On December 2, Bill Roe was elected to be the new President of USA
Track & Field. The founder in 1972 of Club Northwest, Roe's resume
includes work
in nearly all capacities of track and field: as a coach, meet director,
clinician, official, administrator and executive.
"Bill Roe has done it all," said USATF CEO Craig Masback. "His
range
of experience within USA Track & Field is remarkable, and he brings to his
position a rich perspective and tremendous enthusiasm. I look forward to
working with Bill and the rest of the new Board of Directors to build upon
the success we've achieved in recent years."
Roe, 50, was a member of the founding USATF Board of Directors in
1979, serving as secretary from 1992-96. He has been a member of the USATF
Executive Committee since 1988 and is the only person in USATF history to
be elected to 12 years as an officer. He served as secretary from 1992-96
and as vice president for the last four years. The founder and past editor
of The Northwest Runner Magazine, Roe has been a member of countless
committees and task forces. He is in his 13th year of coaching college men
and women, has been an international team leader or coach nine times
(including the upcoming mission leader and senior men's coach for the 2001
IAAF World Cross Country Championships), and is rated a Master official.
He directs a number of track meets, cross country meets and road races,
including a series of 10-12 summer all-comers meets in Seattle that he has
directed for 32 years.
Roe lists several main goals as president:
Grow the sport at all levels.
Bolster Associations through sponsorship, direct funding, grants and personal
visits.
Rebuild the club system through local training groups and enhance
that effort with domestic meets.
More coaching opportunities and education at all levels.
Equitable treatment of competition officials at all levels.
Push for increased funding for K-12 physical education.
Find a way to fund and publish, both in print and on the Internet, a
national federation magazine for USATF membership.
Currently the men's and women's cross country coach at Western
Washington University in Bellingham, Roe discussed his background and his
goals for
his four-year term as USATF president at the 2000 USATF Annual Meeting in
Albuquerque, N.M.
Q: Why did you decide to run for president? BR: After 12 years on the Executive Committee, I decided that it was
time for me to move up or retire from the Board. But I've got too much energy
to retire, and I thought of all the years I'd prepared for this as an
officer.
Q: How do you view your role as president? BR: I look at myself as leader of the volunteer sector as well as the
Federation as an international member. They're the ones who elected me. I
look at my job as being a liaison, a listener. That, and working with the
Board of Directors to guide USATF.
Q: What is your background in the sport? BR: I went out for cross country as a sophomore at Nathan Hale High
School in Seattle, in 1965. I didn't have much speed, but I could run
long. Unfortunately, there was no half-marathon event at the high school
level - it was only two miles. So I became the manager. I did that job
pretty well, I guess, because I was recruited by Washington to be a
manager for their track team - that was back when they had 31 scholarship
athletes on the men's team. I did that for four years, on scholarship.
Q: You were elected president four years
after a shift in leadership
at USATF that has led to many positive changes within the organization. Talk
about the timing of your election. BR: This organization endured several years of instability due to the
financial crisis generated mainly by losses in 1996. For a time in 1997,
we didn't know if we'd be around, month-to-month. But we're at a great
point now. It's a great time to take over. There is a tremendous national
staff, and we've got a really good officer corps that I work together with
very well. I've known (Treasurer) Ed Koch for 23 years and (Secretary)
Darlene Hickman for 25 years.
Q: How do you view the USATF restructuring
program that was
essentially completed at the 2000 Annual Meeting? BR: I think it's appropriate that I'm president now, since I worked
closely on the restructuring. I was secretary and essentially the
"wordsmith" of what was put in the book. Restructuring is important
for
continuity and pushing forward, but it's important to realize it is not
written in stone. No organization should be without the flexibility to
change when necessary.
Q: What areas have you targeted for
improvement? BR: Membership is a big one for me. A lot of people in this country
want to be part of the USA Track & Field team, and to "make" the
team. They may
not know USATF, but they know Team USA and want to be part of it. One
other initiative is K-12 physical education. In so many school districts,
PE has been cut to once per week, or recess is substituted for PE. Kids
aren't getting enough exercise. I envision USATF joining with the USOC to
promote physical education. It's an issue I would think all NGBs (national
governing bodies) would be concerned about. We're all losing people from
our pool of possible athletes, because kids aren't fit.
Q: How will you juggle the needs and goals
of so many USATF
constituencies, from grassroots and associations to elite athletes? A: We have unlimited needs and limited resources. It's a balancing
act.
I'm trying to make sure we can take care of each area as best we can. But
the first job we have is to put the best USA team into world competition,
so the athletes come first in all of our decisions. Our athlete members
who have worked with me will tell you I have always done that.
Q: What will you work on first? A: Most likely committee appointments. The president has nearly 200
people he or she appoints to various committees. We have to get that done
pretty quickly. When I addressed the General Session at the close of this
Convention, I put out 200 self-addressed, postage-paid envelopes for USATF
members to use to communicate with me about their immediate needs, ideas
and interests. All of them were picked up. We need that kind of input.
Q: What are you looking for from the
committees? A: I could run for president again in four years, but I'm not going
to. We have a lot of good people who can contribute to this organization. I
think the same way in terms of our committees. Every organization needs
change. That means if someone has been the chair of a committee for an
extended period and has 4-5 other irons in the fire with USATF, I may ask
that person to give up one of their roles. We want to have as many people
as possible contributing.
(USATF President Bill Roe can be reached via email at bill.roe@wwu.edu.)
RSS Feed
?
email this page to a friend ! 
