Princeton University Athletics
Larry Ellis: Bressler Award
March 31, 2000 | General
Bressler Award
Awarded to that member of the Princeton family who, through heartfelt support of the University's student-athletes and coaches, best embodies a belief in the lifelong lessons taught by competition and athletics as a complement to the overall educational mission. Awarded in the spirit of Marvin Bressler, professor of sociology, 1963-94.
Larry Ellis
Fred Samara, who has coached more than a thousand young men as track and field coach at Princeton, knows a thing or two about being a father-figure. When he says, "He was like a second father to me," it must be about someone special.
Samara said those words last November to remember Larry Ellis, who died Nov. 4 at his home in Skillman. With his passing, Princeton lost one of the most revered and respected teachers the Athletic Department has known.
Ellis, 70, coached a generation of Princeton athletes and the 1984 U.S. men's Olympic track and field team. In 1970 he became the first African-American head coach in the league, and he retired in 1992 after leading the men's track and field and cross country teams to a host of titles.
Under his direction the Tigers won eight of nine Heptagonal cross country championships from 1975 to 1983. He also guided the track and field teams to four indoor Heps titles and seven outdoor titles from 1981 to 1990.
Beyond Princeton, Ellis guided the 1984 Olympic team that included Carl Lewis, who won four gold medals at the Games in Los Angeles. He coached U.S. men's teams at four other international meets and served as president of USA Track and Field from 1992 to 1996.
Ellis was a middle-distance runner at New York University, from which he graduated in 1951. He was the high school coach of Bob Beamon, who at the 1968 Olympics stunned the world with his record-smashing long jump of 29 feet 2 1/2 inches.
Upon his retirement in 1992, Ellis said it was the day-to-day contact with athletes that he would miss the most.
"It's kind of a two-way street," he said. "You give an awful lot of yourself, but on the other hand, you get an awful lot back."