The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Legendary Texas Track coach Stan Huntsman passes
11.24.2016 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Hall of Fame coach helped return Longhorns to greatness
AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas at Austin lost a great Longhorn on Wednesday, November 23 when legendary track and field coach Stan Huntsman passed away in Austin.
Huntsman coached the final 10 years of his impressive career on The Forty Acres and helped guide the Longhorns to 11 Southwest Conference titles and some of the best NCAA finishes in school history.
"It's a sad time with the passing of our friend and legendary track & field coach Stan Huntsman," said long-time Texas Men's Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds. "He was such a competitor that brought the best out of our student-athletes and built Longhorn Track & Field into a perennial conference champion and national contender. More importantly he was as wonderful of a man as he was a coach. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Sylvia and his family. He will be missed."
His 39 years combined as a head coach at Ohio, Tennessee and Texas, saw his teams win a total of 46 conference championships.
Overall during his career, Huntsman coached 41 NCAA champions and four NCAA champion relay teams. While at Tennessee he coached the Volunteers to a pair of NCAA titles, the 1972 cross country championship and the 1974 outdoor track and field title. Texas had 11 NCAA champions during Huntsman's tenure as head coach.
Huntsman served on the Team USA coaching staff for three Olympic Games. He was the head coach for the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, and was an assistant coach in 1976 and 1980.
In 2004, Huntsman was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
He helped usher in the SWC after Arkansas had dominated the league prior to his arrival. The Longhorns dethroned the Razorbacks in Huntsman's first year at the 1986 SWC Outdoor Track & Field Championship, ending a four-year reign by Arkansas. It was the first of six outdoor SWC titles for the Texas men during his 10 years and first of 11 total in track and field and cross country.
Huntsman is survived by his wife of 52 years, Sylvia Scalzi Huntsman, their son Stanley Stephen, of Los Angeles, California, their daughter Coni Huntsman Stogner, her husband Bradley Stogner and their children, Connor (13), Mackenzie (11) and Quentin (8) of Austin.
Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Dec. 3, at St. Theresa's Catholic Church, located at 4311 Small Drive in Austin at 10 a.m. A celebration of Coach Huntsman's life will be held immediately following the services at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in memory of Stan Huntsman to SafePlace in Austin, at www.safeaustin.org, or to the Huntsman Scholarship Fund at the University of Tennessee at https://allvols.com/give/authentication/login.
Coach Stan Huntsman accomplishments at Texas (1985-1995)
NCAA Outdoor Top 5 Finishes: 1986, 1987*, 1988*, 1989, 1991
NCAA Indoor Top 15 Finishes: 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992
NCAA Cross Country Top 15's: 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
*- denotes NCAA runner-up
SWC Championships (11)
Cross Country: 1991, 1993
Indoor: 1992, 1993, 1994
Outdoor: 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
NCAA Individual Champions
Indoor: 2
Outdoor: 9