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Bulkley inducted into Masters Hall By GREG STILES Dan Bulkley admits his election to the Masters Hall of Fame came as quite a surprise. "It was very unexpected. I didn't know they even had one," says the 82-year-old Phoenix resident. Bulkley has won eight national decathlon titles since 1988 and possesses eight current world age-group track and field records. He's won 18 World Association of Veteran Athletes titles and 33 national championships. He was one of 11 active participants elected by the USATF committee. Five more old-timer masters athletes and administrators were elected by 78 balloters. The best-known of the recent inductees might be Al Oerter, an Olympic gold medalist in the discus. Bulkley, a retired Southern Oregon University physical education instructor, has competed around the world in track and field, cross-country skiing and badminton. But globe-trotting has long been in his blood. Bulkley's father was a medical missionary in southern Thailand. Bulkley was born in Bangkok and attended a boarding school in India. It wasn't until he was in high school that he moved to the United States. He attended high school in Claremont, Calif., in the 1930s. "The first game of American football I ever saw, I played in," Bulkley says. "I had played a little softball, hockey and soccer before that." During World War II, Bulkley trained recruits, then joined the Office of Strategic Services -- a forerunner of the CIA. "They knew I had lived in Thailand and my assignment was to parachute into Thailand," he says. "I flew over once with a parachute on my back, but our reception team said don't come; the Japanese were on to us. We flew back out. Before we went back in, we dropped the atom bomb. The atom bomb saved me." After the war ended, Bulkley was in Thailand for six months, searching for downed planes. "I was going in to find the planes so we could return the crews' ashes to the states," Bulkley says. "That meant two days' travel on an elephant. Fourteen hours on an elephant was a long day." After teaching high school a couple of years in Southern California, Bulkley landed a job at Southern Oregon. "I wanted to get into college work," Bulkley says. "When I asked around, the only job I heard about was in Ashland, Ore." He taught from 1950 until 1980, then began competing in earnest. Bulkley has a busy summer ahead with stopovers throughout the West and Canada, starting with the State Masters Championships at Mount Hood Community College, June 17-18, followed by the national decathlon championships at Lake Geneva, Wis., June 23-25. Then comes the Hayward Classic in Eugene, July 1-2; State Games of Oregon, in Portland, July 8-9; the Masters Regional in Bozeman, Mont., July 28-30; the National Masters Championships in Eugene, Aug. 10-13; and the World Association of Veteran Athletes Regional Games in Kamloops, British Columbia, Aug. 17-20. "It keeps you busy," Bulkley admits, who typically drives his motor home to events in the West. Bulkley missed out on an international meet in Italy four years ago when he landed on his back while pole vaulting. "It knocked me out," he says. "But I've been pretty lucky that I haven't had too many fluke accidents." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA