At age 69, Bridgeport’s Jerry Burgess decided to run – competitively. His debut was Shinnston’s July 2016 Miles for Missions 5K and it was a successful one.

 

“When I got home, my wife asked how I did and I told her I won in my age group,” he said. “She said, ‘Well, most people in your age group are either dead or in a walker.’”

 

Burgess has a sense of humor, but he also has drive. Within weeks, he was training – with a goal to improve his time and increase his strength and endurance.

 

“I decided I was going to see if I could do something with this,” he said.

 

Burgess knew what he was doing. He coaches track at South Harrison High School and from 2010-2014, he was an assistant track coach at Bridgeport High School. And several years ago, he was head track coach at a handful of southern West Virginia schools.

He’s always led an active lifestyle, Burgess said. In fact, the running isn’t something brand new.

 

“I just took a 35-year sabbatical,” he said.

 

The reason Burgess didn’t run for three and a half decades is due to a series of health issues. But with them behind him now, he didn’t see any reason not to put his running shoes back on. With his 70^th birthday behind him, Burgess is currently running 30 to 40 miles per week and clocking 22 to 23-minute-5Ks. He has completed several area 5K and 10K events and plans to continue to pursue such opportunities.

 

A St. Albans native, Burgess said he was originally inspired to run – and continues to be inspired – by Carl Hatfield, who he met while attending West Virginia University and who went on to be a highly-decorated runner for the Mountaineers, setting records in cross-country and track and field, even winning two NCAA district titles and qualifying for the Olympics.

 

“Carl has run all over the world and is really responsible for the running boom back in the early days at WVU,” Burgess said. “Everyone knew who Carl was back then.”

It was at WVU back in the late-1960s when Burgess decided one day to run with Hatfield for his first mile.

 

“I lined up behind him and did the mile in 4.46 and Carl was on the horizon,” he said.

 

After graduating from WVU with a degree in education, Burgess coached high school sports.

 

“I was at St. Francis, a catholic school in Morgantown, for three years and Calhoun County for four years. I ended up at Oceana High School in Wyoming County – where we made our track out of grass,” he said. “Back then, if you coached, you coached everything – football, track, JV basketball. You coached everything and didn’t get paid hardly anything.”

 

While he coached, he also ran. He had several friends who did, too.

 

“We trained hard. We’d run seven days a week,” he said. “After work, we’d run seven or eight miles and on Sunday mornings, we would do long runs– like 15 to 20 miles – and be back before Sunday School at 10 a.m.”

 

Among his best times was the 1978 Dunbar Wine Cellar Classic, when he recorded 33.53 for the 10K.

 

In 1982, he participated in the Charleston Distance Run. He won his division, but wound up with a stress fracture in his pelvis.

“I didn’t have any choice but to quit running. I was told to take a year off and when you do that, the weight comes back on so fast.”

At age 36, married with three children, Burgess took another professional direction too.

 

“When I left Oceana High School, I worked for a coal company for a year then interviewed with McJunkin Corporation (in Nitro). I ended up in sales and marketing – working 33 years with them.”

 

Twenty-one of his years of service were in North Central West Virginia. In 1988, Burgess was asked to relocate to the Bridgeport area, where he worked until he retired in 2009.

 

The following year, he had opportunity to return to high school coaching, working as one of Head Track Coach Jon Griffith’s assistants.

Though he had several years of coaching under his belt, he found something pretty special at BHS, from where his three children graduated.

 

“The kids at Bridgeport are just so coachable and so competitive,” he said. 

 

Burgess had no longer settled back into coaching track when he encountered a serious health issue.

 

“I felt like I had an ocean in my ear and they sent me for an MRI. I had what they call a dural fistula, a brain bleed between the skull and my brain, caused by a major blow to my head sometime in my life,” he said.

 

The condition required surgery and after researching surgeons, Burgess and his family learned that one of the nation’s best was right in Morgantown. Dr. Jeffrey Carpenter performed the cerebral angiogram and a subsequent cerebral arteriogram at Ruby Memorial Hospital.

 

Burgess required quickly and felt well until 2014, when he had a bout with atrial fibrillation, also known as AFib, an irregular heartbeat that increases the risk of stroke and heart disease. After spending a couple days in the hospital, his doctor recommended he lead a cautious lifestyle. Burgess decided not to take that for an answer.

 

“I went to one of his associates who gave me a pediatric dose of something – a blood thinner – and told me to have at it and enjoy your life,” Burgess said.

 

In the months to come, he returned to running.

 

“I did two miles here and there and someone asked if I ever ran a 5K,” Burgess said. “So when the Shinnston event came around, I thought I was ready.’”

 

When he ran “back in the day,” Burgess put a lot of pressure on himself.

 

“I knew I was never going to be a premier runner, but I trained with some really good runners and had some good PRs,” he said.

His PR is currently nine minutes slower than it was 35 to 40 years ago, but Burgess continues to put on the pressure and he has developed some new habits.

 

“I like to run in the heat of the day if I can. It’s harder,” he said. “I also buy my shoes a little small so I can feel the road better. I’m quirky that way.”

 

Twice the age he was in his running prime, Burgess said he faces a number of challenges, but strives to find a way around them.

 

“I don’t have the lung capacity I once had and it has nothing to do with the size of my lungs. It’s because as we age, our chest cavity becomes smaller,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out a way to stretch myself.”

 

“Running tall” is key, Burgess said. So is a support system.

 

“Every day is not an A-day and it’s nice to have a motivator. It really is,” he said.

 

It’s good to have fellow runners and stay around positive people, Burgess said. That’s why he joined up with the Bridgeport Road Warriors, a local running group comprised of individuals of all ages and levels. The group was started by BHS Track/Cross-Country Coach Jon Griffith. Burgess encourages others to join too. Inquire at the group’s Facebook page. 

 

Editor's Note: Pictured above is Burgess, running, receiving recognition and with the 2014 Class AA state track championship BHS Track Team.