Venegas Named USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Inductee

NEW ORLEANS – Former UCLA track & field head coach Art Venegas is set to be inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Coaches Hall of Fame in December, as announced by the association on Thursday.

The official induction ceremony will be held at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in Aurora, Colo., at the USTFCCCA Convention. The celebration will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13.

During Venegas' time as head coach of UCLA, 52 Bruins earned All-American honors and captured 24 individual Pac-10 titles. The Bruins won back-to-back NCAA West Region Championship team titles in 2003 and 2004, and UCLA picked up a Pac-10 team championship in 2004. Student-athletes earned 15 individual West Region titles and four consecutive MPSF Indoor team crowns (2002-05) with Venegas at the helm.

Venegas arrived in Westwood in 1981 as an assistant coach, and under his guidance UCLA throwers won 33 NCAA individual titles (men: 11, women: 22) while picking up 63 Pac-10 conference titles (men: 32, women: 31) along the way.

Notably, Venegas has coached some of the greatest track and field athletes in UCLA history including 6-time All-American John Godina and 7-time NCAA Champion Seilala Sua. He was also the throwing and weight training coach for Jackie Joyner-Kersee for 10 years. Joyner-Kersee was named the Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated for Women in January 2001. Venegas has worked with some of the world's top sprinters, creating strength training routines for former Bruin greats Ato Bolden, Gail Devers, Steve Lewis, Mike Marsh and Kevin Young.

Before his decorated coaching career, Venegas was a standout thrower at Cal State Northridge. He was a four-year letterman in the hammer throw and earned Division II All-America honors as a student-athlete in 1974.
 
USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2022

Josh Culbreath (Central State)
Greg Kraft (Arizona State)
Halston Taylor (MIT)
Art Venegas (UCLA)
Mark Wetmore (Colorado)
Sue Williams (UC Davis)