Jonathan Wells won’t turn 100 until the year 2094. By then (if he makes it) the British journalist should have a greater appreciation of Don Pellmann.

Pellman in lane 2 begins the 100-meter race, where he shattered the world record by nearly 3 seconds . Photo by Chris Stone
Pellman in lane 2 begins the 100-meter race, where he shattered the world record by nearly 3 seconds . Photo by Chris Stone

Pellmann is the Bay Area centenarian who made world news at last month’s San Diego Senior Olympics at Mesa College.

In truth, Wells is in awe even now. He recently went to the Lee Valley Athletic Centre in London to try Pellmann’s five world-record events.

Afterward, the 21-year-old wrote in The Telegraph: “My legs hurt, my arms ached and half of the long jump pit was still in my socks. Pellmann brushes off his defeats and injuries, and I couldn’t even manage to brush off some sand.”

Such was the global admiration during Pellmann’s 15 days of fame.

A YouTube video showing Pellmann running his 100-meter record has been viewed 27,000 times.

“I almost cried watching this,” said one commenter.

“God bless that man,” said another.

Sampling of worldwide coverage:

So what did Pellmann think of his worldwide celebrity?

“Don … was most impressed that he made the front page of The New York Times, and I am pretty sure it will be a thrill to be in Sports Illustrated Faces in the Crowd,” said Ned Pellmann, 67, the oldest of his three sons.

Pellmann’s appearance in the Oct. 5 issue of Sports Illustrated might make him the oldest athlete ever in the 59-year-old feature. He also is likely the oldest person to be chosen USA Track & Field Athlete of the Week. That honor came Sept. 24 — four days after his age-group records.

His story even serves as a classroom lesson at The Learning Network in The New York Times.

He was saluted in Slovenia and idolized in Italy. And The Australian posted a graphic comparing Pellmann’s records to the elite bests.

Don Pellmann, more than 80 years older than a fellow honoree, in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd. Image from SI issue of Oct. 5, 2015
Don Pellmann, more than 80 years older than a fellow honoree, in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd. Image from SI issue of Oct. 5, 2015

Interview requests have died down in the past week, his son said from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin (just outside Milwaukee).

“He was somewhat overwhelmed by all the media attention, somewhat surprised it got picked up by the London Times and the BBC,” Ned said. “I think at this point, he is pretty much over it.”

Ned Pellmann said some TV requests were interesting — but most were declined.

“The ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ show was more interested if he was going to compete again soon so they could report on that, but most likely, no more meets for some time,” Ned said. “‘The Late, Late Show’ as well as ‘Dr. Oz’ contacted my brother Jim, but mostly dismissed those as more of a ‘novelty’ than real reporting.”

One photographer asked him to throw the discus, and “Don said he had a couple of real good throws that were well over 50 feet,” which would have broken his recent world record of 48 feet 9 inches.

His local weekly paper in Santa Clara quoted nurse Lee Deras, who met Pellmann and Marjoree, his wife of 68 years, when they lived at Valley Village Retirement Community.

“Don never ceases to amaze me,” Deras said. “I think he has shown the world what is possible.”

Pellmann isn’t done yet, however.

“I’d like to go sky diving one more time,” he said recently.

But first he said he planned to look himself up on Wikipedia. He was tickled to learn his name was in that online reference.

“You can’t live a normal life without a computer,” he told Diane Andrews of the Santa Clara paper. “I email daily and use it for an encyclopedia.”