Darrel Keith Elder, 1974—The story goes that in 1973 track coach Doug Basham invited Redwood varsity basketball player Darrell Elder to try out in the shot put and discus. Elder was a big kid, whom his friends described as “a teddy bear.”Darrel Keith Elder, 1974—The story goes that in 1973 track coach Doug Basham invited Redwood varsity basketball player Darrell Elder to try out in the shot put and discus. Elder was a big kid, whom his friends described as “a teddy bear.”
It turns out the teddy bear was terrifically strong. Elder picked up the discus, which he had never before seen or tried, and threw it effortlessly and far, like a Frisbee. Basham was an immediate true believer and Redwood had a new track star. By the time he was a senior, Elder had notched the second longest high-school discus throw in the nation, 202 feet. Until 2002, Elder held the Marin County and NCS meet record of 194 feet 2 inches.
Elder’s prowess with the discus earned him a full-ride track scholarship at USC, where as a freshman he set the Pac 10 freshman record of 192 feet, 8 inches at the 1975 U.S.-Russia Junior Dual Meet. That same year, he set a U.S. National Junior Record for athletes 19 years old or younger of 183 feet 3 inches. When he set it, he’d still not had much formal training in the event. (Keep in mind that the discus used in high school is lighter than the one used at the collegiate and Olympic levels.)
Elder later exceeded that distance, hurling the discus as a junior 195 feet, 2 inches, a performance that ranks seventh on USC’s all-time list.
After college, Elder worked for Firestone Tires for several years, then as sales manager with Ice Machine Company, Inc., of San Francisco. Elder passed away in July, 1993, at the age of 37. He was buried at Daphne Fernwood Cemetery (now called Forever Fernwood Cemetery) in Mill Valley.