The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Four Longhorns inducted into TTFCA Hall of Fame
01.03.2017 | Texas Relays, Track & Field / Cross Country
Former UT athletes, coaches, officials to be honored
AUSTIN, Texas – Four legends in the track and field community in the state of Texas with ties to the Longhorns will be honored by the Texas Track & Field Coaches Association on Friday, Jan. 5 as they enter the Texas Track & Field Hall of Fame.
The TTFCA will hold the induction ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday at the Crowne Plaza-Addison as the eighth hall of fame class is honored.
Former men's head coach Stan Huntsman was named to this year's class earlier before his passing last month. 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.
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.
Texas has one other former coach and a former athlete going into the class as posthumous nominees.
Cleburne Price, Jr. served as the men's head coach at Texas for 15 years following a seven-year stint as an assistant. The Longhorns won 12 SWC championships during his run as head coach and claimed five NCAA individual titles. He coached 11 Olympians during his career, including Olympic gold medalist Johnny Lam Jones. Price also served as meet director of the Texas Relays, one of the largest and longest running track meets in the nation. The men's 4x400m relay race was named in his honor at the meet for his contribution to the sport and the meet.
Former Texas student-athlete Charlie Thomas joins Price in this year's class of posthumous nominees.
Thomas ran the anchor leg for UT's 440 yard relay that set the world record at the time. He also finished fourth in the 220 yards at the 1952 Olympic Trials. Thomas went on to a successful coaching career at Texas A&M for 32 years.
William E. "Rooster" Andrews will be inducted as a posthumous nominee after playing a large role at the Clyde Little Field Texas Relays for 60 years. Andrews was the head judge at the finish line for the meet and a commemorative plaque is dedicated to him at the finish line of Mike A. Myers Stadium. Andrews also was a kicker for the Texas football team.
For a list of all the inductees this year please visit ttfca.org.
