Dick was born on October 23, 1950, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, graduating in 1969, participating in football, wrestling, and golf while in high school. He graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a Bachelors Degree in Biology and Physical Education in 1973 participating in football, track & field and golf at Coe. Dick’s future in Track & Field was soon set when Coe’s Track & Field Coach asked Dick to Meet Manage Coe’s home Indoor and Outdoor Meets as well as the areas High School events competing at Coe’s Indoor Facility. He began his coaching and teaching career at Gilmore City-Bradgate Community Schools teaching Physical Education and Science plus coaching Football, Basketball, and Track & Field. Moved to Ft Dodge in 1974 teaching Life Science and coaching Football and Wrestling, officiating and a volunteer Track & Field coach. After 4 successful years of coaching and teaching in Ft Dodge he and his family moved to Muscatine. Dick has coached Track & Field for 31 years winning conference titles and many runner-up finishes. He has coached sixty-six individual and relay conference champions, fifty-nine conference runners-up, fourteen State champions, eleven state runners-up, Forty-eight state place-winners and seven Drake Relays Champions. Dick coached Cross Country for 17 years. His teams have finished as the conference runner-ups three times, won two Fresh-Sophomore Conference titles and two runners-up teams. He coached 4 state qualifying teams, 22 individual runners placing in the top ten at the Mississippi Athletic Conference meet and 25 state qualifiers. He has been selected IATC Regional Coach of the Year five times in Cross Country and Track & Field. In addition to coaching Track and Cross Country, Dick was also a very successful coach in Football (45 – 8 Record) and Wrestling (56 – 4 – 2 Record). In 1972 he was an assistant football coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson when Jefferson won the first official State Football play-off title. Dick contributions to the Iowa Association of Track Coaches, Track & Field and Cross Country are numerous. He has served as 1st & 2nd Vice-President, and President of the IATC, and has been the Web-editor for the IATC website since its inception. He has developed the IATC website into one the most used track & field sites in the country. He is the co-founder of the Senior All-Star Spotlight Track & Field Meet and the founder of the Statewide Middle School Cross Country Meet (In 2008 the meet name was changes to the “Washburn Classic” by the IATC to Honor the events founder). Dick is also the founder and meet director for the Senior All-Star Spotlight Cross Country Meet. He has organized and hosted IATC Mini-Clinics in Track & Field, is a Level II USAT&F Certified Coach and a USAT&F Level I Lead Instructor. Dick has spoken at many clinics and workshops including being the first Iowa High School presenter at the Championship Books Iowa Track & Field Clinic. He had served as the Head Referee at the AAU National Track & Field Meet for the Multi-Events. Dick has been a throws official for two USATF National Championship Events. He has worked as a meet official for Five NCAA Division 1 National Cross Country & Track and Field meets, Four Division III National meets, six NCAA Division 1 Regional, and 2 NAIA Regional Meets. Served as the Head High Jump, Head Throws Official, Head Clerk, Referee and assitant Multi-events Judge for the University of Iowa and the Big Ten. He is an organizing member of the National Senate of High School Track Coaches Association. Served on the IGHSAU Track & Field Advisory Board and as the Track & Field Commissioner for the Iowa Games for six years. He wis the Chairman and developer of the IATC Individual rankings and served as the Multi-Event Head Referee for the first National Special Olympics in Ames the summer of 2006. He is currently officiating on the college level, Drake Relays, and helped coach for St. Ambrose University in the jumps for two years coaching four Conference Champions and two National Meet qualifiers. These are but a few of the many contributions Dick has made to the IATC and Track & Field in general. Dick has been selected as the Tandy Corporation Regional Teacher of the Year and the Muscatine Country Educator of the Year. He has received six National & Regional Sertoma International Awards and three Regional Optimist Club Awards. He married Rosemary in 1974 and they are the proud parents of a daughter Meghan (Mrs. Jason Hutchinson), a son Alex and his wife Tasha and three grand-sons, Matthew, Brody and Reed.
Richard “Wash” Washburn
