USA Track & Field Foundation awards Pitch Johnson Grants to 50 Elite Track & Field Athletes

PITTSBURGH - The USA Track & Field Foundation is pleased to award its final grants of 2020, with 50 Pitch Johnson travel grants.  These grants are funded by the generosity of USATF Foundation Director, Franklin “Pitch” Johnson to honor his late father, also named “Pitch”.  The elder Pitch Johnson was a 110m hurdler and competed in the 1924 Paris Games.  He was also the track & field and cross country coach at Drake and Stanford Universities, the Director of the Drake Relays, and a Founder of the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association.

The Foundation announced that 50 talented athletes will receive $1,500 each as part of a grant travel program that was created last year in 2019 by Pitch.  The grant criteria were expanded beyond travel expenses for 2020 due to the lack of travel opportunities athletes were experiencing in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pitch Johnson, and his family are staples in the world of track & field and the USATF Foundation is grateful for their continued support of these dedicated athletes. “I am pleased to have the opportunity to utilize my 2020 travel grants for promising athletes, who did little travel this year, as financial aid, which is needed by essentially all of them in these times,” stated Pitch Johnson.

The following 50 athletes will receive grant awards in the amount of $1,500 each:

The USA Track & Field Foundation provides a means to attract and guide funds to new and innovative track & field programs with an emphasis on providing opportunities for youth athletes, emerging elite athletes, and distance training centers. The Foundation depends upon donations from its Board of Directors, major gifts and from generous fans of track & field.

Elite athletes are supported by the Foundation via monetary grants and participation in Run With US! (www.runwithus.org). Youth athletes are supported via monetary grants to youth clubs.

For more information, or to contribute to the USA Track & Field Foundation, visit www.usatffoundation.org or contact Tom Jackovic at (412) 398-2484 or tjackovic@usatffoundation.org.