About the Eddie Hart All In One Foundation

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How The Eddie Hart All In One Foundation Came To Be...

Long before I competed in the 1972 Olympics, I decided that I wanted to be a track coach after my days of competition. I loved the sport of track and field and I felt this would be an excellent way to continue to be involved with it until I retired from working. Little did I know that I really made the right choice. Although there are some downsides to coaching, the positives more than outweigh the negatives. Many of my life’s most enjoyable moments have been spent on the track with my athletes. There were also those times when long after track practice was over I found myself talking to the team. The amazing part is we talked about everything. As I look back over some of those experiences, I wonder if I gave them the right advice. They asked the typical question, like what should they consider when faced with choosing which college they would attend. However, there were the not so typical questions about girls, marriage and fatherhood.

As I look back over my twenty-five plus years of coaching at both the college and community college level, I have enjoyed every moment of it, with one exception. I did not care for the administrative aspect of coach. Because I was coaching in a school setting, I was constantly faced with justifying my budget. Most teachers just did not get role that athletics plays in the lives of student-athletes. When I was competing in high school, you were required to maintain a 2.0 GPA, to participate in sport. That was the main reason why I did as well as I did in school, and I was always eligible. Now after receiving a full athletic scholarship to the University of California Berkeley, I can truthfully say that it was one of the best things that happened to me.

During those years, I have had the privilege to coach some the finest and most talented individuals this country has produced. While we never won the state meet in Jr. College we were secon d one year and that was very exciting. In 1978 our team set the Nation Jr. College Record in the 4X100 M relay, we also had a high jumper that broke the community College national record. Upon being inducted in the California Community College Coaches Hall of Fame was icing on the cake.

A few years before I retired from community college teaching, I decided to move back to my home town, Pittsburg, CA. Coupled with the fact that I missed the coaching aspect of track, and that many people in Pittsburg were urging me to do something in the town. I also felt it was important for me to give something back. My road to success began right here in Pittsburg, with my first real coach, Bert Bannano. I wanted to help the youth in the community realize their goals and dreams. I also felt it was important for them to know that they could be winners, and that their social-economical background did not have to be stop signs, but rather hurdles that could be negotiated. So, in 2003, I decided to start my own non-profit foundation to help the disadvantaged youth in the surrounding communities. I wanted every kid to know that each one of them can be successful.

The foundation is designed to meet the needs of these individuals in a unique and different way. By providing facilities, opportunities and other positive role models, I have developed the foundation to deliver these types of experiences to compensate for their disadvantaged conditions.

Anytime one of our youngsters become a viable member of our society we all win. I have found that one of the best ways to get this point across is to simply tell my own story.