Athletics News

Former Senior Vice President Hersh dies | NEWS

Former Senior Vice President Hersh dies | NEWS

World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Bob Hersh, a long-standing member of the World Athletics Council and former Senior Vice President of the global governing body, died on Wednesday (18) at the age of 82.

Hersh was a huge figure in the world of athletics. As well as his roles on the World Athletics Council, Hersh was also Competition Committee Chair for eight years, a Juridical Commission member and Technical Committee member. He held multiple roles at USA Track & Field (USATF), including being a Board member for more than three decades, and was also much admired as a statistician, writer, anti-doping advocate and voice of the sport, sharing his passion and knowledge as a stadium announcer at many high-profile events dating back to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“Bob has been a passionate athletics fan for longer than I have been in the sport,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “His love of athletics was ignited at high school where, with what became his trademark pragmatic analytical honesty, he realised he did not have the talent required to become an elite athlete, so he chose to manage his high school and then college athletics teams, learning ‘on the job’. 

“He served on Council and a number of World Athletics’ Commissions for over two decades. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport, due in large part to a desire to develop his skills across many areas. From technical official and part time coach to committee chairman and sport commentator, Bob flourished in all the roles he took on.

“His advice and guidance was sought by so many people around the world, and his wisdom and no nonsense approach will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and condolences go to his life companion, Louise, his family and the hordes of people around the world that counted Bob as a friend.”

Born on 12 February 1940, Hersh’s first sporting passion was baseball as he lived near the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was then introduced to athletics at the age of 12, when his father took him to a track and field event at Madison Square Garden, and a lifelong love was sparked.

“I just went nuts. I really thought this is the greatest sport in the world,” Hersh explained in a 2018 interview with USATF ahead of his National Track & Field Hall of Fame induction. “I knew that I was not a particularly talented athlete, so I became the student manager of my high school track team and then I did the same thing in college at…

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