HARRY GROVES
Former World Championships and Penn State men's track and field coach Harry Groves died Feb. 23 at age 89. Groves was the head coach of Team USATF's men at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, and at the 1989 IAAF World Cup in Barcelona. He also served as an assistant Olympic coach in 1992 and on numerous international staffs for USA Track & Field and TAC.
Groves was Penn State's head men's coach for 38 years, retiring in 2006, and he coached for more than 50 years. After a career as a middle-distance runner at Temple University, he was hired by William & Mary as an assistant coach in 1955, moving up to direct the program the next year. In 1968 he took over the reins at Penn State, where he won countless national, regional and conference honors on the way to being selected to the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in 2001. He coached 11 American record holders, 21 national champions, 14 Olympians and 227 All-Americans during his illustrious career, and guided 22 teams to the NCAA cross country national championships.
He served in the past as men's LDR development chair for USATF and was vice chair of the men's track and field committee. Groves also served as chair of the Juniors committee and was a member of the team that selected Olympic Trials sites in 1992 and 2000. President of the collegiate track coaches association from 1974-75, Groves also helped direct seven NCAA indoor championship meets and was a member of the NCAA Track & Field Rules Committee.
Groves was elected to the Drake Relays Hall of Fame, as well as the William & Mary Hall of Fame and the Virginia Intercollegiate Track & Field Hall of Fame.
DICK BANK Dick Bank, best known for his passionate TV call of Billy Mills’ 10,000m win at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, died Feb. 23 in Los Angeles, California, at age 90. Bank, who was an adidas sales representative for many years, was also one of the top track and field statisticians and announcers of his era and served as an editor of Track & Field News magazine. Outside of the track world, Bank was known as a jazz music producer. Hired as an analyst by NBC for the Tokyo track events, Bank was assisting lead announcer Bud Palmer during the 10,000m when he noticed that Mills was likely to win the race. Palmer had apparently lost sight of Mills in the crowd at the front of the pack, and Bank shouted “Look at Mills! Look at Mills!” as the American surged to a historic victory.