George Williams is an American track and field coach who was the head of St. Augustine's University track and field program for 44 years. [1]
Williams was raised in Overtown, Miami. [2] Williams attended St. Augustine's University as a student in education with an athletics scholarship. He graduated in 1965. [3] From there he tried to become professional basketball player but ended up instead as a teacher at Cary Elementary School. At the school, he came the attention of his old university who offered him a job in Alumni Affairs. [2]
Williams was working as an administrator in the university’s alumni office before taking as, he then thought, an interim position as a track coach. [3]
In his time at St. Augustine's as the head track and field coach, Williams won 39 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II National Titles - this is reported as the third most amongst NCAA coaches at any level. [1]
In 2020, Williams was removed from his post after 44 years. [4]
Williams was an assistant track and field coach for the 1996 United States Olympic team in Atlanta, where each athlete he coached won a gold medal. [1] [5]
In 2004, Williams was the head United States Olympic track and field coach at the 2004 Athens Olympics. [1] He was also men's head coach at the 1999 World Outdoor Championships in Seville, the 1993 World Indoor Championships in Toronto, and the 1992 IAAF World Cup in Havana, Cuba. [5]
In 2000, Williams was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. [6]
In 2022, Williams was honoured with the Legend Coach Award by USA Track & Field (USATF). [1]
Williams is reported to have been inducted into eight other halls of fame in addition to that of North Carolina, including those of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame (USTFCCCA), Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), City of Raleigh and Saint Augustine’s University. [1] [6] [7]
David James Wottle is an American retired middle-distance track athlete. He was the gold medalist in the 800 meter run at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and a world record holder in the 800 meters. In 1973, Wottle also ran the then-3rd fastest mile in history. He was known for wearing a golf cap while running.
USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin-off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country, and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money, or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.
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Clarence Edward "Big House" Gaines Sr. was an American college men's basketball coach with a 47-year coaching career at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Among his numerous honors for his achievements, he is one of the few African Americans to be inducted as a coach into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Saint Augustine's University is a private historically black Christian college in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was founded by Episcopal clergy in 1867 for the education of freed slaves.
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David Robbins is a retired American basketball coach. Robbins is best known for coaching at NCAA Division II power Virginia Union University, where he won 713 games and three NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament titles. Out of all NCAA coaches who have won more than 700 wins, Robbins is the second winningest coach with a winning percentage of 0.786. He is second only to Adolph Rupp who had a winning percentage of 0.822. Jerry Tarkanian, Dean Smith, Steve Moore, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Mike Krzyzewski, John Calipari, and Bo Ryan make up the remaining top ten. Seven out of 10 of those coaches have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Robbins, Moore, and Ryan have not.
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James Jerome Carnes was an American track and field athlete, coach and administrator. A successful coach at the high school, college and international levels, Carnes compiled a 161–11 career dual meet record, highlighted by four college conference championships and six state high school championships. He was the head coach of the U.S. Olympic track & field team and the Florida Gators track and field team, the founder of the Florida Track Club, and a member of the U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame.
The Livingstone Blue Bears football program is an intercollegiate American football team for Livingstone College located in Salisbury, North Carolina. The team competes in NCAA Division II as a member of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). The school's first team was fielded in 1892 as the first historically black college to play football. The team plays its home games at Alumni Memorial Stadium.
The North Carolina A&T Aggies are the athletic teams that represent North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. The Aggies compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) in all sports with the exception of football and women's bowling. North Carolina A&T fields varsity teams in 13 sports, five for men and eight for women. The football team competes in Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, in the CAA's technically separate football arm of CAA Football.
George R. Walker was an American football and basketball coach. He was the head football coach at St. Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1955 to 1960. Walker was also the head basketball coach at St. Augustine's from 1955 to 1957.
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