The Santa Monica Track Club (also known as SMTC) was formed by Joe Douglas as a post-collegiate track club. By the 1980s, the team came to be a major player in worldwide

Track and Field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

competition, with team members setting numerous World and National records. The membership list reads like a ''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

'' of Olympic athletes and the SMTC logo became a recognizable icon on the uniforms of those elite athletes.

History

In its first year of existence, 1968 Olympian from

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, Willie Rios joined the club and qualified to run in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

. In 1974, member Reid Harter set the firs
American Record
in the road 30 Kilometer run. By 1976, three team members qualified for the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. In 1979, a young

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. Lewis was a dominant sprinter and lo ...

, then known as a top level High School long jumper, joined the club for competitions beyond his collegiate career at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

. Lewis went on to be the dominant force in sprinting and long jump for the next decade. Coached in the off season by his collegiate coach Tom Tellez, other elite sprinters were attracted to the club, including Carol Lewis, Carl's sister and University of Houston teammates Joe DeLoach,

Leroy Burrell Leroy Russel Burrell (born February 21, 1967) is an American former track and field athlete, who twice set the world record for the 100 m sprint. Early life Burrell grew up in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Wood High School ...

and Kirk Baptiste. The club developed an impressive record of Olympic and World Championships, limited in many situations because teammates were the closest competition at the highest level. Lewis and Burrell exchanged the prestigious World Record in the 100 meters four times. Four members of the club, Michael Marsh,

, Floyd Heard and

, representing the Santa Monica Track Club tied the world record in the 4x100 meters relay at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events. Herculis is now part of the Diamond League. Editions World records Over the course of its histo ...

meet in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. The record lasted for four days until it was surpassed by a team representing the USA that consisted of three of the SMTC members, with

Dennis Mitchell Dennis Allen Mitchell (born February 20, 1966) is an American former college and international track and field athlete, who was a member of the gold medal-winning team in the 4 × 100 metres relay race at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Athletics car ...

replacing Heard. The same four members set the World Record in the 4 x 200 meters relay, set at the Mt. SAC Relays in 1994. That record lasted over 20 years until it was surpassed by .05 by a team from Jamaica at the

2014 IAAF World Relays The 2014 IAAF World Relays were held in May 2014 in Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau, the Bahamas, Bahamas. The event was the first edition of the IAAF World Relays. There were five events for each gender. In men's and women's 4 × 100 metres and 4 × 400 ...

. Also Kevin Young's World Record in the 400 meters hurdles set in winning the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

stood until 1 July 2021. The club was elected into the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 2011.

Foundation

The club is funded through the Santa Monica Track Club Foundation, founded by Ed Stotsenberg (who had the personalized license plate SMTC 1), an early Masters runner who joined the club in the mid-1970s and became its president.

Notable members

* Kirk Baptiste - 1 Olympic medal *

- 1 Olympic Gold Medal, 2 World Championship Gold Medals, 2 time World Record holder 100 meter * Cletus Clark * Brian Cooper * Christian Cushing-murray * Joe DeLoach - 1 Olympic Gold Medal * Jean Destine - 1996 Olympian * Mike Durkin * Danny Everett - 1 Olympic Gold Medal, 1 Bronze, 1 World Championship Gold Medal * Gary Fanelli - 1988 Olympic Games Marathon , a member of SMTC,1973 and 1974 * Michelle Finn-Burrell - 1 Olympic Gold Medal *

Johnny Gray John Lee Gray Jr. (born June 19, 1960) is a retired American world-class 800 meter runner from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s and the holder of the 600m world best. A four-time Olympian (1984-1996), in 1985 he set the United States records in t ...

- 1 Olympic medal, former United States record

800 meters The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

*Claudette Groenendaal - 2 time US Champion, Collegiate Record holder 1985-2010 (800 meters) * Todd Harbour * Reid Harter * Floyd Heard *

Mihály Iglói Mihály Iglói (September 5, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was a Hungary, Hungarian distance running coach. Iglói coached runners such as Sándor Iharos, István Rózsavölgyi, László Tábori, Bob Schul and Jim Beatty. Counting both outdoors and in ...

* Bayano Kamani * Felix Kitur *

- 9 Olympic Gold Medals, 1 Silver, 8 World Championship Gold Medals, 3 time World Record holder 100 meters * Carol Lewis - 1 World Championship Bronze medal * Steve Lewis - 3 Olympic Gold Medals, 1 Silver * André Action Jackson * Khadevis Robinson * Lewis Johnson * Earl Jones - 1 Olympic medal * Jerald Jones * Jeff Jirele * George Kersh * David Mack * Mike Marsh- 2 Olympic Gold Medals, 1 Silver, 1 World Championship Gold Medal * Bill McChesney * Prince Mumba * Khevin Pratt *Mark Rafferty * Willie Ríos * LaMont Smith - 1 Olympic Gold medal * Jenny Spangler *

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had the lead role of Elliott Taylor in the film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and rece ...

* Mark Witherspoon * Kevin Young - 1 Olympic Gold Medal, 1 World Championship Gold Medal, former World Record holder 400 meters hurdles

References

External links

Official Santa Monica Track Club website
{{Authority control Running clubs in the United States Track and field clubs in the United States Sports in Santa Monica, California Sports clubs and teams in Los Angeles County, California Clubs and societies in the United States Athletics clubs in the United States Track and field in California 1972 establishments in California Organizations based in Santa Monica, California Sports clubs and teams established in 1972