- History Of Toronto Track

Program History

The University of Toronto has a very rich history, with many students, alumni and coaches representing the University at provincial, national and international competitions, including the Olympics.

The first intercollegiate track and field meet in North America was held on our own front campus in 1865. In 1900, U of T alumnus, George Orton, won an Olympic gold medal, competing for the United States. And in 1908, Ed Archibald and Cal Bricker, also U of T alumni, were Canada's first Olympic medalists: Ed captured a silver medal in the pole vault, and Cal a bronze in the long jump.

We have always had outstanding coaching. From the very beginning our coaches have been successful in helping athletes develop to the best of their capabilities. They are leaders among coaches, open to working with any deserving athlete to seeks their help, whether a U of T student or not. Our history of successful coaching began early in the last century with Hec Philips, who coached a number of Olympians during the '30s and '40s, among them Larry O'Connor (sixth in the 110-m hurdles in Berlin '36).

In the '50s and '60s, under the direction of Hal Brown and Fred Foot, the ideal continued to flourish. Hal coached Ken Money, a medical student, to a fifth place in the high jump in the 196 Melbourne Olympics. Ken later became one of Canada's first astronauts. It was also at these games that Fred, inspired by the great Vladimir Kuts, became determined to help develop a Canadian program for World Class middle distance runners. One of the first participants in the program was Bruce Kidd. Over the next few years, Bruce became the youngest ever world class middle distance runner and notable Varsity student athlete. Bruce won the Commonwealth Games three miles in '62 and was the inspiration throughout the world for a long line of teenage distance stars. Today, Bruce is the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Health, home of our intercollegiate and club programs.

Coach Fred Foot (right) with athletes Bruce Kidd and Bill Crothers.

Soon after, pharmacy student Bill Crothers became on of the best 880yd/800m runners in the world, winning invitational races on every continent and culminating with a 1964 Olympic silver medal. In 1965, Bill was the number one ranked 800 meter runner in the world. In 1967, Dave Bailey (also a pharmacy student) became the first Canadian to run one mile in less than four minutes - 3:57.6 on the cinder track at Varsity Stadium.

Bill Crothers (#18) chasing down World Champion Peter Snell at the last lap of an 880yd race at Varsity Stadium in June 1965. Crothers would win the race.

In 1971, U of T formalized its coaching outreach program and hired Andy Higgins as its first full-time track and field coach. At the same time, the University of Toronto Track Club (UTTC) ) to provide high performance coaching, training, and competition beyond the university situation to athletes not already affiliated with a club. An additional aim was to make the university's resources, coaching, Varsity Stadium's track and field facilities and locker rooms) available to the greater track and field community.

Initially, the core of the UTTC was made up of East York Track Club who had trained with Fred Foot and Andy at the East York facility. Andy and Fred simply transferred their successful program and philosophy from East York to U of T, offering quality coaching to talented young people of high school age or older. By 1974, UTTC was the predominant club in Canada and since then, has been ranked the number one club in Canada on numerous occasions and has had an unparalleled record of developing national champions, record holders and Olympians.

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Dave Steen won the bronze medal in the decathlon. In addition to Steen, nine other U of T athletes - Steve Feraday, Ray Lazdins, George Wright, Milt Otty, Paul Just, Paul Osland, Paul Williams, Carl Folkes and Michael Smith - represented Canada. The Canadian coaching staff included four U of T coaches: Andy Higgins, Carl Georgevski, Bogdan Proprawski and Bruce Smith.

In 1989, decathlete, Michael Smith, won gold in Casablanca, at the Francophone Games, gold in the Commonwealth Games, and gold in Goetzis in '90, and a silver medal in the World Championships in Tokyo in '91.

Michael Smith, Steve Feraday, Ray Lazdins, Alex Zaliauskas, Catherine Bond-Mills and Brendan Matthias along with coaches Carl Georgevski, Bogdan Poprawski and Andy Higgins were at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.