The RoundHouse | 11/7/2019 11:56:00 AM

 
George Collier's grandmother cold-called Wichita State track coach Herm Wilson, hoping he could give her grandson guidance in between his mowing jobs during the summer of 1977.
 
"She said she had a grandson who loves to run, but needs some guidance," Collier said. "She loaded me in the car and took me out to Wichita State. Coach Wilson was coaching world-class athletes. He coached Olympians, he coached All-Americans. He was a very busy man. And he took the time to meet with me in his office at Wichita State."
 
Collier walked out of what was then Henry Levitt Arena with a four-page typed handout on distance running and a future as a Shocker. Collier, who lived in Florida, kept that relationship with Wilson and returned to Wichita State in 1979 to start one of the school's top running careers.
 
"I treated that handout like gospel," Collier said. "I went to high school in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. The whole time I'm studying that handout. I would talk to Coach Wilson on the phone. Here is he coaching a Division I program and he's talking to me on the phone. I'm some punk kid."
 
Earlier this fall, Collier returned to Wichita to say goodbye to Wilson, who coached Wichita State's cross country and track and field teams from 1967-83. Wilson, a Navy veteran, died on Wednesday at 92. 
  
"I was so glad I went and saw him," Collier said. "I cried a lot. I laughed with him. I hugged him. I told him how much I loved him. I thanked him for everything he did for all of us."
 
Wilson's runners remember his devotion to their athletic careers and their lives after graduation and patience with their college shenanigans. They remember cold mornings with Wilson driving the van while drinking coffee and reading the Wichita Eagle-Beacon and his love for gin rummy.
 
"He was kind of a father figure to all of us," Steve Shaad said. "He took a personal interest in each athlete. He was strict, but he wasn't the kind of guy that ever raised his voice at you. He created a culture and an atmosphere that everybody pulled for everybody."
 
Wilson's teams won five Missouri Valley Conference cross country titles (1971-1975) and the 1972 men's outdoor track and field MVC title. Four of his cross country teams qualified for the NCAA Championships, highlighted by the 1971 team's 14^th-place finish.
 
"He was just a great distance coach," Shaad said. "He would drive all the way to Leon, Kansas, where there were some dirt roads that were very hilly. We would run 10, 15 miles on those hills and dirt road because there weren't enough hills in Wichita to train us properly."
 
Wilson coached in an era of limited scholarships and little help from assistant coaches. He crammed 16 people into a 12-passenger van to travel to meets. 
 
"So many of the guys on the team were within 40, 50 miles of Wichita," Alan Walker said. "We had our 50^threunion for Herm (Wilson) a year or so ago in Wichita. We got together with the guys from all the years that Herm was coaching, as well as the cross country championship teams. I cherish the friendships."
 
Wilson was inducted into the Pizza Hut Shocker Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Olympic long jumper Preston Carrington, All-American pole vaulter Fred Burton and All-American distance runners Randy Smith, Walker and Collier are Wilson-era athletes also in the Hall of Fame. 
 
Collier's times began to improve in high school and his bond with Wilson continued. Collier said he turned down Florida State to run for Wilson. 
 
"He knew how to coach us to peak," Collier said. "He was a brilliant coach, but it was more about the man that he was. I learned so much from him."
 
Shaad, after graduating in 1977, got his first job at a small-town newspaper. When he told Wilson he wasn't satisfied with that start to his career, Wilson helped Shaad get a job in the Wichita State sports information office and allowed him to train for the steeplechase with the team in preparation for the Olympic Trials.
 
"He coached me for two years, for whatever reason, just because he liked me," Shaad said. "Paid for my meals. Never asked for anything."
 
Wilson also coached on the national level, including as a member of the Olympic Development Committee and the coaching staff for the 1979 World University Games. 
 
He used his contacts and influence to bring prestigious track meets to Wichita. The NCAA held its cross country championships in Wichita in 1980 and 1981. He served as meet director for USTFF and USA-TFA national meets held in Wichita, highlighted by performances such as Earl Bell's 1976 world record in the pole vault. Olympians such as Carl Lewis (long jump, 1982), Al Oerter (discus, 1980) and Al Feuerbach (shot put, 1974) hold Cessna Stadium records.

Wilson attended Conway Springs High School and ran sprints and vaulted at Kansas State. He coached at Heights High School before coming to Wichita State. After Wichita State, he worked in the track-surfacing industry.
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.