Longtime Point Loma Nazarene College (now University) track & field and cross country head coach Jim Crakes passed away May 7.

Crakes coached for nearly 20 years at PLNC. He worked with more than 100 All-Americans and it was his vision to have the British Olympic track and field team train at PLNC preceding the 1984 Olympics that led to the installation of the synthetic track. Crakes also received numerous Coach of the Year honors in both track & field and cross country.

He will forever be known for constructing one of the most dominant teams in the school's athletic history: the 1991 men's cross country squad. The 1991 team won five meets prior to the national championship, including dominating the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships with a record-setting 17-point performance. Each of the top seven runners were named All-GSAC Performers, which to this day remains as the most all-conference selections Point Loma has ever received in a single-season. This legendary 1991 team was inducted into the PLNU Hall of Fame in 2013.

Crakes retired as the coach of PLNC track & field team in 1995 after working with the squad since 1974. He previously worked as the head coach of USIU, formerly Cal Western, and had a deep attachment to the PLNU campus. Crakes helped Bill Waters win two NAIA National Championships in the decathlon.

Some of the passions of this driven man were his belief that athletes should be self-motivated and responsible and that they should accept his challenge as a mentor who believed in their potential. He was honored by PLNC as the first ever professor emeritus in physical education a year before his retirement.

Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date. 

--Point Loma Nazarene University