Stanley Vandorne Wright (August 11, 1921 – November 6, 1998) was the first
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
head coach of a United States
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
team. A noted college and national track coach and administrator over a forty-year period, he coached many Olympians and world record holders, for which, in 1993, he was rewarded with membership in the
USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
[Stan Wright](_blank)
United States Track and Field, Hall of Fame He achieved notoriety in 1972 as the man held responsible for the two American favourites for the
100 meters
The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...
title,
Eddie Hart and
Rey Robinson, missing their
quarter-final races. He was later exonerated in an official report to the
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
.
College coaching career
Born August 11, 1921 in
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...
,
Wright graduated from
Springfield College in Massachusetts in 1949.
[TSU Tiger Athletics Hall of Fame: Class of 1976: Stanley Wright, Track and Field Coach (1951–1967)](_blank)
oocities.org.
Wright was a track coach for 26 years at
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...
, acting as Head Track Coach between 1950 and 1967. Here he coached four Olympians, including the winner of the 100 meters at the 1968 Olympics,
Jim Hines
James Ray Hines (born September 10, 1946) is a retired American track and field athlete and NFL player, who held the 100-meter world record for 15 years. In 1968, he became the first man to officially break the 10-second barrier in the 100 me ...
.
[Harvey, Randy (November 29, 1993]
The Fall Guy: At Least Stan Wright gets to the Hall of Fame on Time
''Los Angeles Times''. Jim Hines, from
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
had deliberately chosen to study at Texas Southern because it had the best track and field team in the country.
He was later head track coach at
Western Illinois University
Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College.
History
Western Illin ...
, between 1967 and 1969, and
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
, between 1969 and 1979. He acted as Athletics Director for
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...
between 1979 and 1985.
[Lee, Jimson (February 1, 2010]
USA Black History Month – Stan Wright, Track Coach
speedendurance.com. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
National coaching career
In 1966, he was appointed Head Coach for the USA track and field teams for dual athletics meets against Poland and the USSR that occurred a week apart in Los Angeles. This is notable because he was the first
Black American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
to be awarded this honour
[Litsky, Frank (November 8, 1998]
Stan Wright, a U.S. Olympic Track Coach, Is Dead at 78
''The New York Times''. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
In 1968 and 1972, he was the Assistant Sprints Coach for the United States Olympic Team.
Wright took on many senior administrative roles within sport: he was a member of the United States Olympic Committee and took financial roles with
The Athletics Congress
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...
(the predecessor of
United States Track and Field organisation).
In recognition of his years as a highly respected coach and administrator, he received the accolade in 1993 of becoming an inductee into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame.
1972 controversy
On the morning of August 31, 1972, all the three American representatives –
Eddie Hart,
Rey Robinson and
Robert Taylor – in the 100 meters at the
1972 Munich Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
qualified for the quarter-final round to be held later that day.
Walking through the Olympic Village at 4:17 pm, Hart saw 100 meters races being shown on a TV monitor in the
ABC-TV studios. It soon became shockingly clear that these were live images of the quarter-finals that the 3 athletes were meant to run in, and that his name had 'N/A' – Not Available – against it.
[Pugmire, Lance (2002]
Robinson finally gets past his pain
''LA Times''. Retrieved February 12, 2012. A mad dash to the Olympic Stadium in an ABC-TV car resulted in two of three, Hart and Robinson, arriving too late for their quarter-finals, and the third, Taylor, arriving only seconds before his, so enabling him to run, but totally unprepared. An appeal by the United States team failed and the eliminations of Hart and Robinson stood.
[Duncanson, p. 176]
Valeriy Borzov
Valeriy Pylypovych Borzov ( uk, Валерій Пилипович Борзов; russian: Валерий Филиппович Борзов, Valeriy Filippovich Borzov; born 20 October 1949) is a former Soviet sprinter. He is a two-time Olympian, ...
went on to win the Olympic 100 meters title with Taylor second. It remains a subject of intense debate as to how the result would have been affected if Hart and Robinson had run in the final. They held the two fastest times that year going into the Olympics and finished first and second at the Olympic Trials, ahead of Taylor.
The 4 × 100 meters sprint relay team coached by Wright (with Hart on the final leg) later would win the gold medal, but it was a "bittersweet ending" to the Olympics for all concerned.
Wright claimed he was given an old schedule that showed the quarter-finals as not starting before 7 pm,
and had had this fact confirmed by Olympic officials.
Track and Field News
''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...
had published the correct schedule in its Olympic preview issue. An investigation for the
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
later cleared Wright, but not before much opprobrium was heaped on him.
The report lays the blame on the late amendment to the schedule by the
International Amateur Athletics Federation
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...
(IAAF) not being conveyed effectively to the responsible coaches. That it was a more general misunderstanding is given credence by the fact that Borzov later admitted that he nearly missed his quarter-final,
[ and that Lee Evans, a fellow American athlete, who was in the stadium and who had realised what was happening with the schedule, sprinted back to the Olympic Village in a desperate attempt to try to warn the three sprinters of the impending calamity.]
John Smith (American athlete in 1972 and later UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
Assistant Coach) has stated that it meant for Wright that 'his career was never the same after that". and that "if everybody is going to blast Stan, well, the whole staff should apologize to the whole team for not making sure Stan knew the right time."
Wright was made to feel the scapegoat, particularly after a television interview with Howard Cosell
Howard is an English language, English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (disambiguation), Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defe ...
on ABC television after the Olympics that many felt, including Wright, was more an excoriation and less an interview. Wright has been quoted as stating ”In the interview, I took the responsibility, but not as an admission of incompetence or negligence on my part. I took the responsibility to get the athletes off the hook because it wasn’t their responsibility and they didn’t act irresponsibly.”.
Wright nearly did not make the trip to Munich. He is reported as having been upset at being overlooked by the AAU as the Head Coach for the track and field team, and so no longer wanted to be a part of the Olympics coaching team. (Bill Bowerman
William Jay Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 22 NCAA champio ...
of the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
was appointed instead.) However, when he was assured he would be a shoo-in as Head Coach in 1976, he did agree to be the Sprint Coach in 1972.
Personal life
Wright served in the United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
from November 1945 to January 1947. On leaving, he trained first as a coach at Springfield College
Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees.
It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...
, then earned a master's degree in education at Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...
. On graduation, Wright could not find work in the north of the United States so had to move south for a coaching job.Interview with George Wright
''The Amateur Athletic Foundations SportsLetter''. Volume 16, Number 4 – SL.
After retirement, he remained active despite a stroke and multiple heart by-pass surgery.
He died in Harris, Texas on November 6, 1998 following a long illness,
two days after the death of his cousin, Larry Ellis, who had been Head Coach of the 1984 United States Olympic Team and the former President of USA Track and Field Organisation.
References
Bibliography
*Duncanson, Neil (2011), ''The Fastest Men on Earth'', Andre Deutsch, .
*Wright, George, 'Stan Wright – Track Coach: Forty Years in the "Good Old Boy Network" – The Story of an African-American Pioneer', Pacifica Sports Research Publications, 2005.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Stan
1921 births
1998 deaths
American track and field coaches
African-American sports coaches
People from Englewood, New Jersey
Sportspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey
20th-century African-American people
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
United States Army Air Forces soldiers