By Bob Burns

Her father, Monte Upshaw, set a national high school record in the long jump in 1954, breaking a record set by Jesse Owens. Her maternal grandfather, Norman Jackson, was a national-class sprinter in the 1920s. Joy’s younger sister, Grace, is a two-time Olympian in the long jump.

But Monte and Carol Upshaw passed on more than good genes to their oldest daughter, one of the top masters competitors in the world. They gave her a fitting first name.

“I have never met anyone who finds as much enjoyment in track and field as Joy does,” Grace Upshaw said. “Joy is the perfect example of doing what you enjoy and enjoying what you do.”

That joie de vivre extends beyond winning world titles and setting U.S. records. She’s an assistant coach at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, where her athletes include her 16-year-old daughter, Sunny. She runs her own youth club, Joy’s Jack Rabbits. Upshaw Margerum is active in USA Track & Field, currently serving as the chair of the Pacific Association’s masters board of directors. She’s also a member of the local organizing committee for the 2011 WMA Championships that will be held in Sacramento.

Now, on the home front, Joy and her husband, Ken Margerum, the former Stanford football great, are weighing whether to let their youngest daughter compete in her first track meet next month. Windy is nine years old and eager to get started in the family trade.

“This is a crazy time of year for me,” Upshaw Margerum said. “It seems like I’m running in a million directions, but that’s OK. I don’t mind it.”

Given her busy schedule, Upshaw Margerum normally steers clear of competition in April and early May, but she made an exception when she competed in a masters section of the 100-meter dash at the Mt. SAC Invitational. She flew to Southern California and streaked to victory in 12.82 seconds.

“With my high school duties and helping Grace, I usually take a step back this time of year,” Upshaw Magerum said. “But I feel it’s really important for us to represent masters track right now. With the 2010 USA Masters (in Sacramento) and the 2011 WMA Championships, we’ve got a lot coming up, and it’s important to get the word out about masters track.”

Upshaw Margerum, 48, is the defending WMA outdoor champion in the women’s 45-49 long jump and holds U.S. records in the 80-meter hurdles (12.07) and long jump (17 feet, 7½ inches). USA Track & Field named her one of the Women 35-59 Masters Athletes of the Year in each of the last two years.

This is exciting territory for an athlete who felt as though she underachieved as a collegian at Hayward State in the early 1980s. After long jumping close to 18 feet as an Acalanes High School student in Lafayette, she didn’t jump any farther in college, though she did qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships in the 400-meter hurdles.

“I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be,” she said. “I was a kinesiology major with a minor in dance, and it seemed like I was always tired when I got to track practice. That might be why I do masters track.”

She earned a master’s degree in human performance at San Jose State. For her thesis, Joy wrote and illustrated a book called “Positive Attributes of Sports for Kids!” In 1990, she married Ken Margerum, the All-America wide receiver at Stanford who played seven seasons in the National Football League. Ken, who ran the high hurdles in 14.2 while at Stanford, is currently an assistant football coach at San Jose State.

Married life hardly slowed Joy down. She began competing again in sub-masters meets after her 30th birthday.

“I found out you could run hurdles and long jump until you’re 100,” she said. “I said, ‘Forget about running 5k’s.”

Upshaw Margerum served as a UC Berkeley assistant coach for eight seasons. She played a prominent role in Grace’s emergence as a world-class jumper. Grace was a solid performer at Cal, placing second in the Pacific-10 Conference long jump, but she figured her career was done when she graduated in 1997.

“When I was running around as a kid, Joy was a young woman,” said Grace, who is 15 years younger than her sister. “She always made everything seem so effortless, whether it was her artwork, running, hurdling, jumping or being a mom. Joy always believed in me and was a huge reason why I got back into track after I finished my collegiate career. She always thought I had more to offer and that I never reached my potential in college.”

Grace won her first national title in 2002 and has ranked among the world’s top 10 jumpers on four different occasions. She recently jumped a world-leading 22-3 in winning her event at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley.

In 2007, when Joy was winning her WMA title in Riccione, Italy, Grace made a point of being on hand to offer encouragement. Joy reciprocated by accompanying Grace to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

While the older sister enjoys the accolades and the satisfaction that comes with staying in top shape, Joy keeps it in perspective.

“When you’re on the line, you’re focused on the race,” she said. “But when you’re done, it’s different. There’s a respect among the masters athletes because we’re juggling a lot of things – jobs, family and training.

“We don’t have to be doing it. We’re doing it as a hobby.”

Upshaw Margerum is offering an insider’s perspectives to the Sacramento organizing committee that’s putting on the 2010 USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championships and the 2011 WMA Championships. She participated in the bid presentation when Sacramento was selected for the 2011 WMA event over Porto Alegro, Brazil.

Masters athletes actually welcome birthdays – particularly those five-year milestones that move them into a new age group. Joy will turn 50 in February 2011.

“I wasn’t even aware of that until a friend said, ‘Joy, so you’ve got the world championships in Sacramento just after you’re turning 50. Did you plan that?’”

No, but the celebration figures to be joyous.