ran and looked so smooth. And I said, ‘Well, I want to be that guy’. I put more work in.”

There are no secrets with Humphrey. He shares his training methods in masters track with older athletes and with school kids back where he lives now in Chesapeake, Va. His signature event has been the 400 (No. 2 in the world indoor), but he has also turned into a world-class 60-meter hurdler (No.2).  Ron has perfected a method jumping further away from the hurdle, and not so close. It allows him to stay in stride.

His other 'non-secret' is weight training, but not weight training with massive amounts of weight.

“A couple years ago, I was hitting the weights a little bit too heavy, and I did get a hernia, but I've learned from that,” Humphrey said. “The biggest thing is to get your muscle fibers stronger because your muscle fibers are your shock absorbers. In other words, if your fibers are stronger, that means you'll be able to take a pounding. It will also make you an explosive athlete.”

What made him a mentally strong athlete were two things: his mother, Mozella, and the Navy.

“She birthed me, she nurtured me, she kept me safe,” Ron said. “Then the Navy molded me into the man I am today.”

Humphrey worked below the water line, in the boiler of three frigates, a cruiser, and destroyer. He was asked once why a Navy guy like himself did not have tattoos.

“I do have tattoos,” Ron would say when asked about his tattoos. He would roll up his sleeve to show scars from steam leaks.

“Every time I went down there I got burned,” he said.

It was treacherous work around pipes that carried 1200 pounds of steam and temperatures in those pipes reached almost 1000 degrees. Many days temperatures in the boiler area itself hit 160 Fahrenheit.

Mozella and the Navy forged a man who has been willing to give back. Ron Humphrey is doing his best to fulfill a destiny he never thought possible.