OC Sports
Murray Evans, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Christian assistant track and field coach Jeff Bennett has been selected for induction into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, the highest athletic honor ever received by a former OC student-athlete.
The Oklahoma City-based organization announced during a luncheon on Tuesday that Bennett will be one of seven inductees in the Hall’s 2017 class. Bennett’s formal induction ceremony will take place on Aug. 14, 2017, at Riverwind Showplace Theatre at the Riverwind Casino in Norman.
Bennett, a 68-year-old former Olympic decathlete and 1970 OC graduate, will be the first person connected with OC to be inducted into the Hall, which was created in 1986.
“I was kind of surprised, because I figured it had been long enough that if it was going to happen, it would have happened,” Bennett said. “But it’s exciting to know that you’re in the company of the best athletes in Oklahoma. That’s kind of neat. There are not many track and field athletes in the Hall of Fame – maybe four or five. I’m honored to be among that group.”
Bennett, a 5-foot-8, 145-pound high school track and field standout from Vinita in northeastern Oklahoma, came to then-Oklahoma Christian College in 1966 to compete under coach Ray Vaughn Sr., the father of the fledgling school’s athletic program. Vaughn steered Bennett toward the decathlon and Bennett won NAIA titles in the 10-event discipline in 1969 and 1970.
Bennett also was the NAIA champion in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 1968 and was runner-up in the pole vault in 1970. The four-time NAIA All-American still holds OC records in the 400 hurdles (51.44 seconds) and the decathlon (8,071 points). He was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1976 and was a charter honoree of the OC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991.
“I was just looking to get a scholarship and get educated,” Bennett said of his decision to come to OC. “I always wanted to do well, but I had no idea that it would be at that level. I didn’t know anything about the decathlon when I came here. I just liked doing a lot of stuff and coach Vaughn noticed it.”
While still in college, he was invited to the 1968 U.S. Olympic Training Camp, although he didn’t make the team, finishing fifth in the decathlon. In 1972, he won the Amateur Athletic Union decathlon, and two weeks later, at the Olympic Trials, he finished second to qualify for the U.S. squad, along with a newcomer (and later 1976 Olympic gold medalist) Bruce Jenner.
At the Olympic Games in Munich, a strong finish in the final event, the 1,500 meters, lifted him into fourth place with 7,974 points – just 10 points shy of a bronze medal. He set a personal record of 8,121 points when he won the American Amateur Union’s national decathlon championship in 1973.
In the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials, Bennett suffered a hamstring injury that ended his chances of returning to the Olympics. He retired from international competition in 1977.
During his career, Bennett won 24 of the 51 decathlons which he began, scored more than 7,000 points 44 times and more than 8,000 points four times, with a career-best score of 8,121 points.
In his post-Olympic life, he has served two stints as an assistant track and field coach at OC, the first from 1974 to 1985. He spent 28 years in public education, working as a teacher, counselor and administrator for school districts in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. In 2003, he retired as a lieutenant colonel after serving for 32 years in the U.S. Army National Guard.
He also returned to OC in 2003, serving as both an assistant coach and as OC’s associate dean of students. He retired from the latter position in 2016, but continues his coaching duties. He has worked under all three of OC’s track and field head coaches – Vaughn, Randy Heath and current coach Wade Miller.
“Jeff Bennett has been an amazing student, athlete, administrator and coach in his time at Oklahoma Christian,” said OC Athletic Director David Lynn, one of many former OC runners who benefitted from Bennett’s tutelage. “He was one of the best athletes in the world, as evidenced by his fourth-place finish in the Olympic Games.
“Jeff is extremely generous with his time in working with student-athletes. He is a true example of what it means to be Christ-like in everything he has done to represent OC. We are so proud that he is being recognized with this great honor.”
The other inductees who will join Bennett in this year’s induction class are former University of Central Oklahoma wrestling coach David James,former Oklahoma football stars Jason White and Bill Krisher, former Oklahoma State basketball star Bryant Reeves, former Oklahoma State wrestler Doug Blubaugh and Bill Greason, who played for minor league baseball’s Oklahoma City Indians and integrated pro sports in Oklahoma in 1952.