Dec. 3, 2002

Former Samford head track and field coach Bill McClure is one of five coaches who will be inducted into the United States Track Coaches Hall of Fame on Saturday, Dec. 7, in Kansas City, Mo., in conjunction with the U.S. Track Coaches annual convention. The Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the sport in the U.S.

McClure coached at Samford from 1986 until his retirement in 1996, coming to the Bulldogs after a storied career at Abilene Christian University (Texas), the University of South Carolina, and LSU. McClure coached a total of 145 United States Track and Field Federation (USTFF) and NCAA All-Americans, and achieved the unusual feat of mentoring All-Americans in every event on the track and field schedule. While at Samford, where he served as Track and Field Coach and Associate AD, his teams won one women's conference cross-country championship, two second places in the men's TAAC conference championships in 1994 and 1995, and produced seven Academic All-Americans.

Teams and individual athletes that McClure was associated with have held world records in the 100 yd dash, the 220 yd dash, the 440 yd relay twice, the 880 yd relay twice, the mile relay, and the pole vault indoors. While at Abilene Christian, his teams won 22 major titles at the Texas, Kansas, Drake, Modesto and Penn Relays, seven conference championships in eight years in both track and cross-country. As an assistant and head coach he helped produce three U.S. Olympians: sprinter Bobby Morrow, who won three gold medals in the 1956 Melbourne Games, quarter-miler Earl Young, who won a gold medal in the mile relay (1960 Rome), and pole vaulter Billy Pemelton (1964 Tokyo). In 1972, McClure was chosen to serve as an assistant coach in charge of the jumping events on the 1972 United States Olympic Team that competed in Munich, Germany. McClure is a 1991 inductee into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame.

Now retired and living in Baton Rouge, McClure was an influential figure in national track and field circles for many years. He served as Chairman and Secretary of the NCAA Men's and Women's Track and Field Rules Committee, was President of the US Track and Field Federation, President of the Southern Association of The Athletics Congress, a member of the United States Olympic Track and Field Committee, a member of the NCAA Indoor Championship Games Committee for many years, and a consultant for the US State Department in Track and Field on goodwill trips to Mexico and Africa.