50th anniversary of first Big Sky meet for Chick Hislop

50 years ago in 1970, Richard Nixon was in the White House, the United States was in the Vietnam War and a gallon of gas was 36 cents.

And also in 1970, a young coach led his Wildcat track and field team into the Big Sky Outdoor Championships in Ogden. That meet was the first of more than 100 conference meets for Charles "Chick" Hislop as the head coach at Weber State and was the start of a Hall of Fame career for the Ogden native, who would go on to coach longer than any coach in any sport in Big Sky Conference history.

Hislop's first conference championship in 1970 was held at Stewart Stadium in Ogden, the same site where the Wildcat track and field teams now compete on the Chick Hislop track.

Weber State was scheduled to host the 2020 Big Sky Outdoor Championships this week before the cancelation of spring sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. WSU will host the 2021 championships.

Hear Hislop's memories of that first championship as well as how he came to Weber State and much more on his legendary career in the latest 'Cat Tales podcast.

While the Wildcats didn't win the 1970 outdoor title, the meet was the start of an amazing career for Hislop as head coach at Weber State. Over the next 38 years, he led the Wildcats to 21 Big Sky Championships and coached several national champions and multiple All-Americans.

"It almost seems like it was yesterday, it doesn't seem like 50 years," Hislop said. "That team was made up of about half of football and basketball players and the other half were track athletes. We finished third and didn't score any points in any distance events."

The stars of that 1970 Wildcat team were Randy Montgomery, a Wildcat football player, and Willie Sojourner, a legendary Weber State basketball player. Montgomery won the conference title in the 220-yards with a conference record time, and won the triple jump. Sojourner won the title in the high jump with a mark of 7-00.50, which was a conference record at the time.

Hislop attended Ben Lomond High School and then ran track at Weber Junior College and Utah State. He started his coaching career at Ben Lomand where he coached for 10 years before going to Weber State.

"When I was applying for the job people told me it was a dead-end job," Hislop said. "And I guess they were right. It was a dead-end job because I stayed there for 38 years."

The success wasn't immediate for Hislop but he ended up leading the Wildcats to nine outdoor track and field titles, seven cross country titles and five indoor track and field titles.

He coached numerous All-Americans and coached Farley Gerber and Charles Clinger to individual NCAA Championships and has impacted countless student-athletes.

While coaching track, Hislop also spent five years in the 1970's as the head coach of the wrestling program at Weber State.

He is a member of the Weber State Athletics Hall of Fame, the Utah Sports Hall of Fame and the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He also served as an assistant coach with the United States men's team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"It was a great 38 years for me," Hislop said. "I've been so grateful to be around great administration, coaches and fans at Weber State. What a pleasure it has been in my life to work in the atmosphere and with the people I have and I've certainly been given much from the Weber State community."

Weber State University Athletics

50th anniversary of first Big Sky meet for Chick Hislop

Related News

Related Videos