Speed City & San Jose State University

posted on March 20, 2020

San Jose State University had a powerhouse track and field program from the 1940s to 1960s. It was known as Speed City.

Bud Winter was the world renowned, legendary coach of the San Jose State Spartan Track and Field teams from 1941-1974. During his tenure at San Jose State, Bud coached 37 world record holders, 27 Olympians and 102 NCAA All-Americans. His world record holders included all of the sprints and sprint relays, as well as the pole vault. His cross country teams won the national championships twice.

Winter coached world record breaking sprinters Tommie Smith, Lee Evans, John Carlos, Ray Norton, Dennis Johnson, and Hal Davis. At one time his athletes held all ten world records for sprinting events. Bud was the first person to prove the idea that the key to winning in sports was not 100 or 110 percent effort. “Far more can be achieved with a four fifths effort” he said and he proved it. Because of the impact of Bud Winters on the coaching of sprinters, San Jose State was given the name “Speed City”.

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