Coach Joe Vigil Honored with Bronze Statue at Adams State
Tribute and unveiling recognizes his contribution and legacy to the college and the sport
Posted Monday, 15 November, 2010
From Ryan Lamppa, Running USAALAMOSA, Colo. - (November 13, 2010) - Renowned distance running coach
Joe Vigil was honored at his alma mater
Adams State College, where he coached and taught for nearly three decades, with an unveiling of a life-sized bronze statue of him on Saturday. Friday night on campus, there was a tribute dinner with a video montage and speakers including his most accomplished athlete
Deena Kastor and author of "Born to Run"
Christopher McDougall.
At the ceremony, Coach Vigil said, "They usually dedicate bronze statues to dead people, but I'm not done yet. I have more to learn and a lot to do. If you make one person's life better in your lifetime, then you've had a great life."
Kastor aptly and heartfeltly acknowledged the occasion, "On behalf of the 300-plus people who are here, we can go home with the peace that we have celebrated a great man who has left such a footprint on our hearts and our lives. We walk away with a sense of obligation to teach and touch lives in the way that Coach Vigil has done all his life."
For 28 years (1965-1993), he was the Head Track & Field Coach at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. His winning record at Adams State was nearly 95% with 3,014 wins and only 176 losses. His teams won 12 NAIA Cross Country Championships and at the 1992 NCAA Division II National Championship, his cross country team swept the top places for an unprecedented perfect score of 15 points. Overall, his teams won 19 national championships and he garnered 14 National Coach of the Year honors and produced 425 All-Americans and 89 national champions.
Considered one of the top clinicians in the world, the former Adams State and Team Running USA coach has developed many top distance runners including the 2004 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor and U.S. Olympian and multi-national cross country champion Pat Porter.
In 2001, he and former UCLA coach Bob Larsen took the reins of Team Running USA, an athlete development program, which included their charges Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi who later won 2004 Olympic Marathon medals - bronze and silver respectively - at Athens, Greece. Team Running USA's success helped jump-start the ongoing U.S. distance running resurgence.
Coach Vigil, 80, who also holds a PhD degree, is a member of 11 separate halls of fame including the NAIA Hall of Fame, Running USA's Hall of Champions, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and the Lasse Viren Foundation among other lifetime honors. In 2005, he received the USOC's "Doc" Counsilman Award, which recognizes coaches who incorporate science as a part of their training methods.
Affectionately known as "Coach", he has also been selected to 18 international coaching staffs including the Olympic Games (twice), World Cross Country Championships, World Track & Field Championships and Pan Am Games.
