Comments by Don Carpenter on the passing of Al Waterman
15 January 2008. I am saddened to hear of the passing some days ago of Al Waterman, one of the original Ancients. Al, along with Jim Gere and Dave Stevenson, started it all back in about 1964. Al died just a few months short of his 90th birthday.
I knew Al from what was then the Radioscience Lab at Stanford in the EE Department. In 1968, when I first started to run a couple of miles I happened to be in the stadium doing stairs on a Friday when the Ancients were doing a 3 mile time trial. I remember Al finishing in under 18 minutes, with lots of vocal support from other runners.
In 1972 I was still not a regular Ancient, but happened to be with Al in Warsaw at a scientific meeting. He invited me to join him on a run, during which we happened upon a soccer stadiuim with a track. It was really a thrill for me to run with a veteran Ancient as we passed in front of all of the painted stadium advertisements and then worked our way back through the city to our hotel.
The run with Al encouraged me to join the Ancients, who seemed to be growing in numbers every year. I did so in 1973, and enjoyed being with Al on runs, particularly to the Dish. I couldn't believe how smoothly he would run downhill on the back side of the Dish toward Alpine Road. The rest of us were pounding, while he was gliding.
A highlight of those years came in 1976 during an Ancients picnic at Masters Grove on the campus. It was Al's turn to give up the Golden Jock Award, and he presented it to me!
In later years Al continued to run, including one memorable day in the stadium when we were doing a 3 mile time trial. Toward the end Al and Ray West began alternating running laps with me, and I give those two credit for sneaking me under 17 minutes by a few seconds.
Al was running with us in the stadium on a Wednesday in 1988 when Channel 4 did an Ancients video, and he shows that smooth form that was always his hallmark.
It was also in 1988 that Al and his wife Lorrie spent some enjoyable days with Betty and me furing a radiocience meeting in Beigjin.
In recent years Al has suffered greatly from osteoporosis, making it very hard for him to be physically active. Whenever I visited him, which was not often enough, he greeted me most warmly and was also able from time to time to attend functions on the campus. He did his best to go to major track meets, but finally had to give that up with great regret.
So thus passes an original Ancient, one whom I admired and loved.
Photo of Al, taken with a group in the stadium in 1974. Al is standing in the front row between Roger Route and Tom Laris.