On Jan. 22 at the EIU Mega Meet, the Eastern athletic department will honor one of its all-time greats.

Eastern graduate John Craft will have his jersey retired in a ceremony on the day of the EIU Mega Meet.

Competing from 1965 to 1969, Craft still holds the school record for outdoor triple jump, at 53’9″. During his senior season, Craft won three out of four national championships, while placing third at the NCAA University Division Championships.

Craft’s performance gave Eastern its first ever University Division All-American. After graduating from Eastern, Craft went on to win five Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) outdoor triple jump championships and four indoor AAU triple jump championships.

Craft earned a spot on the 1972 U.S. Olympic team after recording a 56’2″ jump at the USA Olympic Trials. At the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany, Craft placed fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 55’2.75″.

Two years after competing in the Olympics, Craft was inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Helms Hall of Fame. Craft was also inducted into the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II Track & Field Hall of Fame.

After he was through competing, Craft returned to Eastern as the women’s track and field coach, where he stayed until he retired in 2002.

Director of track and field Tom Akers said Craft had great dedication to Eastern.

“I think he has invested pretty much a lifetime into Eastern, as an undergraduate, as an athlete and as a student getting his graduate degree here, and then on through his coaching profession,” Akers said.

“He definitely is a Panther inside and out,” Akers said.

Akers said Craft had incredible athletic ability.

“Obviously what (Craft) accomplished as an athlete was at a level that very few have been able to achieve, not just from Eastern Illinois, but from anywhere.”

Craft will become only the seventh person in school history to have his jersey retired.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7944 or

dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.