A lifelong coach, a family man first.

Walter Slovenski earned a reputation as an institution in track and cross country at Bates College where he served 44 years. His love of coaching track and cross country and the positive affect it had on thousands of his athletes was immeasurable. But, as one of his sons once said, he was a family man first. Two of his sons went on to become college coaches.

A native of Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania, Slovenski held records in the broad jump and 120 yard hurdles. He also participated in the sprints, pole vault, discus and shot put.

He went on to Seton Hall Prep in South Orange, New Jersey, where he was national prep school long jump champion. After three and a half years in the Navy, Slovenski attended Syracuse University. There he became an All America shortstop in baseball, the very first All American in that sport from Syracuse. Known as "Slivers" during football season, he once ran 65 yards to score Syracuse's only touchdown in a 7 to 0 win over Colgate in 1947. He graduated in 1949.

After graduating he earned a masters degree at New York University and coached track and baseball at Oneonta State Teachers College in New York for two years before coming to Bates in 1952.

Although his ambition was to coach basketball, Bates needed an assistant football coach and a track coach. Here he found a niche for himself and a sport he would grow to love. His track teams quickly began to build reputations as competitive against any opponent, and in the 1957 and 1958 seasons, Bates won state titles for the first time since 1912.

Former University of Maine track coach Ed Styrna remembers during these early years when Bates would come up for a duel track meet. At the time, Bates lacked quality runners in the distance events, so Styrna suggested to Slovenski "that he start up a cross country program to solve that problem. He did just that.

In 1958, Slovenski resurrected the long dormant cross country program and quickly built it, too, into a consistent winner. In cross country between 1968 and 1993, Bates won 18 annual state meets, which through 1985 included Division I UMaine. Yes, Styrna's suggestion had backfired.

From 1957 through 1960, Bates ran off a string of 30 consecutive dual meet wins over Maine, UNH, Holy Cross, Boston University, Boston College and UConn. "Rudy Smith, and John Douglas, and John Fresina were on those teams and we had crowds of 600 people lining the balcony," said Slovenski in his retirement address. 'The crowd would start to roar when Rudy would get ready for a race and people from the library and the dining hall would hear the noise and drop whatever they were doing and rush over to see the action. Can you imagine Bates College having 30 straight wins against the likes of UMaine, UNH, Northeastern, Holy Cross, BC, BU, and UConn?"

In all, Slovenski compiled more than 700 wins, won more than 20 State of Maine championships and produced 26 All Americans. One of his All Americans, Bob Cedrone, broke his ankle on the toe board during the state meet, and two weeks later took second place in the NCAA Div. III, throwing the hammer 183 ft. with a broken ankle in a cast.

Another All American was John Douglas who won the National AAU broad jump against the university and open division, while Wayne Pangburn in the mid 1960's won the hammer in the college division NCAA championship.

Slovenski has been inducted into the Clarfield County (PA) , Indiana (PA), and Lewiston Auburn Sports Halls of Fame. He was named New England Cross Country Coach of the Year in both 1977 and 1986. He was president of the IC4A Track Coaches Association in 1975. In 1985, he was meet director for the NCAA Div. III Track and Field Championships.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities at Bates he was supervisor of physical education and assistant to the chairman. .

"One of my greatest rewards as a coach is seeing youngsters with modest background in track progress from their current status to their full potential," said Slovenski. "It is a sport where the youngsters are down to earth, as well as a sport where you can't blame anyone else for your lack of improvement. . .

"In track, what you are or the level of your skill is what you wear on your sleeve. There is no envy between athletes.

"I am convinced that a coach needs to maintain his motivation. I think you have to be yourself in coaching if you are going to succeed. A coach has to refine his own style and make that style consistent. Whether he decided to do the job from his desk or get out with the kids, he has to be consistent in either case to be successful."

Among his career highlights was a year sabbatical in Mexico when he was selected by the Mexican government to upgrade track programs in preparation for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

He also took up the hammer throw in later years and placed sixth at the World Veterans Track and Field Championships in 1989. Competing in the 65 to 69 age group, he threw the hammer 123 feet, 6 inches.

Slovenski retired from Bates in 1996. He and his wife Ruth had six children. His sons Peter and Paul were both outstanding pole-vaulters. Peter set a freshman record in the event at Dartmouth with a vault of 15 ft. Paul still holds the Bates records both indoors and outdoor with vaults of 14 ft. 3 in. and 14 ft. 9 in. respectively. Both sons pursued the same career as their dad, Peter succeeding the legendary Bowdoin track coach, Frank Sabasteanski, while Paul is an assistant mens track and cross country coach at MlT.

For Peter, the Bates fieldhouse was his second home. "My Dad was an energetic and hard working coach, but he was first and foremost a family man," he said. "He had the kind of job in which we could run around the fieldhouse while he was working. It was a great privilege to be able to run around that fieldhouse. It was a second home to me. I loved to be with my Dad and watch and listen while he coached, yelled splits, and joked with the guys on his teams. I followed him around everywhere, and I loved to be part of the great relationships he had with so many Bates athletes.

