Leo Long, left, chats with Tom Burt, another former Los Altos High coach, at the ceremony to dedicate the track to Long. The football field is named after Burt.

More than 250 people attended a ceremony April 27 to dedicate the Los Altos High track to the school’s former track and field coach, Leo Long.

Long coached the team for 18 years (1958-1963 and 1970-1981). During his tenure, Los Altos became the first Central Coast Section team to win a state championship (1970), claimed 18 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League titles and posted a 128-3 dual-meet record.

Long garnered state and national coach-of-the-year honors in 1979, while also being named teacher of the year at the high school.

The dedication began with one of Long’s former athletes at Los Altos, Bob Stoecker, introducing guests and contributors to the event, which was months in the making.

Several guest speakers followed, including Barry Groves (Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District superintendent), Judy Hannemann (district board of trustees president), Val Carpenter (Los Altos mayor) and Matt Pear (Mountain View councilman and former mayor).

Bill Frost, another former track team member, then presented Long a booklet featuring newspaper articles and photographs documenting the coach’s accomplishments.

Next came an open-microphone segment during which several former student-athletes from Los Altos spoke.

Rick Brown, a standout on the state championship team, revealed he had overcome years of stuttering by hearing Long’s voice in his mind when he spoke. Barry Vann, retired Air Force officer, recounted hearing Long exhorting him to “get up and fight” to save his life when he became lost, hypothermic and risked death in a military survival training session in the snowy mountains.

Long then addressed the audience, emphasizing dedication, respect and sportsmanship.

Long included a story about Jeff Curran, one of his top distance runners who broke his ankle in a qualifying competition. Curran’s competitors stopped to lift him up to complete the race. Long said this action meant more to the coach than winning.

Before the ceremony moved from the gym to the track to unveil the sign and sip milkshakes, former track team members Chuck Smart, Chris Adams and Scott Overton presented Long with the Milkshake Award – a steel milkshake goblet engraved to mark the occasion.

Teammate Chuck Bowen then presented Long with an original “Blue Suit,” a warm-up suit the coach created to be worn by an athlete who attained a high level of performance at Los Altos.