Master of His Universe : DeGroot, 80, Looks for Renewed Health and Comes Away With Record in Discus

Fifteen years ago, Burt DeGroot found that he could no longer run and jump the way he once could. His knees and ankles simply would not take the strain.

Unable to play volleyball or badminton, his favorite sports, he turned to weightlifting to remain fit. Then, with the prodding of his brother, Hugo, a former shotput coach of American record-holder John Brenner, he began to throw the discus and shotput in Masters track and field competitions. At age 65.

“I’ve always wanted to maintain my health,” DeGroot said. “I come from a jock family. (Sports are) an outlet for me to expend my pent-up emotions. Just to relax, I used to play volleyball after coming from the office. I’d just beat the hell out of the ball.”

At 80, DeGroot, who lives in San Clemente, is still competing. He’s also an American record holder in the discus.

Last month, DeGroot broke the American best for the 80-84 age group of 88-feet 4-inches by throwing 90-4 in the National Senior Olympics at St. Louis.

Two weeks ago, he improved that mark with a throw of 91-4 at The Athletics Congress/Masters Championships at Eugene, Ore. Masters track and field is for competitors 40 and older, competing in various age groups.

DeGroot also has dabbled in throwing the javelin and the hammer, but has paid a price for those efforts.

He injured his right biceps throwing the hammer at a meet in April.

He suffered a torn rotator cuff in June of 1986 while training. Lately, he has spent almost as much time in the doctor’s office as on the track.

“Oh, to be 75 again,” DeGroot said.

After his latest injury, DeGroot’s doctor eyed him suspiciously and said, “Now what have you done?”

DeGroot has sworn off the hammer. “I’ll never touch that damn thing again,” he said.

However, DeGroot is not one to shy away from challenges, much to the chagrin of his doctor and his wife, Ruth. She has been watching Burt compete in track and other sports for the better part of the 63 years she has known him.

They met at Pasadena High School as juniors.

“I’ve followed him ever since,” Ruth said. “First to Monrovia (where they graduated the following year). Then to Stanford.”

At Stanford, DeGroot was a top pole vaulter from 1929-32, clearing 13-6 his senior season. That was respectable, considering the world record then was 14-1. In those days, poles were made of bamboo and the landing pits were sawdust.

It was, as DeGroot points out, a far cry from the near 20-foot heights that vaulters reach now with fiberglass poles. And when they return from those lofty heights, it’s onto a soft foam-rubber pit.

“It’s all gymnastics now,” DeGroot lamented.

After getting his master’s degree in education from Stanford, DeGroot coached in Northern California and Hawaii before becoming a physical education instructor at Kansas University just before the start of World War II.

There DeGroot remembers Phog Allen, the legendary Jayhawk basketball coach, suiting up to practice with his players.

Allen was 54 at the time and the sight of the coach whipping through the scrimmage with the young players made a lasting impression on DeGroot.

In 1941, DeGroot left Kansas to join the Army. He became the physical education director at March Air Force Base in Riverside, hoping to return to a university.

He did, but only after spending 19 years in the military. He retired in 1960 and took a coaching job at Santa Monica College, eventually becoming the dean of student activities before retiring in 1972.

In the early ‘60s, DeGroot coached the volleyball teams to four straight national championships. Santa Monica beat UCLA to win the last two titles.

That was before the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. became the governing body for collegiate volleyball, so community colleges often played four-year schools.

At 65, DeGroot’s knees and ankles started to go. He also has arthritis, which contributed to his weak knees and ankles, and turned to a special diet to help. He ate plenty of fruits and vegetables, stayed away from red meat and gradually the arthritis eased, he said.

And now he spends at least an hour a day, five days a week, working out. He alternates days lifting weights and working on his throwing technique at San Clemente High’s track, just down the hill from his home.

“I’ll be 85 in a few years,” he said. “There’s a whole new section to go at again.”