Irving Mondschein

Irving "Moon" Mondschein (February 7, 1924 – June 5, 2015) was an American track and field athlete and football player.[1][2]

Personal life

Mondschein, who was Jewish, was born in Brooklyn, New York.[1][3][4] He attended Boys High School, where he ran track.[5] He also ran for the New York Pioneer Club.[1][6] He entered the US Army in 1943.[7] He became a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternal organization while attending New York University[8] His son, Brian, was a world-class decathlete in the 1980s.[7] His grandson, also named Brian, was an All-American pole vaulter at Virginia Tech.[9]

Decathlon, high jump, and football career

He was AAU decathlon champion in 1944, and in 1946 and 1947.[1][10] He won the 1944 Olympic Trials and would have been the top American representative had the Olympic Games been held that year.[11] He was NCAA high jump champion in both 1947 and 1948, competing for New York University.[1][4][10] As of 2015, he still held NYU's record in the outdoor high jump—6 feet, 7¾ inches.[9] He also played football as an end for NYU in 1946, earning All-East honors.[7][10][12] He competed in the 1948 Olympics for the United States in decathlon, coming in eighth, as teammate Bob Mathias won the gold medal.[1] In his career, he was ranked third in the world in outdoor high jump and tenth in the decathlon in 1947; sixth in the indoor high jump and eighth in the decathlon in 1948; and third in the outdoor high jump and sixth in the decathlon in 1949.[13]

Coaching career

He later coached track, basketball, and football at Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania, starting in 1949.[1][14] He coached the US team at the 1950 Maccabiah Games, and was also an advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Education, helping for two years to prepare the country's athletes for the 1952 Olympics.[1][7] Irv was also athletic coach (Track) at Lawrence High School, Cedarhurst, NY ( Nassau County) from 1963-65. He was then a coach at the University of Pennsylvania; first the assistant track coach (1965–79) and then the head coach (1979–87).[7] He was also an assistant coach on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team.[12] He was previously an assistant coach at Kutztown University,[7] and also volunteered as an assistant coach at Haverford College. He also served as an assistant coach at La Salle University in Philadelphia.[15]

Honors

He is a member of the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, the New York Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[12][16][17] He is also a member of the NYU Athletics Hall of Fame, and the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame.[9][18]

References
  1. "Irving Mondschein Biography and Olympic Results". Sports-reference.com. February 7, 1924. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-06-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Bernard Postal; Jesse Silver; Roy Silver (1965). Encyclopedia of Jews in sports. Bloch Publishing Company. Retrieved August 12, 2011. Irving Mondschein.
  4. Bob Wechsler (2008). Day by day in Jewish sports history. ISBN 9780881259698. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  5. Frank Litzky (March 5, 2004). "Eighty Years Old and Coaching Yet Another Generation". NYT. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  6. Pamela Cooper (1999). The American Marathon. ISBN 9780815605737. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  7. Litsky, Frank (March 5, 2004). "Eighty Years Old and Coaching Yet Another Generation". Nytimes.com. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  8. 2011 Pi Lambda Phi Membership Directory
  9. "moon_hall". Pennalumnitrack.com. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  10. Wechsler, Bob (2008). Day by day in Jewish sports history. ISBN 9780881259698. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  11. http://decathlonusa.typepad.com/deca/files/history_of_the_us_olympic_trials_repaired.pdf
  12. "Irv Mondschein, USTFCCCA Class of 2007". U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  13. "Inductions | Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame". Phillyjewishsports.com. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  14. Litsky, Frank (March 5, 2004). "Eighty Years Old and Coaching Yet Another Generation". The New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  15. Goldstein, Irving (June 6, 2015). "Irving Mondschein, Decathlete, Coach and Track Patriarch, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  16. "Mondschein, Irv "Moon"". Jews In Sports @ Virtual Museum. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  17. "Jewish Sports Hall of Fame". Jewishsports.org. March 29, 1998. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  18. "New York University – Hall of Fame". Gonyuathletics.com. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
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