2016: Dick Coxe, 95, Coached Many Champions

There was not a track and field event in which Dick Coxe did not have expertise, but he probably preferred the grueling discipline of cross country.

Friends and former athletes will honor Coxe with their recollections of the demanding, straight-shooting and compassionate mentor in a celebration of his life on Sept. 18 from 1-4 p.m. in the Captain’s Room of Marina Village, 1936 Quivera Way, San Diego, 92109.

Coxe, who recently passed  at age 95, coached 30 years at area high schools Mar Vista, Sweetwater, and Lincoln, and at San Diego Junior College and Mesa College

“He had champions in events ranging from distance, jumps, relays, weights and sprints (as a college volunteer assistant at Hoover in 1952, Coxe even coached pole vaulters),” remembered Mesa distance runner Rich Cota.

“Dick Coxe was organized, structured, and focused,” said Cota.  “He took great pride in having well-rounded dual meet teams. To him, this proved your coaching ability.  Plus, there was a winner and a loser.”

Mesa's first-year championship track squad. Front row, from left: Raymond Dixon, Pete Folger, Bob Oliver, Jerry Crites, Jimmy Fox, Doug Wright, Harold Moore, Ronald Ivory. Middle row, from left: Bob Hose, Dennis Christian, Dave Roman, Bill Trujillo, Rudy Knepper, Larry Rinder, George Watson, Frank Valenti, Jim Eddington. Top row, from left: Rex Ellis, Steve Lees, Bob Odom, Bob Millar, Howard Butler, unidentified, Ken Krause, Coxe.
Mesa’s first-year, 1965 championship track squad. Front row, from left: Raymond Dixon, Pete Folger, Bob Oliver, Jerry Crites, Jimmy Fox, Doug Wright, Harold Moore, Ronald Ivory. Middle row, from left: Bob Hose, Dennis Christian, Dave Roman, Bill Trujillo, Rudy Knepper, Larry Rinder, George Watson, Frank Valenti, Jim Eddington. Top row, from left: Rex Ellis, Steve Lees, Bob Odom, Bob Millar, Howard Butler, unidentified, Ken Krause, Coxe.

The graduate of Hoover High and San Diego State developed, among dozens of others, 1972 Olympic long jump bronze medalist and 1976 Olympic gold medalist Arnie Robinson at Mesa, where Coxe’s  teams produced 15 state and 4 national community college champions from 1964-65 through 1981-82.

His first-year programs in 1964-65 at the school on Kearny Mesa won the Pacific Southwest Conference and state cross country championships in the fall and the conference track championship the following spring.

“I know I’m biased,” Cota said, “but I believe Coach Coxe thought his greatest accomplishment was winning the state cross-country title in ‘sixty-four, our first year.”

Included among Coxe’s  standouts were Bob Hose, who set an American community college record of 1:48.3 in the 880; Wesley Williams, and James King, who went on to become world-ranked 440-yard intermediate hurdlers.

Williams, who won the state 300 intermediate hurdles championship in 1967,  claimed  the National AAU indoor 600-yard title in 1974 and ’75 and King was the Pan American games winner in 1975.

Williams anchored the state mile relay championship quartet in 1968.  King was leadoff man in 1968 and the first runner on the title-winning 1969 foursome.

Bill Trujillo was a state individual champion in 1964 and

Coxe was an active observer at Mesa during retirement.
Coxe was an active supporter of Mesa programs in retirement.

Mesa’s mile relay squad of Bill Millar, Jay Elbel, Wes Williams, and Harold Moore set a national community college indoor record of 3:20.9 in the inaugural 1966 San Diego Indoor Games.

A scholarship in Coxe’s name is being established at Mesa College, c/o Simone Sherrard, 7250 Mesa College Drive, San Diego, 92111.