LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA. (August 14, 2007) --- One of the most decorated coaching careers in the history of collegiate athletics will be celebrated later this year when Lincoln University coach Cyrus Jones is inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Jones, the head coach at Lincoln since 1974, has led the Lions to 17 NCAA Division III track and field championships. His men have won 13 national titles (seven outdoor, six indoor). Lincoln's women have won four NCAA championships (three outdoor, one indoor) under his guidance.
“I am so overwhelmed by this honor,” Jones said. “I felt numb when reading (the actual induction/congratulatory) letter. An honor like this is something I can't explain. I am more excited for all of the student-athletes who have run for Lincoln and for the people around me that have helped me over the years and have been my backbone.”
Joining Jones in the Hall of Fame Class of 2007 are Lew Hartzog, Tom Jones, Beverly Kearney, John Mitchell, Irv Mondschein, Jim Sackett and Karl Schlademan. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is Dec. 18 at the USTFCCCA annual convention in Phoenix, Ariz.
Jones played baseball at Florida A&M and hoped to coach that sport when he applied for a job at Lincoln, a historically black institution located 50 miles outside Philadelphia near Oxford, Pa. The baseball position was filled, so the athletic director asked Jones if he'd be willing to coach track.
“I couldn't say no. I told him yes,” Jones said in a recent ESPN.com story. “That's where it all started.”
It took time to build the program and develop his knowledge of the sport, but the Lions reached the top in 19985, winning their NCAA Division III outdoor track title.
“Winning the national championship really helped our program,” Jones said. “But the big thing is discipline. You have to work today, tomorrow and the next day. Consistency breeds greatness, and once you become great, then you can build a dynasty.”
This honor caps a memorable 2007 for Jones, who was named Mideast Region Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA and recently featured on ESPN.com. Jones also received the prestigious Bob Hayes Award from the city of Jacksonville, Fl. earlier this year. During a remarkable 33-year run as men's and women's track and field head coach, Jones, has been named Division III National Coach of the Year seven times (1985, 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, & 2000).
The women have won four national titles (three outdoor & one indoor). Meanwhile, the men have dominated the Division III landscape by winning 13 national titles (seven outdoor & six indoor). Since the NCAA has conducted championships in 1974, the Lincoln men have finished in the top five during the outdoor championships an astounding 23 times. The Lincoln men also have 12 outdoor runner-up finishes to its credit, including 2006.
Jones has coached more than 300 All-Americans at Lincoln, including Rhondale Jones. Jones won 14 NCAA individual titles in 1999, 2000 and 2001, the most by an NCAA track athlete at any level. Rhondale Jones (no relation) was named the outstanding Division III female track athlete of the first 25 years of NCAA women's competition.
Also serving as the Lincoln associate athletics director, Jones was named Mid East Region Track Coach of the Year prior to this year's NCAA Indoor Championship meet (2006). Jones also served as honorary official during the 2002 Penn Relays and was recently selected as one of the top 100 sports figures in the Philadelphia region of the past 100 years by the Philadelphia Tribune.
With so much success at the Division III level, the Lions have applied to be reclassified as a Division II school with the NCAA. Jones is confident his program will make a smooth transition to Division II competition. At 63, he shows no signs of slowing down.
“When cross country season starts, I'm going out there, working with the kids to make sure they're running the right way,” Jones told ESPN.com. “I really enjoy what I'm doing. I got cross-country and track. It's all season long. I love it.”
The USTFCCCA Hall of Fame has been in existence since 1995 and currently houses 122 of the greatest coaching names in track & field and cross-country history. Members are chosen to the Hall of Fame based on their career accomplishments and significant contributions to the sports of track & field and cross-country.
“This year's Hall of Fame class is a remarkable group,” said Sam Seemes, CEO of the USTFCCCA. “It will be an honor for our organization to pay tribute to eight coaches who are among the giants of their profession.”
Founded in 1854, Lincoln University is the first historically black institution of higher education and its graduates include such luminaries as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice of the United States Supreme Court, and acclaimed poet and author Langston Hughes. Lincoln University is nationally regarded for producing African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the physical sciences.
For more information on the inductees in this year's USTFCCCA Hall of Fame class, see www.ustfccca.org.
