2015 Hall of Fame Inductee
Ralph Mann became a silver medalist in the 400mH at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich after winning Pan American Games gold in 1971 at Cali, Colombia. A four-time AAU champion (1969-71, 1975), Mann also finished first at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials in 48.4 seconds. He is the first of only two men to win three straight titles in the 400mH at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, where he recorded consecutive victories from 1969-71. At the 1970 NCAA meet in Des Moines, Mann broke the world record, running 48.8 in the 440-yard hurdles for Brigham Young University. Following a tenured teaching and research career at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Mann began a consulting career that specialized in sports performance analysis. In 1982, Dr. Mann was intimately involved in creating a sport science program within the high performance ranks of USA Track & Field, and he is a longtime contributor to the program, focusing on using biomechanical analysis on elite sprinters and hurdlers to evaluate and improve their performances. Dr. Mann earned an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Physical Education from Brigham Young University prior to completing a Ph.D Biomechanics at Washington State University.