Organized by USA Track & Field, the national governing body for the sport, the competition was first held in 1975.

[2][3] David Pain organized a masters mile run competition in 1966 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, which grew into a wider track and field championship two years later in 1968.

[4] Seven years after, the first National Masters Indoor Track and Field Championship was held March 2, 1975 in Hightstown, NJ.

[5][6] The 1975 meet was held at the new Peddie School athletic center with a Tartan indoor track (built in 1972).

[11][12] George Braceland, Bud Deacon, Claude Hills, Len Olson, and Archie Messenger were competitors at the 1976 meet.

[37] Cliff Blair, Bob Richards, Cindy Bremser, and Sandy Knott won medals at the 1990 meet.

[38] Eddie Hart, Phil Mulkey, Bob Richards, Jo Ann Terry Grissom, and Sandra Knott competed at the 1990 meet.

[40][41][42] Trish King (Patricia Porter) and Christopher Faulknor (Jamaican Olympian) won medals at the 2011 meet.

[48] Competitors Charles Allie and Rita Hanscom received the male and female masters international athlete of the year awards from the IAAF in 2013 and 2009, respectively.

[55] Competing as a M25 athlete: Tyreek Hill won the 60 meter dash at the 2023 Masters Indoor Championship.

[68] 1985 the Baltimore Sun stated on M35 Mile winner Jim Shank, "Westminster man devotes life to running; won't quit as long as it's fun, competitive.

[71] 1984 meet director Ron Salvio stated, “These Masters athletes are part of one of the most rapidly growing movements in sport”.

[72] 1998 Boston Globe reports, "The National Masters competition includes 17 track and field events and attracts more than 800 athletes from around the country ranging in age from 30 into the 90s".

[73] Fox TV News statement by Todd Christensen in 2004 “I’m impressed by the fact that it seems to me that you would think that at a certain age your competitiveness ends but it really doesn’t”.