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Former Drake Coach, Drake Relays Director To Be Inducted Into U.S. Track & Field Coaches Hall Of Fame
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NEW ORLEANS, LA. – Franklin Pitcher (Pitch) Johnson, who served as head track and field coach at Drake as well as the fifth Drake Relays director, will be inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame this Dec. 16 at the USTCCCA annual convention in Orlando, Fla.
The USTFCCCA Class of 2009 also includes Arthur Gulden (Bucknell University), Oscar Moore, Jr. (Rowan University), Charles (Chuck) Rohe (Furman University/University of Tennessee), Duane Vandenbusche (Western State College of Colorado), and Gary Winckler (Florida State University/University of Illinois).
“Our sports were fortunate that the six individuals to be enshrined into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Class of 2009 chose the profession of coaching cross country and track & field,” said USTFCCCA chief executive officer Sam Seemes. “On behalf of the USTFCCCA we congratulate each of these individuals on their selection and thank them for their years of leadership and service to the cross country and track & field community.”
Johnson’s contributions to the sports of track & field and cross country extend far beyond his successful coaching career. He helped establish the fledgling National Collegiate Track Coaches Association (NCTCA), serving as an officer from 1933 until his retirement from coaching, including a three-year stint as president (1935-1938).
As a coach, Johnson put Drake track and field on the map as head track and field coach from 1928 to 1940 and director of the Drake Relays from 1933 to 1940. Under his guidance, the Bulldogs earned 10 team conference championships in track & field (six indoors and four outdoors), won 30 individual Missouri Valley Conference titles, and finished third (1938) and fourth (1939) in the first two years of the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Johnson ended his coaching career at Stanford University, serving as head track and field coach from 1940 to 1943.
“I am very pleased and gratified that the USTFCCCA has chosen my father, Franklin (Pitch) Johnson for its Hall of Fame,” said Franklin Pitcher “Pitch” Johnson, Jr., son of the late “Pitch” Johnson, Sr. “As a former Olympic hurdler, he always loved the sport in which people ‘run, jump and throw things,’ as he frequently put it.”
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