University of Iowa 1977
Francis Xavier Cretzmeyer, won the Big Ten Medal of Honor in 1936 for combined excellence in sports and classroom. Once enrolled at Iowa, it was all track and field. Lots of it. He regularly long jumped, high jumped, threw the javelin, ran the 120-yard high and 220 low hurdles. He would sprint when the needed. He never won an individual Big Ten title but set school records for points scored in a season (144 1/2) and a career (355) that still stand. His 220 hurdles times twice were near the top in the annual world lists but, he was often low hurdling and long jumping against Ohio State’s great Jesse Owens, world record holder in both events. After two years of coaching preps in Illinois, seven at Des Moines North and one as the Grinnell College track coach, he took over at Iowa in 1948 for 30 years. During those three decades, the Hawkeye’s won more than 60 individual league titles and claimed four National Collegiate meets. Four athletes made U.S. Olympic teams. Cretzmeyer’s prep coaching debut came in Harrisburg, Ill. in 1938. Ten years later, following seven years at Des Moines North High School and one at Grinnell College, he became Hawkeye coach. As Hawkeye coach, he turned out a few great athletes, particularly the distance runners. At the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Wheeler in the 1,500, Rich Ferguson in the 5,000, Deacon Jones in the steeplechase and Ira Murchison in the 100, he held a share of the world record, had all benefited from Cretzmeyer’s coaching. Jones also ran in the 1960 Games. Larry Wieczorek, a six-time Big Ten champion and four-time all-American in distance events, was another special star, along with high jumpers Bill Knoedel and Bill Hansen, middle distance aces Mike Mondane and Bill Frazier and others. Cretz called it quits at age 65, immediately after the conclusion of the 1978 league outdoor meet, the dedication event for the new track named in his honor. Arthritis in the spine had him painfully crippled. Cretzmeyer served as president of the United States Track Coaches Association in 1978.