University Southern California Trojans
Photo by: Kirby Lee
Legendary T&F Coach Bush Passes Away
July 11, 2017 | Track & Field
Led The Trojan Program From 1991-94
Bush came out of retirement in 1991 to lead the USC program, taking over for Ernie Bullard. He led the USC men's team to a third-place finish at the 1992 NCAA Championships. Bush was known for developing 400m runners and he produced one of the greatest ever in Quincy Watts. Watts won the 1992 NCAA title in the event with a time of 44.00, a collegiate record which stood until this past season. Watts then went on to capture Olympic gold in the 400m at the 1992 Barcelona games. Bush coached 30 Olympians in his head coaching career.
Bush was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1987 and was enshrined into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996. He is also a Hall of Fame member at Fullerton High School, Kern County, Bakersfield College, Occidental College and UCLA. He was a past president of the U.S. Track Coaches Association and served as an executive board member of the NCAA Track Coaches Association and USA Track & Field.
Bush also coached at UCLA for 20 years (1865-84) where he won five NCAA Championships and seven conference titles. He was named the U.S. Track Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1971 and 1973. In 1979 he was the USA team head coach for the Pan American Games.
After leaving UCLA in 1984, Bush became a speed/strength consultant for the Los Angeles Raiders, Dodgers, Lakers and Clippers and earned a Super Bowl Championship ring with the Raiders in 1984 and a World Series Championship ring with the Dodgers in 1988.
Bush began his track coaching career as an assistant at Berkeley HS in 1952. He was then hired as head boys track coach at Fullerton HS, where he led his team to its first-ever league track championship in his first year. He coached at Fullerton HS for seven years before being named head track & field and cross country coach at Fullerton Junior College in the fall of 1959. In his second season, he led the Hornets to their first Southern California and State titles. In 1962, Bush was named head coach at Occidental College where he won three conference titles and track and field and cross country.
He was born on Sept. 15, 1926 in Cleveland, OH, grew up in Bakersfield, Calif. and attended Kern County Union High School, competing in football and track. After graduating in 1944, Bush joined the U.S. Navy Air Corps. Following WWII, he enrolled at Bakersfield Community College and lettered in football and track (1947-48). He transferred to California in 1948 and competed for the Golden Bears for three years as a quarter-miler and high hurdler, graduating in 1951.
Bush is survived by his wife, Francoise; two children, Don Bush and Jean Richmond; two stepsons, Gary Ruggieri and Patrick Ruggieri; and 21 grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Memorial services are pending.
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