Joy Upshaw-Margerum holds the national 35-39 age-group record for the 400-meter hurdles. Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin

Her dream is to have a hand in raising the standards of girls' track in Hawaii and getting mainland coaches to notice.

"I'll help any girl at any school who wants to learn," said the former NCAA Division II All-American hurdler at California State University-Hayward, who is now a national age-group record holder.

"We need to have fast girl hurdlers in this state," she said, disappointed after no girl cleared the 16-second barrier in the 100-meter high hurdles at last spring's state track meet on Maui.

"They have to three-step to the hurdles and I saw too many four-stepping. They have to be taught and they have to be confident they can do it."

Upshaw-Margerum has coached high school athletes at Los Gatos High and Hawaii Preparatory Academy and is expected to join the staff of state champion Punahou this fall.

At the age of 35, Upshaw-Margerum is still in gear as an athlete and presents an intriguing role model.

In May, she broke the existing American 35-39 age-group record for the 400-meter hurdles at the University of Hawaii's Cooke Field with a time of 65.13 seconds.

Two months earlier, she won five events at the Masters Indoor National Championships in Greensboro, N.C., setting a U.S. women's record in her age group for the the 60-meter dash, at 9.56 seconds.

She competes also in the 100-meter hurdles, the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and the triple jump. She scratched out as she neared the U.S. age group record in the triple jump at the Punahou All-Comers Meet just last Saturday.

"Bummer!" she said with a chuckle from Kona, where she lives with her husband, University of Hawaii receivers coach Ken Margerum, and their 3-year-old daughter, Sunny Mae.

Upshaw-Margerum has no problem outpacing youngsters who could be her daughters.

In the recent Aloha State Games, she ran the first leg of a 4x100-meter relay team with HPA runners Shea Dahlberg (state 100-meter champion) and Kaili Chapman (state 300-meter low hurdles champion) and Kaiser's Endia Abrante (state 200- and 400-meter champion).

"I know what it takes, mentally and physically, to compete," said Upshaw-Joy.

Upshaw-Margerum's recent performances in the 100 and 200 meters, the triple and long jumps and the 100-meter high hurdles are all equal or superior to those of this year's state prep champions.

"I can relate to the kids," she said.

Joy with daughter Sunny Mae.
Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin

Her competitive drive is not hard to trace. Monte Upshaw, her father, set a national high school long jump record of 25 feet, 4-3/4 inches in 1954 to eclipse Olympic great Jesse Owens.

Her sister, Grace, a senior at Cal-Berkely, has jumped 20 feet, 4 inches. Another sister, Merry, owns the Linfield College 800-meter record (2:12).

Her brother, Chip Upshaw, was a high hurdler and long jumper at Santa Barabra City College.

Her 37-year-old husband, Ken, a former Chicago Bear and San Francisco 49er, was a track standout at Stanford, where he combined with James Lofton, Darrin Nelson and Gordon Banks to set the Cardinal record in the 4x100 relay (39.7 in 1978).

Her mom, Carol, is the only nonathlete. "She teaches Shakespeare."

In Kona, Upshaw-Margerum has a "track room" filled with family and school memorabilia of the sport she loves. "There are medals and pictures of dad, Ken, me, my sisters, my kids at HPA and Los Gatos..."

As geared up as she is to better her personal age-group track marks and to help young women here move into line with national high school standards in the hurdles, Upshaw-Margerum said there is one more very exciting hurdle in her immediate future.

That's lending her husband Ken the support he'll need to see his way through his first season with the UH Rainbows' football program.

"I'm as excited as he is," she said. "I told him to go for it."