James Stanley Bush (September 15, 1926 – July 10, 2017) was a

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

coach. He was known primarily for his coaching tenure at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

from 1964 to 1984. During that time, his teams won five

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate outdoor track and field competitions for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for athletes from institutions that make up ...

s (1966, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1978 (tied with

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

) and he coached 30 Olympians. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he grew up in Bakersfield, California, a 1947 graduate of Kern County Union High School. He went to

Bakersfield College Bakersfield College (BC) is a public community college in Bakersfield, California. BC serves about 22,000 students each semester or 31,000 annually, and offers Associate degrees, certificate programs, and is one of fifteen California Community ...

for a year, then on to the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...

, where he ran the

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and

high hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

, graduating in 1951. Bush coached over a span of 43 years. He began at Berkeley High School in 1952 right out of college down the street. After a year, he was hired at

Fullerton Union High School Fullerton Union High School is a public high school located in the Orange County, California city of Fullerton, operated by the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. History In 1893 a special election was held to create Fullerton Union Hig ...

where he coached until 1959, when he moved down the street and up the ladder to

Fullerton College Fullerton College (FC) is a public community college in Fullerton, California. The college is part of the California Community Colleges System and the North Orange County Community College District. Established in 1913, it is the oldest commu ...

where he turned the program from worst to first in its conference. His second year, his team won the Southern California and

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title. In 1962, he was hired at

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

where he beat UCLA three years in a row. When UCLA's legendary coach Ducky Drake retired, Bush was recruited to be his replacement. In addition to the collegiate athletes, he worked with other individual athletes after leaving UCLA. He also was a speed advisor to Los Angeles professional teams including the

Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

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and

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. His work with Raiders and their star

Marcus Allen Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and shor ...

earned him a

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) its ...

. He also has a World Series ring with the LA Dodgers baseball team and an NBA championship ring with the LA Lakers basketball team. He narrowly missed a National Hockey League ring with the LA Kings when they placed second place. In 1991, he returned to collegiate coaching at crosstown rival

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

until he retired in 1994. Among the athletes he coached in that time were

Wayne Collett Wayne Curtis Collett (October 20, 1949 – March 17, 2010) was an African-American Olympic sprinter. Collett won a silver medal in the 400 m at the 1972 Summer Olympics. During the medal ceremony Collett and winner Vincent Matthews talked to eac ...

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, Benny Brown, Greg Foster,

Willie Banks William Augustus Banks III (born March 11, 1956) is an American athlete. Born at Travis Air Force Base, California, he grew up in San Diego County and went to Oceanside High School. Banks is an Eagle Scout. Track and Field Banks was a track & ...

, John Brenner,

Andre Phillips André Lamar Phillips (born September 5, 1959) is a retired American track and field athlete who is best known for winning the 400 metres hurdles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. Phillips spent most of his career in the shadow of his idol ...

, David O. Carter,

Arnd Krüger Arnd Krüger (born July 1, 1944) is a German professor of sport studies. Krüger earned his BA (English major) from UCLA in 1967 and his PhD from the University of Cologne (Modern and Medieval History) in Germany in 1971. He attended UCLA on ...

, Roger Johnson,

Bob Day Robert John Day (born 5 July 1952) is an Australian former politician and businessman who was a Senator for South Australia from 1 July 2014 to 1 November 2016. He is a former federal chairman of the Family First Party. Before entering po ...

, and

Quincy Watts Quincy D. Watts (born June 19, 1970) is an American former athlete, and two time gold medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Career Born in Detroit, Michigan, Quincy Watts attended the University of Southern California (USC) where he excelled a ...

. He famously kicked then world record holder

Dwight Stones Dwight Edwin Stones (born December 6, 1953) is an American television commentator and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist and former three-time world record holder in the men's high jump. During his 16-year career, he won 19 national championshi ...

off of his team when Stones wanted to limit his participation to three meets. He was the head coach of the United States team at the

1979 Pan American Games The 1979 Pan American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Panamericanos de 1979''), officially the VIII Pan American Games were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, and were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to July 15 ...

. He was elected into the TAC (now called the

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

)

in 1987. He is also a member of the Fullerton High School, Fullerton College,

Kern County Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield. Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California, Metropolitan statistical area. The county ...

, Bakersfield College, Occidental College, UCLA, Mt. SAC Relays and the United States Track Coaches Association Halls of Fame (an organization he was previously president of). The Southern California Association USATF Championship meet is named in his honor, as is the championship award for the

110 metre hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten h ...

at that meet. Bush died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

in Culver City, California on July 10, 2017, at the age of 90.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Jim 1926 births 2017 deaths American track and field coaches Cal State Fullerton Titans track and field coaches Occidental Tigers track and field coaches UCLA Bruins track and field coaches USC Trojans track and field coaches University of California, Berkeley alumni Sportspeople from Cleveland Sports coaches from California Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in California Track and field people from California