Mr. Joseph J. Yancey (1919-1991) Co-founded the New York Pioneer Club in 1936 and became its first coach. Joe’s coaching career spanned a half century. He coached numerous indoor and outdoor national champions, including 18 Olympians in Track & Field, Road Running, and Race Walking. This interracial team was the first of its kind in the United States. Joseph Yancey grew up in Harlem, where his father worked as a funeral director. Young Joseph “Ten Yards” Yancey was a star athlete who excelled in running at Saratoga High School and, later, at Virginia State College and New York University. Yancey worked for the Department of the Treasury as a Revenue Officer for 39 years while simultaneously coaching. Although the I.R.S. offered Yancey several promotions in the department, he turned them down to devote his time to the boys of his track club. Whether by taking unpaid time off for meets and practices or by paying for equipment out of his own pocket, Yancey offered total commitment to his group, which was often the only place for Asian-American, African-American, Italian, Jewish athletes to practice. He always was true to the “welcome all” policy. All Joe asked was that they be gentlemen first, athlete second. Joe did a lot of talking about being a gentleman first and the values of sportsmanship and growing up to become good citizens. He was the first coach to go abroad for the U.S. State Department, traveling around the world to coach, give lectures, conduct clinics and serve as a goodwill ambassador. Joe Yancey served as Olympic coach in the following Olympic Games: Jamaica – 1948, 1952, 1956 Trinidad – 1948, 1956 Bahamas – 1956, 1960 British Guiana – 1960 U.S. Virgin Islands – 1968 Barbados – 1972 Running clubs like the University of Chicago Track Club followed the lead of NYPC fielding an integrated team. A case can made that the sport of running was a leading force in racial integration in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Among Yancey’s many lifetime awards and honors were several prestigious inductions, including to the Black Athletes Hall of Fame, the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and the Harlem Professionals, Inc. Hall of Fame. He was also a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and a life member of 369th Veterans Association, Inc. A track & field facility at Yankee Stadium and MaCombs Dam Park where the Pioneer Club trained is in Mr. Yancey’s name. Also a senior housing facility on 142nd Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenues honors him.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 22:55:59 +0000
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