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SEATTLE – Visit the very bottom floor of Royal Brougham Pavilion, and you'll bump into all kinds of Seattle Pacific athletes — basketball players, volleyball players, runners, rowers — all of them on the way to or from their locker rooms or the training room.

You might even bump into one who is eight months removed from six-bypass open-heart surgery. And, yeah — he's still an athlete.

In fact, within his age group, he's the best javelin thrower in the entire Pacific Northwest. And the best hammer thrower. And the best weight thrower.

He doesn't have a spot in any of those locker rooms. He doesn't even have an SPU uniform.

Howie Kellogg does, however, have his own office, from which he serves as the athletic department's facilities manager and as director of intramural programs. And when he isn't focused on those two areas, Kellogg is focused on being one of Washington's top-caliber masters track and field competitors.

This weekend, Kellogg will be in Lacey and Tumwater, both about 60-70 miles south of the SPU campus, for the Washington State Senior Games. On Friday at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, he'll throw the hammer, the 20-pound weight, and the 44-pound super weight. Then on Saturday at Tumwater High School, it'll be the shot put, discus and javelin.

“I do it primarily because it's fun,” said Kellogg, 62, who underwent his major heart surgery last Nov. 11. “It's an opportunity to release stress and something to look forward to. I've met a lot of neat people – I have more friends every year.”

Although Kellogg did track and field for two years in high school, he turned to coaching after that. At SPU, in addition to his official duties, he's a volunteer assistant for head coach Karl Lerum. This past spring, Kellogg worked with freshman Billy Martin, and by the end of the season, Martin had qualified for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships in the hammer and had moved into the No. 3 all-time spot among Falcon men for that event.

But six years ago, Ken Weidel, whom Kellogg had found to coach his daughter in the hammer, talked him into entering a masters meet. Kellogg said OK, and wound up winning the javelin, the high jump, and placing second in the shot put.

Not long after that, he went to another meet in Pullman, placed second in the hammer and discus and third in the javelin.

“And I got hooked,” he said.

In addition to his top state rankings in the hammer, weight, and super weight, Kellogg has the top mark in the weight pentathlon (shot, discus, javelin, hammer, and weight). He ranks No. 3 in both the discus and javelin.

“The two guys who beat me in discus and jav, that's all they do,” Kellogg said. “I've always enjoyed doing more than one thing. But I do work harder on certain events.”

Kellogg regularly earns All-American status in the hammer, weight, super weight and weight pentathlon. Two years ago, he also made All-American in the javelin, and has come within 3½ feet of making it in the discus.

ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL
Last November, track and field – and all other aspects of Kellogg's life – got put on hold for heart surgery.

The good news: Everything went smoothly and successfully. But one doesn't bounce right back into strenuous physical activity after something of that nature.

Kellogg acknowledged being sidelined it wasn't easy.

“When you don't do some of those things that you couldn't do for five months, it just takes time,” Kellogg said. “That's what I didn't understand. Everyone was saying, 'Howie, your form looks better.' But I was saying, 'Then why is it not going very far?'

“At our age, it helps to keep active the whole year and doing throws the whole year,” he said. “It's harder if we leave it alone for three months.”

Kellogg gradually is working his way back. Last Saturday at the USA Track & Field Pacific Northwest Regionals at West Seattle Stadium, Kellogg won the javelin (121 feet, 7 inches), the hammer (128-0) and the weight (34-1), finished second in the discus (121-8) and super weight (21-0) and was third in the shot put (33-5).

His weight and super weight marks were new personal-bests. The jav, hammer, shot and discus were all season-bests, and his distance in the hammer was good for All-American status.

“It was a fantastic meet. I had a good week of practice, but you never know what you might do in a meet,” Kellogg said.
 
BEYOND FINISHING FIRST
Still, Kellogg clearly sees a bigger picture.

“The medals aren't the important thing for us. They're OK, but it's not always the winning,” he said. “It's the self-improvement and having fun. You have ups and downs like any athlete – it doesn't matter how old you are.”

And, regardless of age, one's approach to competition is still very similar.

“You have the same thing of learning to set goals or learning to set more than one goal,” he said. “When I go to a meet, I look at last year's results and try to better that. My other goals are to try to place higher and to improve or raise my average (distance).

“Every year, I've improved in something,” Kellogg added. “It's getting a little tougher, but I still think I have some big throws in me.”

While Kellogg often coaches half a dozen or so younger athletes at any given time during the year, he also coaches himself.

“There sure are ups and downs,” he said. “There's not a year when you don't go, 'Why am I doing this?' But then, there's a day like I had a couple days ago (in practice) when I threw the discus over 130 feet three times, I was throwing the hammer well beyond my 120-foot cone, and I was throwing the weight 43 feet.

“Now, I don't worry about how far I throw. But I put a cone out where I think my average should be,” he said. “If I throw over my average, I had a good day. When I coach, I tell kids that averages are important. (If they're hitting their average), you can count on them to do something — and hopefully, they'll pop a big one.”

Kellogg said that by his own count, he's on the mailing list of more than 50 other masters competitors, many of whom have offered him encouragement and support as he has rebounded from the heart surgery.

In fact, Kellogg would like to compete in next year's masters world championships in Sacramento, not necessarily because he expects to place, but rather because, “It would be fun to compete with other nationalities and meet people. What a great opportunity to do that.”

At any age, such opportunities are not to be missed.

“You just never know what life has to show you in a few years, or what's going to happen,” he said.

“I just figure you go and do what you can.”