Legendary Sooner Track & Field Coach Inducted Into Oklahoma Hall of Fame

The late John Jacobs became the first track and field coach to be inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame during ceremonies earlier this week. Jacobs served as head coach for the Sooner track and field team from 1922-58, then stayed on 10 more years as an associate coach.

Former Sooner track and field athlete and longtime Hollywood actor Dennis Weaver presented his former coach for induction. Bill Jacobs, who was a conference champion while competing for his father, accepted on his father's behalf.

John Jacobs came to the University of Oklahoma as a student-athlete in 1911 and competed in the high jump, long jump and ran the anchor leg on OU's mile relay team. Following his graduation, he coached in the high school ranks in Texas and Oklahoma before OU athletic director Bennie Owen hired him to coach the track team in 1922.

From 1924-29, Jacobs' Sooners won 19 consecutive duals and took conference team titles five times. OU also added runner-up finishes in conference action 18 times in Jacobs' 36-year career as head coach. His 1927-29 teams swept the Missouri Valley and Big Six indoor championships despite not having an indoor facility. He was inducted into the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame in 1957. In 1980, two years after his death at the age of 88, he was inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame.

Jacobs' tenure with the Sooners stretched from the days of dirt tracks and hand touches on relays through the development of what was one of the most modern track and field facilities in the country in the 1950s. Jacobs was responsible for the design of the outdoor complex that was built just east of the Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. A proposal to name the facility he had designed after him was originally made in 1957 but was rejected. In May 1962, after his retirement as head coach, the OU Board of Regents named the facility Jacobs Field.

Known for his honesty, dry humor and hand written notes he would leave for his athletes, he also was widely respected for developing talent and teaching athletes to enter events they had never tried before. He developed six Olympians, including J.W. Mashburn who competed at OU and OSU and is a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.

One of those athletes who entered new events while at OU was Weaver who eventually trained for the 1948 Olympics in the decathlon under Jacobs. During the induction ceremonies, Weaver explained to the crowd that 'he had run the fastest mile ever at OU for a drama major.'

Throughout the induction, Jacobs' relationship with his athletes was emphasized. Weaver also told the story of how Jacobs gave every athlete a nickname. When Weaver showed up for the track team, there was already a drama major whose nickname was 'the only actor Jake probably knew of. He gave me the nickname of Rupe for Rupel Jones who was director of OU's School of Drama. My wife still calls me Rupe today.'

Those strong bonds between Jacobs and his athletes were obvious when his son, Bill, asked the more than 30 former Sooners who had competed for his father to stand and accept the induction with him.

'The family atmosphere that Jake created is something that every coach wants to create,' said current OU co-head coach Jill Lancaster. 'It's something that we try to build and as part of the Jacobs' legacy at OU, it is important that we remember.'

That coaching legacy was something that Bill Jacobs referred to, pointing out that since 1922 there have been five head coaches (including the current co-head coaches, Lancaster and Rodney Price). Bill Carroll, who competed for Jacobs, replaced his head coach in 1959. Carroll was replaced by J.D. Martin, another former Jacobs' pupil in 1965, and the Price-Lancaster team were hired in 1998 after Martin's retirement. Lancaster competed for Martin as one of the first women to receive an athletic scholarship at OU.

'The presentation by Dennis Weaver was excellent and really gave people an idea of who John Jacobs was and the kind of coach he was,' Price added. 'With John Jacobs, what you saw was what you got. He was vivid and colorful and was the kind of coach any athlete would love to compete for. It was an honor to be a part of the ceremony recognizing this Sooner legend and it is an honor to be coaching in the program that he built and was so much a part of.'

The induction ceremony capped off a day that saw former Sooner track and field letterwinners invited back for a luncheon and a tour of the renovations that are underway at the John Jacobs Track Facility. It was during that tour that the spirit of John Jacobs became evident once again.

'We all knew about the running joke between Jake and Dan Erwin, one of his shot putters, concerning their love of fishing and their ability as fishermen. When Dan went out to look at the renovations, he happened to look down and, in the midst of all of the dirt that has been moved to re-do the track, there was a huge fish hook, just like the ones that John Jacobs used to use,' Lancaster said. 'We all decided that it was Jake's way of keeping an eye on the project and making sure we do everything right to his facility.'

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Legendary Sooner Track & Field Coach Inducted Into Oklahoma Hall of Fame

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