Born April 16, 1907, Thatcher, Ariz. Died February 19, 1962.

One of the great sports figures in the history of the University of Southern California, Jess Mortensen served the Trojans successfully as both an athlete and as a coach. He lettered in football, basketball and track at USC. He won the NCAA javelin title in 1929 and the National AAU javelin title in 1930. The next year, he became coach at Riverside Junior College and except for a break during World War II, he coached at Riverside until 1947 when he moved to the University of Denver. He became the head coach at West Point in 1950 but returned to USC in 1951 as head coach. Until his death in 1962, Mortensen coached the Trojans to seven NCAA team titles and his teams never finished worse than second in the conference meet. His USC teams were never defeated in dual meets. An assistant coach with the 1956 Olympic team, Mortensen coached some of the greatest athletes in the sport, including Olympic gold medalists Parry O'Brien, Jerome Biffle, Mike Larrabee, Rex Cawley, Charles Dumas, Dallas Long and Sim Iness. Many of his athletes were also world record holders, headed by O'Brien and Long, who between them set world outdoor shot put records 26 times.