"My father was a lifelong competitor. He was tenacious and determined as a competitor, and it was reflected in his teams all the way from 1952 through 1995. His enthusiasm for competition was inspiring. Just as strong as his competitive enthusiasm was his enjoyment of the humor and fun of athletics. He had a great sense of humor, and there was a lot of fun on the trips and at practice. He was an intense coach, but anyone w:ho competed on a Bates track team also found a lot of humor and fun in the program."

The younger Slovenski said that his father was a pioneer in distance coaching. "When he started in 1959 the athletes were running 20 to 25 miles per week. Throughout the 1960's, as the sport was emerging, he was already doing higher mileage, hill training, long tempo runs, and hard/easy workouts. He pioneered many workouts that are still in use today by various New England coaches who ran for him or learned from the Bates teams. His athletes were running 60/70/80 miles a week when other teams were doing 30 to 40. His athletes were among the first to go over 100 miles per week with stunning results. .

"He was also a pioneer in how he coached cross country. Many coaches would send their athletes off on workouts or in races, and wait at the start to see the runners later. Walt Slovenski was the first coach to run around the cross country course cheering for his runners at various locations. He also drove along with his runners, and yelled directions or encouragement during the workouts.

"He did this when cross country coaches were often men who smoked cigarettes or cigars at the finish line or in their offices while their runners were racing or working out. My Dad was out running around the course and competing as hard as his runners."

One of Walt Slovenski's greatest satisfactions was seeing his athletes continue to run and compete even after graduation. A 1978 graduate, Paul Oparowski, continued competing in long distance running following college and became one of the best distance runners in New England road racing. In Nov., 1981, at the most competitive road race in New England, the Manchester Thanksgiving Day 5 Miler in Connecticut, "Opie" was the first American finisher, averaging 4:42 per mile.

Another of Slovenski's stars was All American distance runner Kim Whettlaufer who graduated in 1980. Mer taking second in New England at 5,000 in 1980, Whettlaufer continued road racing for many years with great success. "To start with, one just has to look at the number of small college All Americans that Slovenski has coached over the past decade," said Whettlaufer. "In the mid 70's, Bob Cedrone was one of the dominant weightmen in New England. He picked up division III All American honors in the hammer a couple of times."

Whettlaufer added, "I would say, and this is my opinion, that it was 1974 that marked the change in Walt's emphasis from track, especially indoor track, to cross country. The 1977 team was probably the best. The team included Oparowski, Peters, Leonard, Cloutier, Rooney, and Soderstrom. We won the eastern small college meet, placed second in the IC4A university division meet, made fifth place in the New Englands and brought back two All Americans from Cleveland, Ohio." (Whettlaufer was one of those.)

"One of the things that has made Slovenski a winner would have to be his recruiting ability. Although as a NESCA school Bates doesn't do any actual recruiting, Slovenski has always had an uncanny knack of spotting a good prospect, one who was not necessarily a star in high school but who had the chance to develop." Whettlaufer said, "In terms of taking an interest in his runners and throwers on the outside, he excels. I've had some great times fooling around with him in his favorite. place to eat, Bonanza. . . I really enjoyed his time and still do."

In the late summer of 1999, as Slovenski lay seriously ill in the hospital, the new indoor track facility that he saw built in his later years as coach was named in his honor on Labor Day weekend. Yet another great tribute lay just around the corner: his induction into the Maine Running Hall of Fame.

One of Slovenski's favorite stories is one he tells about his very first Bates track meet. "My first Bates track meet was held in the old cage in January of 1953. Jack Magee was the Bowdoin coach, and I had been warned to watch out for him. He was a tough old coach, who had been an Olympic coach in 1924.

"Before the meet Jack Magee tried to tell me that we were going to use the Maine starting rule for the meet. The Maine starting rule was that after one false start, a runner would have to move back six inches, and would have to back up another six incues after a second false start, and so on.

“No, Mr. Magee,” I said. “We’re going to run this meet by the NCAA rules.”

“Jack Magee was visibly unhappy about that and he went back to sitting with his assistant coach, Frank Sabasteanski, in the corner behind the Bates dash starting line.

A few minutes later Jack Magee came over from the corner to complain about the lane assignments, and he tried to me how we were going to do it by the AAU lane assignment rule. "No, Mr. Magee," I said. "We're going to run this meet by the NCAA rule." .

"Again the Bowdoin coach shook his head, and threw up his hands and walked back to the comer. Through the meet we argued about several other rules that Jack wanted to have his way, and I said, "No, Mr. Magee. We're going to use the NCAA rule." .

"After one of our disagreements Jack went back to his seat next to Frank, and one of my sprinters overheard them talking about me. My sprinter told me that Jack Magee said, "Frank, We're going to have trouble with that little bastard."

They didn't have too much trouble with me that first meet. Bowdoin won by the score of 120 to 19, but we did run the meet according to NCAA rules.

"And from 1956 through 1976 we never lost to Bowdoin in a dual meet or state meet for 20 years."