Background
Dean Bartlett Cromwell was born on September 20, 1879 in Turner, Oregon, United States where his father operated a sawmill and owned a small ranch.
Dean Bartlett Cromwell was born on September 20, 1879 in Turner, Oregon, United States where his father operated a sawmill and owned a small ranch.
Cromwell entered Occidental College Prep School in 1896. An excellent athlete, he played on several Occidental College teams. (At the time prep school athletes were allowed to compete on college teams. ) In 1898, Cromwell enrolled at Occidental College, where he played right halfback on the football team, first base on the baseball team, and participated in eight different events at track meets.
After graduating in 1902 he represented the Los Angeles YMCA at track meets throughout the nation.
For a time Cromwell worked in the contracts department of the telephone company in southern California.
Hired in 1908 by the University of Southern California, Cromwell began coaching track and football in 1909. He coached football through the 1914 season, compiling a record of twenty-one wins, eight losses, and six ties. Although relieved of football responsibilities, his tenure as track coach continued through the 1948 season.
Because of his coaching success Cromwell became known as "the Dean" or, more expressively, as "the Maker of Champions. "
At one time or another trackmen coached by Cromwell held thirteen individual world records and three relay-team world records. During his tenure at Southern California, Cromwell's team dominated intercollegiate track and field, winning nine championships of the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (seven in a row between 1933 and 1939), as well as twelve National Collegiate Athletic Association championships (nine in a row between 1935 and 1943). He was named head track and field coach for the 1948 United States Olympic team. Cromwell was not a specialist whose teams concentrated on one phase of track and field. Champions and world record setters came from many events in both running and field events.
His athletes won Olympic gold medals in seven different events. Cromwell's success did not depend on any particular style or philosophy of coaching. He tried to find the best athletes and then to observe their styles and methods closely. He had lesser athletes emulate the methods of those who were faster or stronger. Cromwell also stressed motivation, always referring to his charges individually as "champ. " He believed that a coach should never speak negatively to his team, but should assure them that they were capable, and able to defeat any challenger. Perhaps because of his success, Cromwell had a long-running feud with Robert L. "Dink" Templeton, the track coach at Stanford University. The rivalry consisted largely of good-natured spoofing and highly competitive meets between their teams, which were generally the best on the West Coast. Ironically, the two rivals died within four days of each other. Despite his record, Cromwell's appointment as Olympic track coach met with some opposition from reporters in the East. They charged that his success came from being in southern California, where it was easy to recruit quality athletes, and not from his coaching abilities.
Cromwell retired from active coaching in 1949. His salary of $1, 500 in 1909 rose to $6, 500 in the mid-1930's, when the school won the string of national championships, and finally reached $8, 500 when he retired. He had invested in southern California real estate over the years, and owned apartment houses, bungalows, and business properties as well as recreation property and an orchard in Oregon.
He was an active and highly visible figure in all areas of sport in southern California until he died at Los Angeles.
In 1901 he was recognized as the outstanding athlete in southern California when he received the Helms Athletic Award. Between 1912 and 1948 eight of his athletes won a total of twelve Olympic gold medals, at least one in each Olympiad. Cromwell was elected to the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame in 1948 and to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974, as one of its initial inductees. In retirement he served as adviser for track programs throughout the world.
