Former USC Assistant T&F Coach And Famed Distance Runner Tabori Passes Away
May 23, 2018 | Track & Field, Features
Former USC track and field assistant coach and famed distance great Laszlo Tabori, 86, passed away at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles today (May 23).Â
Tabori worked with the USC men's distance runners and Men of Troy running club team, most notably coaching Duane Solomon to All-America status in 2007 (7th) and 2008 (3rd) and ultimately to an Olympic berth in 2012.Â
Tabori was the third man to break the four-minute barrier in the mile. He did so on May 28, 1955 with a time of 3:59, joining Roger Bannister and John Landy in that elite group. That same year he held the 1500m World Record with a time of 3:40.8. Tabori was also a member of the World Record-breaking team in the 4x1500m relay.
Among his many accomplishments are such notable feats as being an Olympian at the 1957 Melbourne Games in the 1500m and 5000m races. Tabori's coaching methods are well founded. He trained himself by the methods of the great middle distance Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi in Hungary, then later in the United States after the 1956 Olympic Games. Tabori was a great believer in the interval method of training. He coached Valley Junior College in the 1970s where his team won three state titles and held the national junior record for the 10,000 distance medley and the 4x1 mile relay. Jacqueline Hansen, winner of the Boston and Western Hemisphere Marathons and Miki Gorman, winner of the New York City and Boston Marathons, were two of his athletes who achieved international recognition during the 1970s.
In 1979, Runner's World magazine bestowed upon Tabori the prestigious Paavo Nurmi Award for Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Hungarian Hall of Fame in Budapest, Hungary in 1995 for his great accomplishments as a world class athlete and Olympian. In 2002, Tabori received the Fair Play Award in Frankfurt, Germany given by the International Olympic Committee for lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution to the sport. He has written a popular book on his life and running called Tabori Es A Torbiek.
There will be a memorial service for Tabori announced at a later date.
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Tabori worked with the USC men's distance runners and Men of Troy running club team, most notably coaching Duane Solomon to All-America status in 2007 (7th) and 2008 (3rd) and ultimately to an Olympic berth in 2012.Â
Tabori was the third man to break the four-minute barrier in the mile. He did so on May 28, 1955 with a time of 3:59, joining Roger Bannister and John Landy in that elite group. That same year he held the 1500m World Record with a time of 3:40.8. Tabori was also a member of the World Record-breaking team in the 4x1500m relay.
Among his many accomplishments are such notable feats as being an Olympian at the 1957 Melbourne Games in the 1500m and 5000m races. Tabori's coaching methods are well founded. He trained himself by the methods of the great middle distance Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi in Hungary, then later in the United States after the 1956 Olympic Games. Tabori was a great believer in the interval method of training. He coached Valley Junior College in the 1970s where his team won three state titles and held the national junior record for the 10,000 distance medley and the 4x1 mile relay. Jacqueline Hansen, winner of the Boston and Western Hemisphere Marathons and Miki Gorman, winner of the New York City and Boston Marathons, were two of his athletes who achieved international recognition during the 1970s.
In 1979, Runner's World magazine bestowed upon Tabori the prestigious Paavo Nurmi Award for Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Hungarian Hall of Fame in Budapest, Hungary in 1995 for his great accomplishments as a world class athlete and Olympian. In 2002, Tabori received the Fair Play Award in Frankfurt, Germany given by the International Olympic Committee for lifetime achievement and outstanding contribution to the sport. He has written a popular book on his life and running called Tabori Es A Torbiek.
There will be a memorial service for Tabori announced at a later date.
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