CONVENTION: Dr. Joe Vigil Honored With George Dales Award

SAN ANTONIO – Dr. Joe Vigil is this year’s recipient of the George Dales Award. Vigil was honored Tuesday night prior to the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the 2018 USTFCCCA Convention at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa.

The George Dales Award is named in honor of longtime Western Michigan coach George Dales for his relentless pursuit in the growth and development of cross country and track & field over more than half of a century. This award is presented annually to an individual, who, like Dales, enhanced the profession of coaching cross country and track & field.

As a coach, Vigil’s success is unparalleled. At the collegiate level, his Adams State teams won 19 combined national championships between the NAIA and NCAA Division II, with his men’s cross country team notching an unheard-of perfect score (15 points) at the 1992 NCAA DII Championships. He coached athletes to a total of 425 All-America honors and 87 individual national titles. On the global level, Vigil coached in two Olympic games (1988 and 2008), helped athletes to a number of international medals and was recently heralded with the IAAF Coaching Achievement Award in 2018.

As a mentor, Vigil is second to none. Vigil, at one point, was the only American to lecture and present clinics on five continents. He is one of the original developers of the USATF Coaching Education Program and a founding member of The Athletic Congress (the precursor to the USATF) and was designated a Master Coach by USA Track & Field in 1997.