Catching Up With Former Olympian/Track Coach, John Craft

(Article From EI Club News)

(This article was written by Brian Nielsen, Sports Editor, Charleston Times-Courier with excerpts printed with his permission.) Decades later, John Craft realizes how lucky he was. Not just that he survived terrorist attacks about 300 yards from where he was staying during the 1972 Munich Olympics but that he finished fifth in the triple jump at those games. But at the time, falling short of winning the gold, silver and bronze medals seemed tragic. "I was very depressed," Craft said. "Not visibly but inside I was depressed for two or three years. You usually get just one chance at something like that."

These days the retired EIU women's track and field coach still doesn't march the streets of Charleston bragging on his accomplishments. Most at the Coles County Fair this summer probably did not even realize the guy programming fair entries into the computer was t his former Olympian. But Craft understands now. "Fifth in the world. When I think of it now I think that's pretty good." That's very good for a skinny grade school kid who did not even get a medal in the Illinois high school state meet. The kid from Momence came to Eastern as a basketball player in 1965, tried out for the track and got his first instructions from Maynard 'Pat' O'Brien, a coach who was seldom questioned. "

Coach O'Brien said, 'You're a long jumper? You're going to be a triple jumper too'." I said OK. When he left, I asked someone 'what's a triple jump?' How would I know?" In the 1960s, the triple jump was not part of the IHSA track meet. Craft was not world class either. "I was a pretty thin kid growing up through elementary school and junior high. I was a late developer. It was my junior year in highs school before I really all of a sudden grew. He became strong and good enough to qualify for the state meet in the long jump as a Momence senior.

 His workout included placing a hurdle between the takeoff board and sand, a practice designed to lead to good height on the jump. The long jumper went to Eastern, learned that track and field had such a thing as a triple jump and before long was the nation's best at this hop-skip-jump event.

With Eastern in the NAIA in those days, Craft won the national title as a sophomore with a distance of 47-2. After an injury spoiled junior year, Craft won three of four national championships in the NAIA (51-3), the NCAA College Division (51-3) and the AAU which is now the USA Championship (52-9). Allowed to compete in the NCAA Division I meet, Craft finished third with 53-9 1i4.

After a year of teaching and coaching in high school, Craft returned to EIU as an assistant coach and resumed serious training. He came within three inches of the world indoor record when his 55-5 won a national championship, beating the world record holder Victor Senyev of Russia. Then at the Olympics his 55-2 Y, was a few inches short of a medal.

Without pointing fingers at anyone, Craft makes it clear he achieved all of these accomplishments without using performance enhancing drugs. "They are finally cracking down on that though the testing is a moving target. I had that choice but even back then I thought why would I hurt myself. My philosophy is there are enough things that are going to kill you. Why would you take something you know is bad for yourself."

Craft moved on from competing to coaching at Eastern eventually taking the head coaching job for the women's team (19802002) and also serving as interim athletics director before retiring a few years ago. Rather than any Olympic experience he looks to his marriage, birth of two daughters and now four grandchildren as life highlights.

Then hitting 60 last year... that was a milestone," he said. While one daughter, Jody, is a pediatrician in her third year of residency, the oldest, Jonica, teaches mathematics at Eastern and has four children, Michaela (7), Makenna (4), Ethan (2) and Miranda, who was born in February. "Right now they are all thin and like to run," said Craft, whose wife, Joy, recently retired from her human resources job. "We would support whatever they do. I would come out of retirement to coach my grandchildren. I won't for anyone else."