Angell Field Ancients Home Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
For several decades the Angell Field Ancients, an informal running group, met at Angell Field (corner of Galvez and Campus Drive) at Stanford University at 12:15 and then ran more or less together 4-6 miles through campus or to the Dish. (Exception: Wednesdays were intervals at Angell Field.) A subgroup still runs about 1-hour in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Sunday mornings. Times and meeting places are announced weekly through the Angells email list. (An auxiliary group of walkers meets at the same place and time.) To find out more about the Ancients or to subscribe to the Angells email list, go to https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/angells .
Please note: If you are new to the Ancients and want more information about the Sunday morning run/walk (which continues to attract 6-12 Ancients with a wide range of abilities), please email stanfordancients@gmail.com .
Back of Golden Jock Award listing past winners (click HERE for enlarged version)
PHOTOS
AFA Photo Archives, includes:
Late-1960s: Jim Robinson, Dwain Fullerton, Dick Bennett, Herb Morrison, Ed Laak (see comments by Bruce Hinchliffe in Comments subsection in 2009 Memorial Event section below).
1974 Before 50-mile relay at San Jose State: Gene Haynes, Ken Lorell, Dave Weill, Bill Kiefer, Phil Conley and kneeling, Dave's wife.
"It was generally Dave Weill's lot to finish third [as discus thrower] at important meets. He took that slot at the 1964 Final Trials, the 1964 Olympics, and three times at the AAU championships. He did win the 1962 and 1963 NCAA for Stanford, but his personal best performance came in 1967 when he threw 206-7_ (62.99) at the Sacramento Invitational Meet, and placed third.
"Phil Conley won the NCAA title in the 1956 javelin throw, after finishing fifth in 1955. At the AAU meet, he finished in the top six 9 of 10 years from 1956-1965, missing only 1963, with best finishes of third in 1958-60. He was silver medalist in the javelin at the 1959 Pan-American Games.
"Phil competed in the Javelin in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, finishing in tenth place."
Bill Kiefer
1974 Time Trials: Al Waterman, Don Carpenter, Dave Stevenson, Herb Morrison
1974 Ancients at stadium
1975 Interuniversity track meet for faculty and staff: Payton Jordan, Bill Fairbank, Al Waterman, Don Carpenter, Peter Fessenden, Bill Kiefer, Don Frederickson, Dick Schupbach, Ken Moore (SLAC), Peter Wood, Jim Gere, Todd Smith, John Bunnell, Gene Haynes
1976 Jim Gere, Charlie Sinclair
1980 Don Carpenter
1990 Country Almanac: Jim Clendenin, Mark Ricaud
1991 Ancients at Stadium with Emil Zatopek
1996 Country Almanac: Intervals at Stadium
1998 Mercury News: Jaclyn Caselli at Stadium
1998 Mercury News: Ancients at Stadium
2002 Don Carpenter
2003 Jan 25. Rodney Robinson Gates of Hell
2003 May 25. Gathering of Ancients at Upper Alpine Gate
2003 Jul 6. Skyline to HMB runners
ca 2003 Ramps and Stairs
2007 May 8. Ancients place in The Ave Half Marathon
2008 February 20. Gathering of Ancients honoring founders
2002 The Road Kill 10K
2005 Nov 23. Farewell to Stanford Stadium Track
2007 Nov 4. Fall Back Run 07
2008 Jan 6. (birthday January 3). Don at 80
2008 Nov 2. Fall Back Run 08 - Cahill Ridge
2009 Feb 21. Founders' Event Photos
Pulgas OSP after the run/walk on Don's 82nd birthday (Jan 3, 2010): Standing l to r Stu, Glennn, Kathy, Jym, Don, Todd, Isobel, Beth, Martin; kneeling Sandy, Roger, John. Photo by Chuck Fox.
Jan 2 Don at 83
Jan 23 Ancients at The Wall
Jan 30 The brave few
2011 Feb 13. Arastradero Preserve. An unusually large group of Ancients showed up for the weekly Sunday morning run/walk. l to r: Glennn Carpenter, Bailey, Deb Ikeda, Arthur Whitney, Stu Harris, Nat Sterling, Martin Bernstein, John Herb, Sandy Smith, Todd Smith, Bob MacLean, Anita Stewart, Don Carpenter, Isobel Fox, Chuck Fox, Lorenz Muller, Dominique Muller, Jym Clendenin.
2011 August 14. Upper Alpine. After 6 months of intense training with the Angell Field Ancients, Sophia is returning to Sweden. When not running or walking in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she was camped out at Stanford Medical School expanding her understanding of the human condition. She should now be well-equipped to take on the Scandinavian medical establishment whether in the office, the lab or on the field. The photo below was taken in front of the gate at the lower end of Upper Alpine Rd. l to r: Glennn, Anita, Sophia, Deb, Nat. Arthur had already departed. Jym took the photo.
2012 March 1. Bon Voyage to Stu. Stu will be gone for 3 months or so traveling in Italy, Austria, Ireland while researching and writing. Stu and Jym ran the Dish Loop from Angell Field in 48 minutes. Shown in photo l to r: Al, Stu, Ken, Jym.
2012 November 4. Fall Back Run/Walk 12. We drove to the west (lower) entrance to Purisima Redwoods OSP, going through HMB, then east on Verde then Purisima Creek Rds. The Purisima Creek Trail (see trail map at bottom) is an old logging road, unpaved, a thick canopy of redwoods overhead, the ground damp, tropical-like plants growing. The first mile was relatively flat, then the climb begins. At mile 2.3 one can traverse towards the north on the beautiful Craig Britton (formerly called "Soda Gulch") Trail, which after 2.6 miles intersects the Hawkins Ridge Trail for a very steep 2.1 mile decent back to the trail head. See photo below.
Afterwards we visited Moonside Bakery in HMB.
l to r, standing: Anita, Chuck, Isobel, John, Kaj, Nat, Deb, Glennnn; kneeling: Don, Todd. Bailey. Missing from photo: Jym (still out running) and photographer Sandy.
2013 January 13. Don Carpenter's 85th Birthday Run/Walk. We started from Betty's bench on the bay edge. The walkers then explored Bixby Park. The runners ran a CW loop along the bay and then back along the 101 feeder road. All gathered at the end for photographs.
2013 December 29. Send Off for Edwin and Ling and Celebration of Don's 86th Birthday Run/Walk. A run/walk in the Palo Alto Baylands, beginning and ending at Betty's Bench. Standing l to r: Martin (with guitar), Anita, Kaj, Jym, John, Chuck, Todd, Sandy, Marcia; sitting Isobel, Ling, Edwin, Don and finally Edwin's parents. Edwin and Ling were faithful Sunday morning walkers during their year at Stanford. They return to Holland.
2014 September 21. In front of Emily Joubert Home and Garden (Woodside), l to r: Glenn, Deb, Todd, Shura Nishio (Kyoto), Ursula Theuretzbacher (Austria), Martin and Isobel. Photo by Jym.
2014 November 2. Time-Change Run/Walk along Cowell-Purisima trail followed by Moonside Bakery treats. Photo 1: John, Glenn, Sandy, Todd, Marcia, Anita, Kaj; Photo 2: Martin (l), Nat (r); Photo 3: Glenn. Click on link to see high-resolution photos (9).
2015 September 20. Celebration of the life of Roger Jackman at Lucie Stern Ballroom in Palo Alto.
2015 October 17. Memorial service for Bill Benz at Woodside Priory in Portola Valley.
2016 January 3. Celebration of Don Carpenter's 88th birthday, a gathering of Ancients past and present.
2016 March 13. Last Sunday for Woodside Bakery, the surviving Ancients gather.
First a walk in Huddart Park in pouring rain. Only 3 showed up: Nat, John and Jym. Nat wisely chose to use an umbrella. McGarvey Gulch Creek where it crosses the Campground Trail was roaring.
There was quite a crowd of Ancients at the Bakery. In addition to the 3 wet walkers, there were: Chuck/Isobel, Glenn/Deb, Todd/Sandy, Kaj/Anita, Rodney/Nancy, Paul/Paula, Jan, Tom K, and John H.
