Pahrump’s Caperton wins gold, 2 silvers

Another senior track and field event resulted in more medals for Pahrump resident Marvin Caperton.

Caperton won gold in the 50 meters and brought home silver in the 100 and 200 in the Bay Area Senior Games on May 27 in San Mateo, California.

“I think maybe the timing was off, because I was running 7.2, 7.3 in the 50 meters, and I ran a 7.08,” Caperton said. “That was a personal best for me.

“I ran 13.09 in the 100 meters, and I was looking for 12-something. And 28.2 in the 200 was pretty decent for me.”

The former UCLA football player has been winning medals in senior competitions for years, but he was no slouch in college, either.

“I ran the 100 and 200 in college; they didn’t have a 50,” Caperton recalled. “They timed me at 10.2 when the record was 10-flat.”

He gives a lot of credit to the coaching he received at UCLA. In addition to track coach Jim Bush, an icon in the sport who led UCLA to five national championships and coached 30 Olympians, there was John Smith, a world-record holder in the 400 meters, and Warren Edmunds, who shared the world record in the same event, who used to work out on campus.

That was after a career at Clark High School in Las Vegas that ended with four golds in the state championships. Caperton won the 100 and 220 and was part of the winning 440 and 880 relay teams.

More than four decades later, he’s still tough to beat.

Caperton has traveled across much of the country to compete, going to Cleveland for nationals four years ago, Minnesota for nationals two years ago and Chicago and Wisconsin last year. Depending on the year, he said he will compete in anywhere from four to 10 events in the 60-64 age group.

A Pahrump resident since 2002, Caperton got into senior competitions a year earlier through his daughter’s coach at the Las Vegas Stealth Youth Track Club. He started running with the kids, and the 11-13-year-olds could not beat “the old gray-haired guy,” as Caperton put it.

Caperton’s schedule is a sharp rebuke to those who say they don’t have the time to stay in shape. He works the graveyard shift at Terrible’s Road House and trains after work.

“When I get off, I go to my workout at the gym or the track, and then I get my eight hours of sleep,” he said. “So I get my rest.”

He will get some more rest this year, as cataract surgery will keep him sidelined for four weeks. After that, he will know better where he will compete next, but he already has plans to run in October at the annual Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah.

Contact Sports Editor Tom Rysinski at trysinski@pvtimes.com On Twitter:@pvtimes