| 04/12/2009 |
Graham Knight |
John Bailey RIP |
John Bailey died this week.
His early sporting life in Stoke-on-Trent revolved around football, and he was on the books of local professional clubs.
He was a good sprinter at area level, and his well-known achievement was to place 2nd to Peter Radford in the 220 yards at the Staffs Champs in May 1960. This was the last occasion that a British athlete broke a world record in a sprints or hurdles event in this country.
John was a coach for the Stoke club at their old base in Cobridge Stadium and did his stint as Team Manager when the club was successful in the National League. In that period he was primarily regarded as a sprints coach, but he developed an early interest in the 400mH event, which later became his athletics passion.
In 1982 he became National Event Coach in GB for 400mH, and he coached Martin Briggs to the Los Angeles Olympics. Subsequently he took Elaine McLaughlin and Tony Borsumato to major championships, but, like many coaches, he worked wonders at club level with countless other athletes.
The 400mH event occupies a relatively strange position in coaching because most athletes are coached by those whose perceived specialism lie in the 400m flat event or in sprint hurdles. John worked tirelessly in his time to raise the profile of the event and to encourage others to specialise in 400mH coaching.
He was never a loud self-publicist and he had an undemonstrative trackside manner both in coaching and at meetings. John was GB team coach at the 1997 World Champs in Athens and the 1998 World Cup in Johannesburg. More recently after a period of illness he has been helping Rick Yates with his hurdling at Stretford.
Those who got to know John quickly came to trust his understated style, and they valued his readiness to offer genuine advice in an unthreatening way. The sport will miss John, and our sympathies go to his widow, Gwen, and his family.
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