James F. Elliott
James "Jumbo" F. Elliott (born August 8, 1915 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † March 22, 1981 in Juno Beach (Florida) ) was an American track and field coach who is considered one of the best coaches of all time. He looked after 28 Olympic participants (including five Olympic champions) between 1956 and 1968, 62 national champions of the Amateur Athletic Union and 82 American university champions ( NCAA ), his athletes set 66 world records, 44 of them in the hall.
Life
Elliott was the son of poor Irish immigrants and after graduating from West Catholic High School studied at Villanova Catholic University with an athletics scholarship, which made him successful in the 400m and 800m. He never lost a 440 yards race in college. Even during his studies he took on coaching duties, as the university had to dismiss its full-time coaches due to the depression . After completing his bachelor's degree in 1935, he worked as a salesman for construction machinery and part-time as a trainer for athletes and golf (sports) players at Villanova. Due to the global economic crisis and the world war, Villanova could no longer afford a full-time trainer. From 1949 until his death in 1981 he worked full-time as a trainer for Villanova. Due to his origins and the Catholic character of the university, he recruited mostly Catholics for his teams, to a considerable extent also from Ireland . He has been reprimanded several times for his dealings with Afro-American athletes. His top athletes included: Ron Delany (1956, 1,500 m), Charles Jenkins (1956, 400 m), Don Bragg (1960, pole vault), Paul Drayton (1964, 4 × 100 m), and Larry James (1968, 4 × 400 m), but also Marty Liquori , Dick Buerkle , Eamonn Coghlan , Mark Belger , Fred Dwyer , Don Paige , Dave Patrick , Noel Carroll , Frank Murphy , Browning Ross and Sydney Maree . He died of a heart attack while on vacation in Florida .
Training method
On the sports field of the university there was a 160 yards (146.30 m) wooden track, as it is usually used at indoor sports festivals. After a basis similar to Arthur Lydiard in autumn (= 100 miles / week), he had interval training carried out at racing speed (e.g. 10 × 400 m with a 400-meter trot break for 1,500-meter runners) in winter, especially on this wooden track . The runners trained in relatively large groups and pushed each other on.
Honors
- 1981 Villanova named its athletics stadium after him.
- 1981 Induction into the US Athletics Hall of Fame http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=48
- 1995 Admission to the Athletics Trainer Hall of Fame http://www.ustfccca.org/ustfccca-hall-of-fame/ustfccca-hall-of-fame-class-of-1995/james-jumbo-elliott-ustfccca-class -of-1995
- Annual Jumbo Elliott Awards for the best male and female Villanova athletes since 1995
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=48 on . March 6, 2017
- ^ Elliott, James Francis: Jumbo Elliott: Maker of Milers, Maker of Men. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982.
- ↑ Thomas Mogan: THE LIMITS TO CATHOLIC RACIAL LIBERALISM: THE VILLANOVA ENCOUNTER WITH RACE, 1940–1985. Diss. Temple University 2013; http://digital.library.temple.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/216556
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/23/obituaries/jumbo-elliott-of-villanova-is-dead-long-an-outstanding-track-coach.html on . 5th March 2017
- ↑ Arnd Krüger : Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in training systems for medium and long distance runners (1850–1997). In: N. Gissel (Hrsg.): Sporting performance in change . Czwalina, Hamburg 1998, pp. 41-56.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elliott, James F. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Elliott, Jumbo (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American athletic trainer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 8, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 22, 1981 |
| Place of death | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania |