Just four days after his 100th birthday, competing in the USATF Masters Indoor Championships, McPhie was the first centenarian athlete to attempt the high jump, though he failed to clear the bar.

In 1935 he set the school record at San Bernardino Valley College that lasted until the inception of fiberglass vaulting poles that radically changed the event in the 1960s.

He continued to San Diego State College where he set the school record in the 220 yard dash and long jump in 1936.

[2] McPhie joined the Army to fight in World War II, returning to San Diego State to complete his degree.

Still decades later he joined a tennis competition at the local Senior Olympics and noticed a track meet going on associated with the event.