Al Carius, one of the nation’s most decorated collegiate running coaches, has died after a long battle with cancer, according to a release from the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin. He was 83.
Carius, a native of Morton, Illinois, spent more than 50 years as cross country and track and field coach at Naperville-based North Central College, growing it into a NCAA Division III national power between 1966 and 2020, when he retired as head coach.
Under Carius, NCC’s cross country teams won 19 national titles and finished fourth place or better nationally in 42 of 47 championship appearances. He coached 127 all-Americans and eight individual national champs. On the track, alongside coach Frank Gramarosso, Carius helped coach North Central to 12 national championships. His athletes won 536 all-America awards and 63 individual or relay national titles.
Johnny Crain, a 2010 Dunlap High graduate, was a four-time NCAA track and field champion and 10-time all-American at North Central under Carius before eventually running professionally.
“The impact that he has had is hard to really describe,” Crain told the Journal Star in 2020. “He was more than just a college coach. He was a father figure, a friend. The biggest thing that he’s most proud of is not the runners that he’s created but he builds winners in life.”
Elmwood graduate Matt Osmulski ran in a handful of races his first two seasons at North Central before eventually becoming a two-time NCAA Division III all-American. “Al means the world to me,” Osmulski said in 2020, “and everyone that has gone through the program will say the same.”
Carius won the state championship in the mile run as a senior at Morton, graduating in 1960. He went on to a standout career at Illinois, where he won five Big Ten titles in cross country and track. He landed at North Central in 1966 and built it into a collegiate power. After retiring in 2020, he wrote a book called “Run for Fun and Personal Bests,” sharing his philosphy on coaching.
“It’s easy to marvel at the long list of accolades when you reflect on Al’s coaching career,” said NCC athletics director Jim Miller, an alum of the school. “But that’s not what motivated Al. What got him out of bed in the morning was the opportunity to influence others through the teaching of life lessons and values that transcend sport.”
Carius was inducted into North Central College athletic hall of fame in 2004. He has also been inducted into the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame (1988), USTFCCCA Hall of Fame (2006), Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame (2013), Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame (2006) and the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame (2012).
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘More than a college coach’: Running icon and native of Morton, Illinois, dies at age 83
Reporting by Wes Huett, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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