U.S. Hall of Fame running coach Joe I. Vigil, Ph.D., will deliver the commencement address at the Adams State spring graduation ceremony on May 11, 2019. A native of Alamosa, Vigil holds legendary status as the former head of cross-country and track and field at Adams State. A bronze sculpture of Vigil marks the spot where the first U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials were held on the Adams State campus in 1968. Vigil, and ASU cross-country and track and field coach, Damon Martin, organized a 50-year reunion in the summer of 2018 to commemorate the marathon trials and Adams State’s role in hosting the country’s greatest distance runners.
Vigil led the Adams State men’s program from 1965-1993 and won a total of 19 national collegiate championships, including the 1992 NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championship with a perfect score of 15 points. In that span Vigil guided the program to 87 individual national championships to go along with 425 All-Americans. Vigil not only succeeded at the collegiate level but also at the elite level. After his time with Adams State, he coached Team USA in two Olympic Games and seven World Cross Country Championships. In that span his athletes won 20 global medals.
Vigil’s impact on the running committee is one that will stand the test of time. He was one of the four founding fathers of the United States of America Track and Field (USATF) Coaches Education Program. With his help in creating this program, Vigil has helped present running clinics at the high school, collegiate, national, and international level. In all, he has presented clinics in 27 countries around the world.
Throughout his prestigious career as both a coach and educator, Coach Vigil has been named the National Coach of the Year 14 times, inducted into 12 different hall of fames, and was awarded the Professor Emeritus at Adams State. Prior to his time at Adams State, Dr. Vigil coached Alamosa High School to eight state championships in track and field. He is a member of the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and NAIA Hall of Fame.
Vigil earned his bachelors and master’s degrees from Adams State with post-graduate work at Louisiana State University and Toledo University. He received a master’s from Colorado College, and Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico.
