Elliott Denman carries the Olympic Torch during his 90th birthday celebration. Photo credit: Tim Brennan
By CHRIS CHRISTOPHER
“From the neck up, I’m at least 100 percent,” Elliott Denman tells you.
“Maybe even 110 or 120.”
But it’s further south where difficulties begin.
Ever since Covid-pneumonia-Pacemaker-related hospital and rehab stays in late 2022 and early 2023, some of his old get-up-and-go may–just may–have gotten up and gone.
But the former Asbury Park Press sports columnist, 1956 Olympic 50K racewalker, Shore Athletic Club founding father, long-time track and field enthusiast-official-promoter-organizer, 33-time New York City Marathon finisher–and lots more–isn’t looking over his shoulder, either.
Elliott Denman and family–dear wife Jo, daughters Sue and Judy, and their spouses Stu and Sal–convened with an array of Shore A.C. track, sports and family friends for a 90th Birthday Party at the Denman’s West Long Branch residence on Sunday, Jan. 28.
Light lunch fare was served, along with at least six decades worth of humor, stories, adventures and brick strolls down Memory Lane.
On this misty afternoon, a short Olympic Torch Relay stroll–north on Locust Avenue to the Laurel Street intersection, and return–was another feature. An official Olympic Torch–actually used in the 1984 nationwide relay to the Los Angeles Olympic Games–was passed between participants as all got into the Olympic spirit.
A 26-question sports/Shore A.C. sports quiz was another feature.
The questions ranged from:
“Who was Shore A.C.’s first Olympian?” –Answer: weightlifter John Grimek (Perth Amboy), Berlin, 1936.
To:
“Who was Shore A.C.’s most recent Olympian? –Answer: liger Kelly Curtis (Princeton), Beijing, 2022.
Another might have been: Which guest today was a spectator at the 1948 London Olympic Games? –Answer: Ralph Garfield (Manalapan).
And so it went.
Among the 35 attendees were 1968 USA track and field Olympian Barbara Parcinski (Spring Lake Heights), Shore A.C. president Walter MacGowan (Spring Lake), former Shore A.C. president Ray Funkhouser (White Stone, Va.), Shore A.C. coaches Tim Brennan (Cranbury), Joe Compagni (Highlands), John Kuhi (the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township), Shore A.C. distance greats Bill Scholl (Neptune), Gary Wersinger (West Long Branch), Vince Cartier (the Ocean Grove section of Neptune Township), Bob Bazley (now of Chestertown, Md., formerly of West Long Branch), Mel Ullmeyer (West Long Branch), Hoyle Mozee (Long Branch), Shore A.C. racewalking stars John Soucheck (Little Silver), Donna Cetrulo (Ocean), Maria Paul (Long Branch), Jack Lach (Marlboro) and Panse Geer (Hazlet) and club veterans Bill Fitzpatrick (Westfield) and Wayne Baker (Garwood).
Parcinski competed in the 1968 Olympics. Representing George Harris, a 1964 Olympian, was Janice Harris. There also was an array of USA internationalists–Shore A.C. teammates who have competed in events all over the world from all over the USA and Canada and the Americas to much of Europe and Australia.
And many of their “significant others,” too.
Representing the sport of judo was Janice Harris (Brick); her late husband, George, was a 1964 USA Olympian and two-time Pan Am Games champion.
The “85 Gala,” which celebrated Denman’s 85th birthday, took place at McLoone’s of Pier Village in Long Branch on Nov. 24, 2019. More than 300 persons–including 14 Olympians–turned out. Denman racewalked 33 straight New York City Marathons from 1979 at the age of 45 to 2011–at age 77.
The 90-Themed calendar won’t end with this party, either.
The Elliott Denman-New Jersey International Track and Field Meet is scheduled for Sunday, June 2, at Monmouth University. A “Sports Gala” is being planned for late November. The Elliott and Jo Denman “90 Gala” is on tap for late November.
Deman reminds all: “Stay tuned for details.”
