Bob Larsen

Bob Larsen

Bob Larsen (born c. 1939) is a Hall of Fame Track and field athletics coach, known largely for coaching distance runners, though he has had success coaching across a full range of events. Larsen is currently a coach at the Mammoth Lakes Mammoth Track Club high altitude training camp. His most notable athlete is Mebrahtom Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic Silver medalist in the Marathon, an accomplishment that ended a 20-year drought in United States distance running medals at the Olympic level (28 years for male athletes). Building on that success, Keflezighi won the men's division of the 2009 New York Marathon, the first American athlete to accomplish that feat since Alberto Salazar did it 27 years before in 1982, and the 2014 Boston Marathon. Previous to that Larsen coached the UCLA Cross Country and then Track teams between 1979 and his retirement in 1999.

Larsen's coaching career has spanned successful programs at the High School, Junior College, University and Open divisions. After graduating from San Diego State College in 1961, Larsen started in the 1960s at Grossmont College, Larsen led the Griffins (now defunct) team to seven state titles and nine consecutive conference titles. During that tenure his distance runners set 11 national community college records.[1] Larsen was elected to the California Community College Cross Country and Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996. At the same time, Larsen formed and coached the Jamul Toads running team, which won the AAU National Cross Country Championship in 1976. At Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, CA, Larsen's team went undefeated for three years.

Starting with a lackluster UCLA Cross Country program, his first season in 1979 was the first time UCLA had ever qualified for the NCAA National Championships. Larsen was selected National Coach of the year 1980, the first of four such selections. Under Larsen, UCLA won two Pac-10 Men's Cross Country titles and made six appearance at the NCAA Championships.

In 1984, Larsen succeeded Jim Bush as UCLA Head Track and Field Coach. He perpetuated the UCLA winning ways with two consecutive NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 1987 and 1988, along with 9 conference championships. Among the athletes on those championship teams were Olympic Gold Medalists: Steve Lewis, Danny Everett and Kevin Young.[2] Other athletes on Larsen's teams included Ato Bolden, John Godina, Henry Thomas, Michael Granville and Keflezighi. UCLA also finished a close second place in 1995.[3]

In 1995 he was named the Coach of the Year by the United States Track Coaches Association. In 2003 he joined the Hall of Fame for that same organization. In 2005, Larsen was given the Bill Bowerman Award from the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, sponsored by Nike.[4]

On December 5, 2009 Larsen was awarded the Robert Giegengack Award, signifying the person who has "made an outstanding contribution to the development and success of USA Track & Field and the larger community of the sport." [5]

On August 5, 2010, Larsen was named co-chairman of the USATF Coaches Registry Task Force. "Being a USATF Registered Coach provides a designation to coaches around the country that will identify them as among the most ethical and respected in their field, and will carry with it certain rights and privileges not available to those who are not registered coaches. Background screenings and acceptance of a Code of Ethics are critical components of the Coaches Registry."[6]

Larsen is the subject of a full length documentary, City Slickers Can't Stay With Me: The Coach Bob Larsen Story released April 19, 2015. [7] [8]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.mastershistory.org/USMITT/1978-06-USMITT.pdf
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  3. ↑ http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/track_outdoor_champs_records/2006/MD1.pdf
  4. ↑ UCLA Press Release. July 12, 2005 https://web.archive.org/web/20120308170528/http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-track/spec-rel/071205aaa.html. Archived from the original on March 8, 2012. Retrieved 2009-11-28. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?duid=USATF_2009_12_05_17_20_09 USATF Press release
  6. ↑ http://www.usatf.org/news/view.aspx?duid=USATF_2010_08_05_17_59_38 USATF Press Release August 5, 2010
  7. ↑ City Slickers Can't Stay with Me: The Coach Bob Larsen Story (2015), retrieved 2017-07-13
  8. ↑ City Slickers Can't Stay With Me: The Coach Bob Larsen Story, retrieved 2017-07-13
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