Charles Allie, once known as the fastest man in the world over 70, will show his hometown how he earned that nickname as the National Senior Games kick off at venues all over the Pittsburgh area this week.
Allie is planning on running the 50, 100, 200 and 400 meters Sunday at South Fayette High School.
Allie also was scheduled to be a torch runner during the opening ceremony outside PNC Park on Saturday.
With an impressive resume, Allie is recognized on the national and international level in masters track.
He holds nine world records — five outdoors and four indoors — and was ranked the No. 1 sprinter in the world in 2017 according to mastersrankings.com.
At the top of the 65 age bracket, Allie was in his prime, feeling great as ever.
Suddenly, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2021.
The first thing that came to mind for Allie was if he would be able to run again.
“I still wanted to compete,” he said. “I asked the doctor if I could still run, and the doctor told me yes, as long as I do radiation therapy.”
Allie wouldn’t let any of the physical challenges he faced hinder his comeback to the track.
“I had a little setback from the side effects from radiation,” he said. “I gained weight and lost some muscle mass. I was still able to show up and compete, but didn’t do as well as I thought I could on a higher level.”
Allie came in fourth in the 60-meter dash at the 2022 USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships in New York in his first meet after being diagnosed.
“That was the first time I came in fourth in over 20 years.” Allie said.
Allie has been in remission since the second half of 2022, and with the National Senior Games being contested in Pittsburgh, he is ecstatic to compete in front of his city.
“It feels nice to have something at home,” he said. “This will be my sixth senior games. A lot of my followers have the opportunity to see me run in the city of Pittsburgh. I am really looking forward to it.”
Allie grew up on Pittsburgh’s North Side and in the Hill District, where he found his love for track.
“Playing street games and running around outside was what I did,” Allie said. “We didn’t have a lot of access to recreational team sports at that time.”
When Allie began to attend school, he was outrunning all of his classmates in gym class and on the playground. He was known as the fastest kid in the school.
Fifty-nine years ago, Allie was City League sprinting champion at Oliver High School as a junior.
A football injury, however, ended his high school track career.
“This took a lot of my scholarship potential away because if I would have run my senior year, I would have progressed in track,”Allie said.
In spite of everything, Allie was accepted into the prestigious Hampton University in Virginia.
After arriving, he walked onto the Pirates track team and earned a full scholarship as a freshman.
Allie went on to graduate with a degree in industrial arts in 1969. He earned his master’s from Pitt in 1971.
Allie went on to teach industrial arts at McNaugher Middle School, Allegheny Middle School and Frick Middle School, where he was popular with many students.
All these years later, at age 75, Allie remains a top masters sprinter in the world and is excited to compete in front of his home crowd at the National Senior Games on Sunday.
