My Century in Motion
Dan Bulkley was already seventy years old when he started breaking world records.
Most people think of retirement as a time to slow down. Dan was just getting started on what would become twenty-five years of international athletic competition, setting world records in steeplechase and hurdles while most people his age were watching from the grandstands.
But Dan's story starts much earlier than that, and much farther from Southern Oregon.
For 15 years, Dan held the world record in Steeplechase and Hurdles in the World Masters.
Dan played End at Claremont College in California prior to WWII.
The Story
Born in Thailand to a missionary doctor father and a teacher mother, Dan came to the United States for his senior year of high school and never quite stopped moving. He earned degrees from Pomona College and Claremont Graduate School, served in the Navy's OSS (Office of Strategic Services) during World War II (the organization that would become the CIA), and spent thirty years building a career as a physical education instructor at Southern Oregon University, where he founded the track, cross-country, and ski programs that helped give rise to Mt. Ashland.
Then, at seventy, he started competing.
For more than twenty-five years, Dan held world records in steeplechase and hurdles at the World Masters competitions, traveling the globe to race alongside athletes decades younger. He competed in cross-country skiing, tennis, and badminton in international Senior Olympics. He kept records that most people never come close to setting, and he set them after most people slow to a walk.
My Century in Motion is the story of a man who did not just live a long life but a full one: born on one side of the world and rooted on the other, shaped by war and sport and thirty years of teaching the next generation what it looks like to keep going.
Read an Excerpt
While I was coaching at Southern Oregon, I would occasionally run 5k or 10k races through different organizations in the valley, just for fun. During one of those meets, two friends of mine, Dick Nordtquist and Don Gray told me they were competing at the Masters Competition in Springfield, Oregon, and that I should try it out too. I was 70 years old.
I wasn’t sure in what events to run. In college, I had been a sprinter and run only short distances. When I started Masters, I tried running longer distances and had some success there. But I still wasn’t sure which group I belonged to, so this is how I made up my mind: I was running in Springfield at my first national meet, and Peyton Jordan, who was one of the best in the world, entered too. I entered the 100-meter dash and out of the final eight people, I came in eighth. After running against Peyton Jordan, I decided I wasn’t a very fast runner. But I also knew I wasn’t a slow runner, because I’d led in longer races, and did fairly well in intermediate distances. I decided that if I wasn’t a fast runner, and I wasn’t a slow runner, I must be a “half-fast/half-assed” runner. And that’s about where I started: I was running the 800m and the 1500m instead of the long slow races or the sprints. That’s how I ended up calling myself a half-assed runner.
About the Author
Dan Bulkley was born and raised in Thailand to a missionary family. After serving in the Navy during World War II as a member of the OSS, Dan started the track and cross country programs at Southern Oregon University, as well as the ski program, which directly led to the development of Mt. Ashland ski area. Dan became a world record-setting athlete at the age of 70, competing in the Senior Olympics and Masters events all over the world for over 25 years. He lives* in Phoenix, Oregon, with his wife, Marjorie, and at age 100 still enjoys running, skiing, and gardening.
*Sadly, Dan passed away in December, 2018, at the age of 101.
Press
Dan Bulkley ’36 turns 100 | May 4, 2017
Obituary, SOU Retirees Association | December 17, 2018
The Making of This Book
My Century in Motion was the first memoir published under the Plumb Creative, LLC imprint. Working with Dan and contributions from his extended family, we designed a book that honored the full sweep of a century, weaving his personal narrative together with photographs that spanned two continents and three generations.
It was the beginning of what has since become our most meaningful work: helping people with extraordinary stories make them permanent.
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Your Story Deserves the Same Care
If someone in your life has lived a story this full, and you have been waiting for the right moment to help them preserve it, we would love to talk.
