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Highly accomplished athlete, coach, meet director, administrator and National Track & Field Hall of Famer Payton Jordan died of cancer Thursday (5) at his home in Laguna Hills, Calif. He was 91.
Born in Whittier, Calif., on March 19, 1917, Jordan was an outstanding athlete at the University of Southern California before becoming a legendary coach at Occidental College and Stanford University as well as a record-setting Masters runner.
At USC, where he was coached by fellow Hall of Famer Dean Cromwell, Jordan excelled in track, rugby and football. On the track, he helped the Trojans win two national collegiate team titles and was a member of a world-record setting 4x110-yard relay team. In addition to his collegiate success on the track, Jordan helped USC beat Duke in the 1939 Rose Bowl. He won the AAU 100m title in 1941, and after World War II and a stint in the Navy he became track coach at Occidental College, turning that small school into a national power.
After 10 years at Occidental, he moved to Stanford in 1957. Over the next 22 years, he took the Cardinal to a second-place NCAA finish in 1963, produced seven Olympic athletes and numerous NCAA champions. Jordan served as the head coach of the 1968 Olympic team in Mexico City after serving as an assistant at the 1964 Olympics.
A successful meet director, Jordan directed two of the greatest track meets ever held on American soil -- the 1960 Olympic Trials and the 1962 USA-USSR dual meet that drew 150,000 fans over two days. Both events took place at Stanford. Known for his prowess as a masters competitor, Jordan set numerous records as a sprinter. He set his last masters world record in the 100-yard dash at the Penn Relays in 1998, at age 80. He posted his final masters world record in the 100 meters in 1997.
A member of the USC, Occidental, Stanford and NAIA halls of fame, among others, Jordan was inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1982. He was awarded the Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award by the U.S. Sports Academy in 1999.
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