Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins – Record-breaking centenarian athlete
The starting gun fired. A 100-year-old woman named Julia Hawkins exploded from the blocks at the 2017 USA Track and Field Outdoors Masters Championships.
Forty seconds later, she crossed the finish line and entered the record books.
Not because she was slow. Because she was there. Because at an age when most people worry about walking to the mailbox, Julia Hawkins was sprinting 100 meters. And she wasn’t just participating—she was setting world records.
They call her “Hurricane.” And once you hear her story, you’ll understand why.
A Century Before the Starting Line
Julia Welles was born on February 10, 1916, in Wisconsin. When she was just three months old, her family moved to Louisiana, where she would spend the next century of her life.
She met Murray Hawkins at Louisiana State University in 1934. He was a professor. She was a student. Seven years later, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, they married—by telephone. Julia in Louisiana. Murray still stationed in Pearl Harbor. A wedding conducted across thousands of miles during wartime.
It was the beginning of a 70-year marriage.
During World War II, while Murray served, Julia’s brother was imprisoned in a German concentration camp. She worked as a teacher in Donaldsonville and Brusly, Louisiana. Later, she taught in Honduras, managing fourth through seventh grades in a single schoolroom.
Julia and Murray had four children: Lad, Margaret, Julia “Jugie,” and Warren. She was a wife, mother, teacher. A life filled with purpose and service.
Murray died on March 7, 2013, at age 95. They had been married for seven decades. Julia was 97 years old.
Most people would have slowed down. Julia had other plans.
The Decision at 100
At 100 years old, Julia Hawkins made a choice that would change everything: she decided to start running competitively.
Not jogging. Not walking. Sprinting.
She took to the track at an age when society expects you to take to a rocking chair. While others celebrated their 100th birthdays with cake and nostalgia, Julia celebrated with starting blocks and running spikes.
The world didn’t know what to make of her. A centenarian athlete? In sprint events? It seemed impossible.
Julia didn’t care what seemed possible. She laced up her shoes and ran.
At 101, Julia Hawkins ran the 100 meters in 39.62 seconds—a world record for women 100 or older. She became the oldest woman ever to compete at the USA Track and Field Outdoors Masters Championships.
Hurricane Unleashed
In 2017, at age 101, Julia didn’t just compete. She dominated. She ran the 100 meters in 40.12 seconds at the championships. Earlier that year, she’d clocked 39.62 seconds—setting a world record that would stand as testament to human potential.
But she wasn’t done.
At the 2018 Masters National Indoor Track and Field Championship, she and Orville Rogers (age 100) both set 60-meter dash world records. Two centenarians, rewriting what’s possible.
In June 2019, she competed at the National Senior Games in the sprints. Still going. Still fierce.
In November 2021, at 105 years old, she reportedly beat the record for the 100-meter dash in the 105+ age group with a time of 1:02.95. Most people her age aren’t running at all. Julia was breaking records.
Living Through History
Think about what Julia lived through. Born in 1916, she witnessed:
- World War I as an infant
- The Roaring Twenties
- The Great Depression
- World War II (her brother in a concentration camp, her husband at Pearl Harbor)
- The Civil Rights Movement
- The Space Age
- The Information Age
- The COVID-19 pandemic
In January 2021, at age 104, she received both doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. She was determined to keep going, keep living, keep running.
By 2021, she had three grandchildren (Morgan Matens, Murray Kimball, and Cooper Battle) and two great-grandchildren. She had outlived her husband of 70 years, one of her granddaughters, and countless friends.
And she was still lacing up her running shoes.
The Legacy of a Hurricane
In 2016, Julia’s daughter Margaret Hawkins Matens wrote a book about her mother’s remarkable life: “It’s Been Wondrous: The Memoirs of Julia Welles Hawkins.”
The title says it all. For Julia, life had been wondrous. Not because it was easy—she endured world wars, personal losses, and the challenges of living through a century of change. But because she chose to see it that way. She chose to keep moving forward. She chose to keep discovering new ways to feel alive.
At 100, when most people are satisfied with a long life well-lived, Julia decided she wasn’t done yet. She wanted to know what it felt like to run. Really run. To push her body. To compete. To set records.
And she did.
Age is no barrier to pursuing one’s passions and achieving greatness.
Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins died at her home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on October 22, 2024, at the age of 108 years and 255 days.
She left behind a legacy that transcends athletics. She proved that life doesn’t have to slow down just because you’ve reached an arbitrary number. That new passions can emerge at any age. That the human spirit—when unleashed—is unstoppable.
They called her Hurricane. And like a force of nature, she swept through every expectation society had about aging, shattering records and rewriting what’s possible.
Learn More About Julia “Hurricane” Hawkins
Explore her remarkable journey:
