Former Virginia Track and Field Coach Dennis Craddock Passes Away

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Former Virginia men’s and women’s track and field head coach Dennis Craddock passed away Tuesday evening (Aug. 13) in North Carolina. Craddock coached the Cavaliers for nine seasons (1976-85) before taking the head coaching job at North Carolina, where he retired in 2012 after 27 years of service with the Tar Heels.  
 
A United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame honoree, Craddock won more ACC titles than any other coach in any sport in the history of the conference, recording 45 between his time at UVA and UNC. He received ACC Coach of the Year honors 31 times during his career, winning the honor five times with the Cavaliers. While at Virginia, he captured three national titles and won five ACC Championships.
 
Under Craddock’s leadership, the Cavaliers’ women’s cross country program won back-to-back NCAA championships in 1981 and 1982. UVA placed four runners in the top 12 in 1981, recording the lowest score in NCAA women’s history. The team followed that accomplishment with an NCAA title in 1982, placing three runners in the top 12 with Lesley Welch finishing first at the national meet.
 
Virginia also won the women’s ACC cross country championships during the 1981 and 1982 seasons and recorded a fifth-place finish at the 1984 Men’s NCAA Cross Country Championships. 
 
Craddock’s influence continued to the oval where the women’s track and field team won the 1981 AWIA Indoor Championship. Aileen O’Conner and Jill Haworth recorded national titles in the 5000m and 1500m, respectively, to lead the Cavaliers at the national meet. Virginia also captured the women’s ACC outdoor titles from 1983-85, recording 23 individual conference championships during the three-year span.
 
At North Carolina, Craddock coached 19 Olympians and recorded 38 individual NCAA champion performances. The Tar Heels captured 29 ACC women’s track and field titles, six ACC men’s track and field titles, three ACC women’s cross country titles and one ACC men’s cross country title during his reign. He was also named the National Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year in 1995.
 
A 1965 graduate of Ferrum College, Craddock competed in track and field, where he was named captain and MVP, in addition to playing football for the college. After two years at Ferrum, he earned a bachelor’s degree at Lynchburg College. Craddock was inducted in to the Ferrum College Sports and Lynchburg College Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
Craddock is survived by his wife, Faye, and two daughters, Chris Bozart of Carolina Beach and Carla Roberts and her husband David of Bahama; their son, Blake Craddock and his wife, Bridget of Bullock; six grandchildren– Dillon Roberts and his wife, Kayla, Alison Bozart, Sydney Bozart, Emma Roberts, Caroline Craddock and Kailen Craddock; one great-grandson expected in December, Baby JD Roberts; one sister, Sandra Craddock of Gretna, Va.; and his buddy, “Buddy.”
 
He was preceded in death by one sister, Emma Johnson.
 
The family will receive friends from 1:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. with a memorial service to follow at Ridgecrest at 3 p.m.