2017 March 5. (Delayed) celebration of Don's 89th birthday.
l to r: Sandy, Hans, Bretmarie, John, Todd, Jym, Nat, Glenn, Rob, Anita (shadow is Deb, the photographer) at parking lot B
2019 November 3. Time-Change Walk/Run along the Cowell-Purisima Coastal Trail, Half Moon Bay.
VIDEOS
2005 Nov 23. Interview with Jim Gere at Stanford Stadium.
2009 Feb 21. Angela Field Ancients plant trees with Magic, honoring founders Jim Gere, Gene Haynes and Al Waterman.
2010 Nov 18. Don Carpenter finishing 39th SLAC Race. Don finished last (78th) in the 3.81 mile course at 1:02:22, but won "oldest runner." Also racing were Kathy Himmelberger (54th at 35:08), her son Scott (2nd at 19:31.85!), and Jym Clendenin (41st at 31:43). Race results and photos at http://www-project.slac.stanford.edu/slacrace/results/2010.html
NEWS AND COMMENTARY
1976 Campus Reports: 'Angell Field Ancients' nab national title part 1; part 2 (provided by Bill Kiefer)
1994 Memorial Resolution David A. Stevenson (1928-1994)
2002 October 9. Marshall Clark dead at 69
2008
January 15. Comments by Don Carpenter on the passing of Al Waterman
January 23. Stanford News Service: Alan Waterman, professor caught up in 1960's protests, dies
February 11. Comments by Don Carpenter on passing of Jim Gere
February 13. Stanford News Service: James Gere, civil engineer, dead at 82
February 17. A Win for Emile Zatopek
February 21. Remarks by Roger Jackman at church memorial for Jim Gere
February 29. A Loss Is A Loss (ALIAL) by Don Carpenter
2009
February 6. Payton Jordan dead at 91, news release dateline Laguna Hills, Calif.
Payton Jordan: 1917-2009 by David Kiefer in Stanford.com
February 21. Founders' Event honoring AFA Founders Gere, Haynes, Stevenson, Waterman
Stanford Report (February 4, 2009) - Last paragraph of "Cardinal Chronicle" by Michael Pena describes Magic, AFA and the planned February 21st event
Final notice February 20, 2009
Remarks at event by:
Robin Bayer (Magic)
Race results 1974-86 for Gere, Stevenson, Waterman
Post event update Mar 1, 2009
2010
March 13. AFA Event
2011
February 11. 80 the new 50
February 17. Memorial Resolution for Alan T. Waterman (1918-2008)
LINKS
On the mystery of Frenchman's Tower:
A stolen identity, a mysterious coffin and the Frenchman who baffled the Bay Area in the 1880s by Katie Dowd, SF Gate (May 2, 2018)
The mysterious Peter Coutts by Steve Staiger (Palo Alto Historian), Palo Alto Online (Dec.9, 1998)
How Exercise Can Keep Aging Muscles and Immune Systems "Young" by GretchenReynolds, N.Y. Times (Mar. 14, 2018)
85-Year-Old Marathoner is So Fast That Even Scientists Marvel, Jere Longman, NYTimes (Dec. 28, 2016)
Does Exercise Help Keep Our Brains Young? Gretchen Reynolds, NYTimes (Dec 9, 2015)
Stanford Researchers find surprising level of tick-borne disease risk on local trails,
tanford News (Aug 20, 2015)
Runner who started late is speading through records: NYTimes (Apr 2, 2012).
Alex Tilson's super-exotic bicycle trip: Inner Asia Expedition '95 .
An around the world bicycle trip that is a little less intense than Tilson's is Barbara Savage's Miles from Nowhere: A Round the World Bicycle Adventure (1983, still in print).
Another interesting bike book: Robert Penn, It's ALL about the BIKE: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels, Particular Books (2010), 199 pp.
"Running slows aging and postpones disability, study finds," an article in Stanford Report, August 20, 2008.
"A Good Long Run," an article on Angell Field Ancients in the September/October 2008 issue of the Stanford Alumni Magazine.
Local running clubs: