Academy Honoree and Drake Relays Legend Passes
Former Drake Relays Director Bob Ehrhart
Former Drake Relays Director Bob Ehrhart, 75, died of cancer at his West Des Moines home 7 January. The United States Sports Academy presented Ehrhart with a Distinguished Service Award at his home on 3 January for building the Drake Relays into a premier track and field event.
Bob Ehrhart served as the Drake Relays director from 1969-2000. A native of Naperville, Ill., Ehrhart was a high school and college track and field coach for 34 years, which included 31 seasons in the collegiate ranks. The 1954 graduate of Northwestern University guided the track program at his alma mater for nine seasons before going to Drake in 1969.
Under Ehrhart's direction, Drake track and cross country teams won nine Missouri Valley Conference championships, including six indoor track, two cross country and one outdoor track. No other team in the history of the MVC has dominated the league's indoor track and field championships by winning those six team titles in a row.
Ehrhart coached 23 NCAA All-Americans - 12 at Northwestern and 11 at Drake. Among these were 1970 NCAA decathlon champion Rick Wanamaker and standout sprinter Kevin Little, a two-time All-American at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 1989 and 1990.
Ehrhart coached 77 Missouri Valley Conference indoor track and field champions - the most from any coach in the history of MVC indoor track and field. He also coached 43 Missouri Valley Conference individual outdoor track and field champions. Ehrhart coached 30 All-Missouri Valley Conference cross-country performers, including MVC individual cross-country champions: Lynn Lee (1970), Boyd Nansel (1975, 76) and Vern Iwancin (1980, 81).
Ehrhart also served as the director of the prestigious Drake Relays for 31 years. During his leadership, the number of events at the Drake Relays expanded from 49 in his first year to more than 100 events. In addition, the number of college teams and participants more than tripled from 2,763 athletes in 1970 to a record 9,185 entries in 2000. In addition, countless meet records, 14 national collegiate records, 13 American marks and one world record were set during Ehrhart's tenure.
In 2003, Ehrhart was inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame. Ehrhart was also named recipient of the Howard Schmertz Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 by USA Track and Field.
The Distinguished Service Award (DSA) is given annually to those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to national or international sports through instruction, research or service.
The Distinguished Service Award has been presented by the Academy since 1984. Past honorees have included Peter Ueberroth, Frank DeFord, Dean Smith, Bobby Allison, Don Shula, Jimmy Connors, George Brett, Martina Navratilova, Pat Summitt, Eddie Robinson, George Steinbrenner, Mario Lemieux, Bud Selig, Al McGuire, Nancy Lopez, Cal Ripken Jr. and Dot Richardson. For more information visit: http://www.asama.org/awards.
