FROM THE PUBLISHER
ED FOX
END OF AN ERA
Back in the 1950s, the American distance runner Fred Wilt became concerned that the latest ideas on track & field technique and training were coming out of Europe and elsewhere, and he made it his mission to acquaint American coaches with these ideas, like periodization, fartlek, plyometrics, and so on. He suggested to Track & Field News publisher Bert Nelson that T&FN should publish a technical quarterly that he would edit and furnish articles for, and Track Technique was born: first issue September 1960. The first few years contained the ideas of the likes of Arthur Lydiard, Toni Nett, Forbes Carlile, Woldemar Gerschler, Ernst Van Aaken, and other overseas thinkers. But it provided an outlet for researchers at American universities as well, people like Dick Ganslen, biomechanist Jim Hay, John Powell, and many more.
In 1970 or so, I became the periodical’s publisher and, for my sins, I believe I’ve read every article in every issue since then; we changed the name to Track Coach somewhere along the way. Ollan Cassell, USATF’s former head man, agreed in the 80s we could call it “the official technical periodical of USA Track & Field.” That partnership deepened in recent years when we changed to an online publication only and received some financial support from USATF, and we happily included some pages on the governing body’s activities. It’s been a good partnership and a good run, but after 65 years, for many reasons, we felt it was time to call it quits.
So, as we say—the end of an era. Track & Field News used to have a thriving book publishing arm—Tafnews Press. But that pretty much dried up with the advent of the Internet and almost unlimited free content for coaches. We shut that down in 2013 and now it’s time for Track Coach to say goodbye. Finally, a thank you to the editors who followed Fred Wilt: Jed Goldfried, Kevin McGill, Russ Ebbets, and Jason Karp. It’s been a pleasure working with you.
And a big thanks to Teresa Tam for 25 years of putting these issues together and preparing them for publication.
Ed Fox
