Robison left mark on track and life

Because Clarence Robison did not coach the high-profile sports of basketball and football, most Utah sports fans don't know much, if anything, about him.

But he was big.

He was LaVell Edwards big.

He produced more than 100 all-Americans, 20 Olympians, one national championship, 19 Western Athletic Conference championships, American and world record holders. When he was finished, they put him in the U.S. Track Coaches Hall of Fame and named BYU's world-class track facility Clarence Robison Stadium.

But this misses the point, because what Robison really did was counsel and teach young men, both as a coach and as a leader in his church.

"We talk about the greatest generation," says one of Robison's former athletes, Olympian Ed Eyestone. "He was the greatest of the greatest generation."

When Robison passed away last Wednesday, it marked the end of an era — again. In the past 2 1/2 months, the state has lost two legendary track coaches — Robison and Utah State's Ralph Maughan. Both coached at their alma maters for 40 years. Both had their school's track stadiums named in their honor. Both made the 1948 Olympic team. Both served in World War II. Both grew up in small Utah towns. Both died this summer, at the age of 83.

Hours after Robison passed away, Maughan's widow, Byrnece, called Robison's widow, Monita, and told her, "I'll bet Ralph and Clarence are up there talking about the good old days."

Robison, who was distinguished by his height (6-3) and a shock of wavy white hair, had a baritone voice that he used for years to announce BYU basketball games. Always a gentleman, he rarely angered or spoke a harsh word, and he exuded warmth and wisdom. When he spoke, you wanted to take notes, even if you weren't a reporter.

He was still a student at BYU when he was offered the school's head coaching job. He took the position in 1949 and wound up coaching so long that he coached the children of former athletes. One of them, national pole vault champion Robison Pratt, was named after the coach by his father Albert, one of Robison's former athletes.

"It's revealing that so many of his athletes became coaches, including myself," says Mark Robison, who is now BYU's head track coach, working in the same office where his father worked. "I saw the good influence he had on people and decided that's what I wanted to do."