USTFCCCA’s Hall of Fame Class of 2010 Represents Leadership, Success

USTFCCCA’s Hall of Fame Class of 2010 Represents Leadership, Success
Six inductees will be honored in December as part of USTFCCCA Convention
August 6, 2010
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced on Friday the six
inductees that will be enshrined in the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame later this year. From some of the early leaders and pioneers
of the sport to those who have seen more recent success, the Hall of Fame Class of 2010 is uniquely qualified for
induction. The group has won numerous conference titles and a total of 25 collegiate national championships.
Coaches selected to be inducted in the Class of 2010 are Cleve Abbott (Tuskegee), Jeanette Bolden (UCLA), Chick Hislop
(Weber State), Bert Lyle (Texas Woman’s University), Jack Toms (Lynchburg), and Doug Watts (Edinboro).
The 2010 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held December 15 at the USTFCCCA Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
“Major” Cleveland “Cleve” Leigh Abbott
Cleve Abbott was a pioneer of track & field and of collegiate sport in general in the first half of the 20th century. Not only
was Abbott a successful track & field coach, leading Tuskegee Institute’s women’s squad to 14 AAU national outdoor titles,
but he was also the school’s Director of Physical Education and Athletics for over 30 years and, at one time, coached all of
the department’s intercollegiate teams.
Abbott was hired by Tuskegee’s Booker T. Washington shortly after graduating from then‐South Dakota State College in
1915 to teach agricultural history. Suddenly, in 1917, Abbott voluntarily left the school to join the U.S. Army where he later
served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. In 1923, Abbott rejoined Tuskegee, where
he was hired to lead the athletics program.
In terms of track & field, Abbott’s contributions to the sport were vast. In 1927, Abbott founded the Tuskegee Relays, and,
two years later, Abbott initiated the Women’s Sports Carnival. Abbott’s Tigerettes won 14 AAU National team titles,
including eight in a row, and added 65 individual‐event indoor and outdoor national crowns from 1937 to 1950.
Abbott mentored numerous legends in the sport, including Alice Coachman, Nell Jackson, Barbara Jacket, Evelyn Lawler,
and Mildred McDaniel.
Coachman, a 25‐time national champion, famously became the first African‐American woman to win Olympic gold, doing
so with an Olympic‐ and American‐record high jump clearance of 5 feet, 6 1/8 inches at the 1948 London Games. Jackson,
also a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1948, would set the American record of 24.2 in the 200 meters in 1949 and,
with appointments in 1956 and 1972, was the first African‐American female to coach an Olympic Team. Jackson is also a
member of the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame. Jacket, a 2001 inductee into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame, led Prairie View A&M to
10 NAIA national team titles and 22 SWAC league championships and was also the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team Coach. Lawler,
the mother of Carl and Carol Lewis, was an established hurdler, having tied the American 80‐meter hurdle mark in 1950
and then setting the Western‐hemisphere mark of 11.3 seconds in 1951. McDaniel, a five‐time national high jump
champion, set the world record in the high jump at 5‐9¼ in capturing Olympic gold at the 1956 Melbourne Games. All told,
a total of six of Abbott’s athletes were members of U.S. Olympic Teams.