Walter Slovenski

A lifelong coach, a family man first

Walter Slovenski earned a reputation for being “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 effect 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 one-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 7-0 win over Colgate in 1947. He graduated in 1949.

After graduating he earned a master’s 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, where he found his niche. 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.

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. In all, Slovenski compiled more than 700 wins, won more than 20 State of Maine championships and produced 26 All-Americans.

Slovenski has been inducted into the Clarfield County (Pennsylvania) , Indiana (Pennsylvania), 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.

"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. Both sons pursued the same career as their dad, Peter succeeding the legendary Bowdoin track coach, Frank Sabasteanski, while Paul is an assistant men’s 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. "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."

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 1960s, 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."

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.

Another of Slovenski's stars was All-American distance runner Kim Wettlaufer who graduated in 1980. After taking second in the New England’s at 5,000 in 1980, Wettlaufer 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 Wettlaufer.

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.