News from
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Office of Communications
Stanhope Hall
Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264Contact: Mary Caffrey (609) 258-5748
Date: November 6, 1998
Funeral Service Set for Larry Ellis, Retired Track and Field Coach at Princeton
Princeton, N.J. -- A funeral service for Larry Ellis, who coached a generation of Princeton track athletes and the 1984 U.S. Men's Olympic Track & Field team, has been scheduled for Sunday, November 8 at 2 p.m. in the Princeton University Chapel. Calling hours will be immediately prior to the service at 1 p.m. Ellis will be buried Monday in Flushing, N.Y.
Ellis, 70, died suddenly Wednesday at his home in Skillman. In 1970, he became the first African-American head coach in the Ivy League, and he retired in 1992 after coaching the men's track and field and cross country teams to a string of championships. Under his direction, the Princeton Tigers won eight of nine Haptagonal Cross Country Championships between 1975 and 1983. He also guided the indoor track squad to four Heptagonal indoor titles. His teams won seven outdoor titles between 1981 and 1990. He received Coach of the Year honors for 1981-82.
Beyond Princeton, Ellis was a force in track at the national and international level. Ellis guided the 1984 Olympic team that included Carl Lewis, who won four gold medals at the games in Los Angeles. He coached U.S. men's teams at four other international meets, including a team that beat the Soviet Union in a memorable dual meet in 1978. After his retirement from Princeton, Ellis service as president of U.S.A. Track and Field from 1992 to 1996.
Ellis' death came less than a week after he had accompanied the Princeton men's cross country team to Van Cortlandt Park in New York City, where the team won its second consecutive Heptagonal Cross Country championship. He maintained a close relationship with the current Princeton men's track and field coach, Fred Samara, who told The Times of Trenton that Ellis, "was really a mentor to me. He was really like a second father."
Ellis was a middle distance runner at New York University, where he graduated in 1951. He was the high school coach of Bob Beamon, who at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City stunned the world with his record-smashing long jump of 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
Many who knew Ellis described his warmth and his commitment to the young people he coached. Upon his retirement in 1992, Ellis said it was the day-to-day contact with athletes that he would miss the most. "It's kind of a two-way street. You give an awful lot of yourself, but on the other hand, you get a lot back in return."
Ellis is survived his wife, Shirley; three daughters, Lesley Smalls, Robin Williams and Joanne Glenn, and a son, Lawrence. Kimble Funeral Home in Princeton is handling arrangements.