Jess Mortensen

Jesse "Jess" Philo Mortensen (April 16, 1907 in Thatcher, Arizona – February 19, 1962) was a NCAA champion track athlete and coach. Mortensen is one of only three men to win Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship team titles as both an athlete and coach.

Biography

Mortensen enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC) in 1928. While at USC, he won eight varsity letters, three each in basketball and track and field and two in football.^[1] In basketball, he was selected as an All-Pacific Coast Conference player in 1928 and 1930. In football, he played at the left halfback position and was a member of the 1929 USC Trojans football team that defeated Pittsburgh in the 1930 Rose Bowl.^[1] In track and field, Mortensen was captain of the 1930 NCAA championship track team. He won the 1929 NCAA javelin title and set a world record in the decathlon in 1931.

After graduating from USC, Mortensen held coaching positions at Riverside Junior College, with the United States Navy during World War II, and after the war at the University of Denver and the United States Military Academy.^[2] He returned to become coach of the USC track and field team in 1951. He led the USC Trojans to seven NCAA titles in his 11 years as coach (1951–1961). His teams never lost a dual meet (64-0) and never finished worse than second in the conference meet. He was an assistant U.S. men's track coach in the 1956 Olympics. He also served as an assistant football coach at USC from 1951 to 1955. He coached track at the University of Denver and the United States Military Academy.

Mortensen is a member of the University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame, the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

References

1 2 1962 "El Rodeo" (USC yearbook) page 256.
↑ 1962 "El Rodeo", page 257.

External links

Track and Field Hall of Fame bio and photo

USC Trojans head track and field coaches

No coach (1900–1903)
Win Cutter (1904)
Harvey Holmes (1905–1908)
Dean Cromwell (1909–1913)
Boyd Comstock (1914)
Ralph Glaze (1915)
Dean Cromwell (1916–1948)
Jess Hill (1949–1950)
Jess Mortensen (1951–1962)
Jess Hill # (1962)
Vern Wolfe (1963–1984)
Ernie Bullard (1985–1990)
Jim Bush (1991–1994)
Ron Allice (1995–2013)
Carol Smith Gilbert (2014– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

US National Championship winners in men's decathlon

1915–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1915: Alma Richards 1916–19: not held 1920: Brutus Hamilton 1921: Dan Shea 1922: Harrison Thompson 1923: Harold Osborn 1924: Tony Plansky 1925–26: Harold Osborn 1927: Fait Elkins 1928–29: Ken Doherty 1930: Wilson Charles 1931: Jess Mortensen 1932: James Bausch 1933: Barney Berlinger 1934–35: Bob Clark 1936: Glenn Morris 1937: not held 1938–39: Joe Scott 1940: Bill Watson 1941: John Borican 1942: Bill Terwilliger 1943: Bill Watson 1944: Irv Mondschein 1945: Charles Beaudry 1946–47: Irv Mondschein 1948–50: Bob Mathias 1951: Bob Richards 1952: Bob Mathias 1953: Milt Campbell 1954–55: Bob Richards 1956: Rafer Johnson 1957: Charles Pratt 1958: Rafer Johnson 1959: C.K. Yang (TPE) * David Edstrom 1960: Rafer Johnson 1961: Paul Herman 1962: C.K. Yang (TPE) * Paul Herman 1963: Steve Pauly 1964: C.K. Yang (TPE) * Paul Herman 1965–69: Bill Toomey 1970: John Warkentin 1971: Rick Wanamaker 1972–73: Jeff Bennett 1974: Bruce Jenner 1975: Fred Samara 1976: Bruce Jenner 1977: Fred Dixon 1978: Mike Hill 1979: Bobby Coffman

1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Bob Coffman 1981–82: John Crist 1983: Mark Anderson 1984: John Crist 1985: John Sayre 1986: Dave Johnson 1987: Tim Bright 1988: Gary Kinder 1989–90: Dave Johnson 1991: Dan O'Brien 1992: Dave Johnson

1993-onwards USA Track & Field	1993–96: Dan O'Brien 1997: Steve Fritz 1998–99: Chris Huffins 2000: Tom Pappas 2001: Kip Janvrin 2002–03: Tom Pappas 2004–05: Bryan Clay 2006–07: Tom Pappas 2008: Bryan Clay 2009: Trey Hardee 2010: Jake Arnold 2011–13: Ashton Eaton 2014–15: Trey Hardee

Notes	The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.

US National Championship winners in men's javelin throw

1909–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1909: Ralph Rose 1910: Bruno Brodd 1911: Ollie Snedigar 1912: Harry Lott 1913: Bruno Brodd 1914–19: George Bronder 1920–21: Milton Angier 1922: Flint Hanner 1923: Harry Hoffman 1924: John Leyden 1925: Zeke Bonura 1926: John Kuck 1927: Charles Harlow 1928: Creth Hines 1929: Jess Mortensen 1930–31: James DeMers 1932: Malcolm Metcalf^Note 1933: Lee Bartlett 1934: Ralston LeGore 1935: Horace Odell 1936: John Mottram 1937: William Reitz 1938: Nick Vukmanic 1939–42: Boyd Brown 1943–44: Martin Biles 1945: Earl Marshall 1946: Garland Adair 1947–48: Steve Seymour 1949: Bud Held 1950: Steve Seymour 1951: Bud Held 1952: Bill Miller 1953–55: Bud Held 1956: Cy Young 1957: Bob Voiles 1958: Bud Held 1959–60: Al Cantello 1961: John Fromm 1962: Dan Studney 1963: Larry Stuart 1964: Frank Covelli 1965: Bill Floerke 1966: John Tushaus 1967: Delmon McNabb 1968: Frank Covelli 1969: Mark Murro 1970–71: Bill Skinner 1972: Fred Luke 1973: Cary Feldmann 1974: Sam Colson 1975: Richard George 1976: Fred Luke 1977: Bruce Kennedy 1978: Bill Schmidt 1979: Duncan Atwood

1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Duncan Atwood 1981: Bruce Kennedy 1982: Bob Roggy 1983: Rod Ewaliko 1984: Curt Ransford 1985–86: Tom Petranoff 1987: Duncan Atwood 1988: Dave Stephens 1989: Mike Barnett 1990: Vince Labosky 1991: Mike Barnett 1992: Tom Pukstys

1993–onwards USA Track & Field	1993: Tom Pukstys 1994: Todd Riech 1995: Tom Pukstys 1996: Todd Riech 1997–99: Tom Pukstys 2000–07: Breaux Greer 2008: Bobby Smith 2009: Chris Hill 2010: Sean Furey 2011: Mike Hazle 2012: Sam Humphreys 2013: Riley Dolezal 2014–15: Sean Furey

Olympic Trials	The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.

Notes	Ken Churchill had the longest throw in the 1932 competition (which doubled as the Olympic Trials), ahead of Malcolm Metcalf. However, Churchill qualified for the final only due to a late rule change by the U.S. Olympic Committee, allowing eight rather than five finalists. As this rule change applied only to the Olympic Trials, Churchill is considered to have won at the Trials and Metcalf at the national championships, even though they were the same meet.

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