Legendary Washington Husky track coach Ken Shannon passes away...
In a Facebook post, his son Tim wrote: "Coach Dad has saddled up and taken his last ride into the great beyond. The Shannon family wants to extend our gratitude to all the friends, coaches and former athletes who have taken the time to send condolences and visit Coach Dad the past couple years; it meant the world to him!"
Shannon, originally from Porterville, California, began his track career at Porterville High School as a shot putter, as well as a standout football player, where he was an all-league tackle.
Upon graduating from Porterville in 1956, he lettered in track and football at Porterville JC, before transferring to Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Shannon was an all-conference performer in football and the conference discus champion. He earned his B.S. in physical education in 1959 and did post-graduate work at Cal State-LA.
He started his coaching career at Occidental where he was an assistant football coach from 1960 to 1964, along with serving as freshman track coach from 1961-63. He was voted into the Occidental Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.
After Occidental, Shannon was an assistant coach at UCLA under Hall Of Fame coach Jim Bush, where he coached his first two Olympians, Rick Sloan, who made the 1968 US Olympic team in the decathlon, along with Traugott Gloeckler of West Germany, who threw the shot put. Sloan finished seventh in Mexico City winning two events--the high jump and the pole vault, while Gloecker was 12th in the finals of the shot.
Shannon's 1966 UCLA squad won the 1966 NCAA championships.
Shannon was hired as the head men's track coach in the fall of 1968 by Husky athletic director Joe Kearney. In his early years on Montlake, the Huskies hosted the 1971 NCAA championships, as well as the 1972 AAU championships.
1975 saw the Huskies win the mile relay at the NCAA championships with Billy Hicks, Pablo Franco, Jerry Belur, and Keith Tinner.
In 1976, Shannon's throwers swept the Pac-8 meet at Edwards Stadium on the campus of the University of California, with Russ Vincent winning the shot, Borys Chambul the discus, Scott Neilson the hammer and Rod Ewaliko the javelin.
In his 31 years at Washington, the Husky men had seven top-12 finishes at the NCAA Championships and earned 81 All-American certificates. He guided the Huskies to four top-10 national finishes and produced 39 conference champions, 18 NCAA champions and coached 10 athletes to NCAA record-holder status.
It was his mastery of the field events, and particularly the throws, where Shannon made his legacy at the national and international levels.
Shannon was a javelin assistant on the 1976 US Olympic team, and was on the 1984 US Olympic men's team as the throws coach. He also earned appointments as a coach to several other US national teams, notably the 1979 Pan Am Games, and the 1986 Goodwill Games. In 1994, he was head coach of the U.S. national team for the Pan-African meet in Durham, North Carolina.
He gave up the head coaching position at Washington in 1997, only to return as a volunteer assistant coach, coaching among others, Aretha Hill, who made the 1996 Olympic team in the discus as a UW undergrad, before making three other US Olympic teams as a post-collegian.
He co-wrote a book with Jim Santos called, "Track: The Field Events", which encompassed both the jumping and throwing events
Shannon retired after the 2000 season, and moved with wife Janet to the Methow Valley, before moving back to the west side of the state, spending his final years on Whidbey Island.
He was enshrined into the Occidental College Hall of Fame in 1990 and the University of Washington Hall in 2000.
Services are pending.
This post will be updated.
NOTE: The sports information offices of Washington, UCLA, and Occidental College contributed to this report.
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