Born March 19, 1917, Whittier, Calif.

Enthusiasm was always a trademark of Payton Jordan and it was probably an element that accounted for his extraordinary success as a track sprinter and coach. He capped a distinguished career as the head coach of the 1968 Olympic team in Mexico City after serving as an assistant at the 1964 Olympics.

A graduate of the University of Southern California where he was coached by fellow Hall of Famer Dean Cromwell, Jordan excelled in track, rugby and football. On the track, he helped the Trojans win two national collegiate team titles and was a member of a world-record setting 4 x 110-yard relay team. He won the AAU 100-meters title in 1941 and after World War II became track coach at Occidental College, turning turning that small school into a national power. He moved to Stanford in 1957 and developed four Olympians and several other world class athletes. Jordan also was a successful meet director and directed two of the greatest track meets ever held on American soil -- the 1960 Olympic Trials and the 1962 USA-USSR dual meet, both at Stanford. He continued to run in his later years and was very successful in Masters competition.