Roy Old Person Sr. grew up on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. He is a graduate of Browning High School, Haskell Institute and attended Wichita State University.

Browning HS didn’t compete in cross country when Old Person Sr. was there and the longest competitive distance was one mile. He began his running career as a senior in high school and placed third in the mile at the 1964 Montana State Track Meet.

At Haskell Institute, Old Person Sr. was provided with coaches with extensive experience and fellow athletes with long distance running experience that helped him mature to the elite level. He won his first college race and his career began at a record pace.


In 1965 he became the only runner from Haskell to ever win the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championship setting a new national record of 15:02.1 in the three mile distance, and he ran it 26 seconds faster than the runner the previous year and today his time is still the second fastest in the history of the Junior College Championship meet. He also represented Haskell at the Kansas Relays running against many of the top runners in the country including the Olympic Champion Jim Ryan and Billy Mills.

He received an athletic scholarship to Wichita State University and competed in the three and six mile cross country distances, and steeplechase, 5,000 and 10,000 meters track distances. At Wichita State University Old Person Sr. earned Cross Country All Conference in 1967. He was the 1967 Four Mile Individual Champion in a time of 19:46.7, All-Time Men's Cross Country Individual Missouri Valley Conference Champion, 1969 Cross Country All Conference, and All-Time All Conference Honoree in 1967 and 1969.

In 1967 he ran a personal best 29:49 six mile race at the Midwest Federation race. He ran a Shocker record three mile race in 14:02.5 on October 25, 1969. He also set personal track bests a 4:20.2 mile and 9:12 two mile.

In the 1960’s Old Person Sr. ran in many of the major university track meets including the University of Kansas Relays, University of Texas Relays, University of Oklahoma Relays, Drake Relays, Oklahoma State Relays, University of Missouri Relays, and National Track Meet at Garden City, KS.