United States Sports Academy alumnus, honoree, and national faculty member Dr. Dave Shrock has earned countless accolades across his half century of work in track and field as an athlete, coach, and administrator.
Shrock added another honor to his resume when he earned the 2021 Robert Giegengack Award at the USA Track and Field annual meeting. The award was established in 1982 in recognition of the late Yale track & field coach’s half-century of “superior and outstanding contributions as an official, a coach, and an administrator in the sport and to the organization.” It is awarded annually to a person “who excels in contributing to the excellence and high standards of the sport of Athletics.” The award is USA Track & Field’s only accolade not limited to one of the sport’s three disciplines (track & field, long distance running, and race walking), or to any one of the three principal areas of consideration (official, coach, or administrator). Shrock’s involvement in USATF dates back for five decades.
Shrock’s career has spanned the breadth of the sport serving as a national teams coach, chair of the Association’s Committee, which is sports largest, master official at many national championships, and nine years as the Modesto Relays assistant meet director.
Shrock has served in numerous USATF leadership roles including president of the nation’s largest association, the Pacific Association; as USATF Coaching Committee chair; and as former vice chair of the USATF National Associations Executive Committee. He has educated more than 1,000 coaches throughout the country and directs track and field schools and clinics. His association work includes oversight of several national championships and hosting Olympic trials. His efforts have included coaching schools for youth, high school, college and elite levels.
The Academy’s 2017 Alumnus of the Year, Shrock earned his Doctor of Education degree in sports management in 2009 and serves as a member of the Academy’s National Faculty, having taught the institution’s international sport education programs in Thailand, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
“When I first visited the United States Sports Academy I was very impressed with the program and the faculty,” Shrock said. “The classes I had at the Academy were challenging, stimulating and allowed us to ask questions and back them up with research and data. The education was rigorous, applicable and perfect for me because it acknowledged much of the knowledge I had already gained in the profession, as well as helping to further my understanding and hone my research and educational skills.
“The Academy helped expand my horizons of sport and how sport affects people on a global scale,” he added. “I still continually interact with faculty and alumni in the United States and around the globe. My doctoral program at the Academy included an internship at the United States Olympic Committee and getting my doctorate enabled me to take additional jobs with the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field.”
Shrock has also coached internationally for USATF, having been selected to coach the men’s endurance runners at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey, and more recently as head men’s coach of the 2016 PanAm Cross Country team in Caracas, Venezuela.
Shrock has more than 40 years of track and field coaching experience, including 20 years as a college coach. He began his college coaching career in 1976 at the College of San Mateo in his home town of San Mateo, Calif., before coaching cross country and assisting with track and field at Stanford and San José State universities. He coached Modesto Junior College to two Northern California Community College Championships and three runner-up finishes in track and field. He has been named a coach of the year 10 times and coached 64 junior college All-Americans.
In addition to his doctorate from the Academy, Shrock earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in kinesiology from San Jose State University.
