TheSanta Monica Track Club (also known asSMTC) was formed by Joe Douglas as a post-collegiate track club.[1] By the 1980s, the team came to be a major player in worldwideTrack and Field competition, with team members setting numerous World and National records. The membership list reads like aWho's Who of Olympic athletes and the SMTC logo became a recognizable icon on the uniforms of those elite athletes.
In its first year of existence,1968 Olympian fromPuerto Rico,Willie Rios joined the club and qualified to run in the1972 Summer Olympics. In 1974, memberReid Harter set the firstAmerican Record in the road 30 Kilometer run. By 1976, three team members qualified for the1976 Summer Olympics.[2]
In 1979, a youngCarl Lewis, then known as a top level High School long jumper, joined the club for competitions beyond his collegiate career at theUniversity of Houston. Lewis went on to be the dominant force in sprinting and long jump for the next decade. Coached in the off season by his collegiate coachTom Tellez, other elite sprinters were attracted to the club, includingCarol Lewis, Carl's sister and University of Houston teammatesJoe DeLoach,Leroy Burrell andKirk Baptiste. The club developed an impressive record of Olympic and World Championships, limited in many situations because teammates were the closest competition at the highest level. Lewis and Burrell exchanged the prestigious World Record in the100 meters four times.
Four members of the club,Michael Marsh,Leroy Burrell,Floyd Heard andCarl Lewis, representing the Santa Monica Track Club tied theworld record in the 4x100 meters relay at theHerculis meet inMonaco. The record lasted for four days until it was surpassed by a team representing the USA that consisted of three of the SMTC members, withDennis Mitchell replacing Heard. The same four members set the World Record in the 4 x 200 meters relay, set at theMt. SAC Relays in 1994.[3] That record lasted over 20 years until it was surpassed by .05 by a team from Jamaica at the2014 IAAF World Relays. AlsoKevin Young's World Record in the400 meters hurdles set in winning the1992 Summer Olympics stood until 1 July 2021.[4]
The club was elected into theMt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame in 2011.[5]
The club is funded through the Santa Monica Track Club Foundation, founded byEd Stotsenberg (who had the personalized license plate SMTC 1), an earlyMasters runner who joined the club in the mid-1970s and became its president.[6][7]
