Posted: December 10, 2004

Athletics: Judge receives 2004 Ron Buss Coach/Educator of the Year Award

Larry Judge, associate coach with the University of Florida's track & field program, was presented with the 2004 Ron Buss Coach/Educator of the Year Award at the 2004 USA Track & Field Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.

The Ron Buss award, which began in 2003, is presented annually by the USATF Coaching Education Executive Committee to an overall outstanding coach. The award is named in honor of Buss, who coached track and field for 35 years and was one of the principal founders of the USATF Coaching Education program, which to date has certified more than 14,000 coaches.

Widely recognized as one of the premier throws coaches in the country, Judge serves on USATF's Coach's Education Executive Committee as the throwing events chair. In the last four years at Florida, Judge has coached eight All-Americans, five Southeastern Conference champions, two NCAA champions and three Olympians, adding to an already impressive resume. Among his athletes are former Gator and 2004 Olympian Erin Gilreath, whom he coached to a world best in the indoor weight throw and an American record in the hammer throw outdoors.

USATF's Coaching Education Committee also presented the 2004 Fred Wilt Lifetime Achievement Award to Glen Sefcik. Last year's Coaching Education honorees were Joe Vigil and Oscar Jensen.

USATF Board of Directors in place

The newly elected USATF Board of Directors is in place following elections last weekend at the USATF Annual Meeting. Elections on Friday included the selection of a new Secretary, Lynn Cannon, and Long Distance Running Chair, Fred Finke. Antonio Pettigrew was selected as Athletes Advisory Committee alternate representative to the USOC, while Tony Cosey became AAC vice chair. Saturday elections saw Linda Phelps become the new Youth Athletics chair.

USATF Board of Directors: Bill Roe, President; Dee Jensen , Vice President; Lynn Cannon, Secretary; Ed Koch, Treasurer; Patricia Rico, Past President; ; High Performance Division Chair TBA; John Chaplin Men's Track & Field; Stephanie Hightower, Women's Track & Field; Vince Peters, Race Walking; Fred Finke, LDR Division Chair (non-voting); Jim Estes, Men's LDR; Elizabeth Phillips, Women's LDR; Norm Green, Masters LDR; George Mathews, Masters Track & Field; Linda Phelps, Youth Athletics; Alan Roth Associations Chair; Linda Melzer, Officials Chair; Terry Crawford, Coaches Advisory Rep.; Bob Hersh, IAAF Council Member; Sandra Farmer-Patrick, AAC Chair/USOC Athlete Rep.; Tony Cosey, AAC Vice-chair; Erica Wheeler, AAC Secretary; Jon Drummond, AAC Treasurer; Antonio Pettigrew, USOC Athlete Rep. Alternate; Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Athlete Rep.; Jack Hazen, NAIA Rep.; Mark Bockelman, NCAA Rep.; Bryce Roderick, NJCAA Rep.; Cynthia Doyle, NFHS Rep.; Jeff Darman, RRCA Rep.; Allan Steinfeld, Running USA Rep.; Craig Masback, USATF CEO/IAAF (non-voting); David Greifinger, Counsel to the Board (non-voting).

From: USATF.org.