An outstanding athlete at the University of Southern California, Payton Jordan went on to become a legendary coach at Occidental College and Stanford University as well as a record-setting Masters runner. At USC, 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 4x110-yard relay team. He won the AAU 100m title in 1941 and after World War II became track coach at Occidental College, turning that small school into a national power. After 10 years at Occidental, he moved to Stanford in 1957. Over the next 22 years, he took the Cardinal to a second-place NCAA finish in 1963, produced seven Olympic athletes and numerous NCAA champions. 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 successful meet director, Jordan 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. A member of the USC, Occidental, Stanford, NAIA halls of fame, among others, Jordan was awarded the Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award by the U.S. Sports Academy in 1999.
1941 AAU: 100 m (1st)
Coach