California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

Marty Uher enjoyed an eminent coaching and teaching career at Cal U for 25 years.

He was a professor from 1967 through June 1992 in Cal U’s Department of Health and Physical Education.

While teaching, Uher organized, initiated and served as head coach for both track & field programs in 1971 and women’s cross country in 1976. He also coached the men’s cross country team that was started by fellow emeritus professor Dr. Phil Coleman.

In track & field, Uher coached 16 PSAC individual champions, 11 NAIA, AIAW or NCAA Division II All-Americans and three individual NCAA champions. In cross country, Uher helped 15 Vulcans earn All-PSAC honors, including four PSAC individual champions, two AIAW All-Eastern runners, six NAIA or NCAA individual All-Americans and one national champion.

Headlining the impressive list of student-athletes Uher guided was Brian Ferrari, who was a member of Cal U’s initial Hall of Fame Class along with women’s track and field star Jenise Lockhart. Ferrari won the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship in 1983 and the 10,000-meter NCAA title in 1983 and 1984. Lockhart won the 1985 NCAA Division II High Jump Indoor National Championship.

Other Cal U Hall of Fame members Uher coached include Mike Bradley, Jessica Nicholls, Dean Shaw, and Sue Van Orden. All told, Uher coached 20 PSAC individual champions and All-Americans.

“I am not really going into the Hall of Fame for what I did but rather what they did and I am so proud of them and their accomplishments,” said Uher about the impressive list of competitors. “They made the program, and it’s to these student-athletes that I tip my hat and thank them for what they did to me. Most of them were walk-ons who still hold many school records”

Understandably, Uher also praised Coleman and the late Dr. Ray Lister, who coached the men’s track & field team from 1974-79.

“Ray and I were running buddies and we went all across the east coast together competing in masters’ races,” said Uher. “In all the many years I have known Phil I never considered him an assistant coach. He was always a co-coach because he did so many things that helped me as a coach. One of the primary things he taught me was not to over-coach which is often done. Everybody does that to a degree but I think I do it to a minimum because of his influence.”

Uher also served as an assistant football coach under John Katusa and Elmo Natali in early and mid 1970s. Teaching, coaching several sports while publishing numerous articles on running made for some long days. Uher also credited emeritus President John Watkins and retired athletic director Jan McConnell for their support.

“If it had not been for Jan McConnell and John Watkins I would not have coached,” said Uher about two fellow Cal U Hall of Fame inductees. “These sports were year-round and we had to do a lot of creative fundraising to recruit. It would have been easier to put your 12 hours in the classroom but I just loved coaching and this is what I wanted to do. We had limited resources back then but these two people were always there for me.”

Originally from Chicago, Ill., and a graduate of Gage Park High School, Uher was a scholastic standout in track & field, football and baseball before accepting a football scholarship to Western New Mexico University. He was also a two-time Golden Gloves Regional boxing champion and 1951 state runner-up. Uher was an all-conference right guard and defensive end in football and the team captain and catcher in baseball before graduating in 1954 with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with double majors in physical education and biology.

After serving two years in the U.S. Army, Uher taught and coached for eight years in the Carlsbad New Mexico school system and earned a master’s degree in physical education from Eastern New Mexico. He was the director of physical education in the elementary school district of Belleville, Ill., for three years before coming to Cal.

Following his retirement from Cal U, Uher was the Elizabeth-Forward High School’s cross country and track & field head coach from 1993- 2004. He returned to Cal U in 2005 and worked two seasons as a volunteer track & field coach and one year as a cross country volunteer coach. Uher returned to Elizabeth-Forward in 2007 and still guides the Warriors’ track programs. He also taught part-time at Pitt-Greensburg from 1993-97. When Uher assisted current track & field coach Roger Kingdom he was pleased at the school’s commitment to the running programs, which included a new composite track surface as part of an $800,000-plus-renovation project in 2003.

“What a difference it was when I came back to help Roger,” Uher said. “I was very pleased and I hope the program keeps growing. Even now when I come to campus you see so many changes.”

Widely respected, Uher was invited and served as referee for last fall’s NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Cross Country Championships. He also served as referee of the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship event in 2001. Uher is a member of numerous professional health education and athletic organizations. More than 15 years since retiring, Uher remains quite active with an everlasting coaching passion.

“There’s an old Latin phrase ‘if you cease to learn you cease to live,” he said. “Well in my case if I cease to coach I will cease to live. As far as I’m concerned I will be coaching the rest of my life. Being a coach and a teacher was something I knew I wanted to do and was instilled in me since I was a freshman in high school. I just love to do it.”