Weber State University Athletics
Legendary WSU Track Coach Chick Hislop Retiring
11/30/2006 6:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Ogden, Utah - Legendary Weber State Track and Field and Cross Country Head Coach Charles “Chick” Hislop has announced his retirement after 38 years at Weber State University. Hislop will officially end his career at Weber State on December 31, 2006.
Hislop, 70, is the dean of coaching in the Big Sky Conference. This was his 38th season as head coach of the Wildcat men's track and field and cross country teams. His teams have won 21 Big Sky Conference championships. Hislop is the longest tenured coach in Big Sky history in any sport. He has coached the Wildcats in 106 conference championships and over 1,000 total meets.
“It has been a fantastic career for me to be associated with Weber State University and the outstanding individuals that I have worked with as athletes, coaches and administrators,” Hislop said. “I have had so many wonderful memories here and for 38 years my life has been built around Weber State, including family vacations around track meets. I feel I'm leaving the program in good condition, and now is the right time of the year to retire so it won't adversely affect recruiting and the program. I appreciate the work of the Weber State administration over the years, and I will always be a Wildcat and bleed purple.”
Hislop finished his 38th season as cross country coach with a Big Sky Championship this past October. It was his seventh conference championship in cross country. The Wildcats also won the title in 1997, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1977, and 1973. His teams also won the District VII Championships in 1990 and 1991. The 1991 team went on to place fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. His teams have placed in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships nine times.
Hislop has won five Big Sky Indoor Track and Field titles in 2004, 2002, 2001, 1999 and 1979. His Outdoor Track and Field team have won the Big Sky Championship nine times, including capturing the 2006 Championship. WSU has now won seven of the last eight Big Sky Outdoor titles, including five straight titles from 1998-2002.
Hislop has been honored as the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year 20 times during his career in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. He was the National Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1991 and has been named the District VII Coach of the Year three times.
During his 38 years at Weber State, Hislop has coached 26 athletes to All-American honors, 46 times, in cross country, Indoor track and outdoor track. In 1984 Farley Gerber won the NCAA 3,000 meter Steeplechase with a time of 8:19.27, an American Collegiate Record that still stands. In 2001 Charles Clinger won the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the high jump and recorded a mark of 7-08.50, a Weber State and Big Sky Conference record and the best mark in the world that year.
Hislop is one of the foremost authorities in the United States on steeplechase training and technique. That knowledge has sent him around the world as an expert speaker. In the 1984 and 1996 Olympic Games he spoke to the International Coaches Convention about the steeplechase. In the summer of 1996, he served as an Assistant Coach for the United States Men's Track and Field Team at the Atlanta Olympic Games, where he was the primary coach of the USA Long Distance Runners.
He also served on the NCAA Rules Committee for seven years and was the Chair of the Cross Country Championships for four years. In 1985 Hislop served as the Sports Ambassador to Colombia.
Hislop has coached five native Utahns who have broken four minutes in the mile.
Hislop is a native of Ogden and graduated from Ben Lomond High School in 1955. He went on to graduate from Weber Junior College in 1957. While at Weber, Hislop was a Junior College All-American in the two mile run and finished fifth in the National Junior College Championships.
He then attended Utah State University where he earned a B.S. degree in 1959. He was also a runner with the Aggies and placed on several occasions in the old Skyline Conference meets.
Before coming to Weber State he was the head track and field coach at Ben Lomond High School from 1959-1969. He became head coach at Weber State in 1969. He has now been a head track and field coach for 48 years. He earned a Master's Degree from Utah State in 1970.
Hislop was also the head wrestling coach at Weber State from 1973-78, performing that duty along with his duties as track and field and cross country coach.
He and his wife Diane are the parents of five children.
“Chick is a legend in the world of track and field,” said Ann Millner, president of Weber State University. “For nearly four decades he has dedicated himself to preparing our student-athletes for success in athletic competition and life in general. His accomplishments throughout his career speak for themselves. I'm very grateful for Chick's unwavering support and commitment to our student-athletes, Wildcat Athletics and Weber State.”
“Chick Hislop has been the ultimate head coach during his tenure at Weber State University,” said Weber State Athletic Director Jerry Graybeal. “He will go down in history as one of the best track and field coaches in the nation. His teams exemplify what college athletics are all about both on the field of competition and in the classroom. He is a legend that has left a lasting print on Weber State athletics.”
