Malone University men's and women's cross country head coach Jack Hazen was selected as one of two individuals for the NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) Hall of Fame, the NCCAA announced recently.  Jeff Santarsiero, the head men's basketball coach at Geneva College (PA), is the other inductee to the upcoming 2013 class.  The twosome will be inducted on May 31st during the NCCAA Convention at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. that evening.

Hazen joins Hal Smith, former and longtime men's basketball head coach and athletic director at Malone, and Joe Harding, who was Malone's athletic trainer in the early 1970's and who went on to serve as men's soccer coach and professor at Moody Bible Institute, as Pioneers who have earned this prestigious NCCAA Hall of Fame honor.  Smith was elected in 2000 while Harding was elected in 2010.

“Coach Hazen is a mentor to all of us here at Malone Athletics,” said Malone Athletic Director Charlie Grimes. “He has faithfully worked to advance Christ's Kingdom through deep relationships in and around Athletics nearly all his life! He is truly a gem of a person, always cheerful and ready to encourage.  I, along with many, owe him a great deal of gratitude for the wisdom and strength he has demonstrated and shared with us at Malone University. He is definitely a “Hall of Fame” person!”

“I'm extremely honored and appreciative of the Malone athletic administration's desire to nominate me for this tremendous award,” commented Hazen. “And I'm very grateful to the NCCAA for bestowing this prestigious honor upon me.”

Hazen has served as head coach of men's cross country at Malone University for the past 45 years and as women's cross country head coach for the last 21 seasons.  He also served as the Pioneers' men's track & field coach from 1968-1995 and the women's track & field coach from 1992-1995. Many of his outstanding accomplishments and honors while at Malone have come from his association with the NCCAA.

Hazen served as the NCCAA's National Sport Chair in Cross Country from 1988-91 and then as the National Sport Chair for Track & Field from 1993-96. 

In NCCAA national competition, Hazen's men's and women's cross country teams have captured numerous team national titles and a “top-five” finish in nearly every NCCAA national meet in which the Pioneers teams competed.  The men earned 21 NCCAA national titles while the women tallied 12 NCCAA national championships.  In addition, numerous Pioneer student-athletes earned a first-place individual national finish at the NCCAA national competition and many more have earned the NCCAA All-American distinctions in both cross country and track & field.

His men's program still ranks as the all-time winningest program as ranked by the NAIA and his 1972 men's team became the first Malone team to earn an NAIA national championship while his 1999 women's team became the second.

The Pioneers have captured a total of four NAIA men's cross country titles and one women's cross country title during Hazen's tenure.  In the fall of 2007, the men's cross country team captured the program's second NAIA national title, completing a “perfect” season after having finished first in every meet in which it competed. The Pioneer men backed up their incredible 2007 campaign with another national championship in 2008 as the squad held the NAIA's #1 national ranking from the season's start to finish. Then, in the fall of 2009, the men's program collected an incredible "three-peat" by capturing its third straight NAIA national title.

Hazen's men's squad qualified for the NAIA national meet each and every year, having never lost a conference/district meet in the program's history. In addition, his men's team has 35 top-ten NAIA national finishes.  The team has also won eight All-Ohio titles, the last one in 2008.  Notably, Malone is the only small school to have won the overall Ohio team title.

Jack has also coached men's track & field for 28 years and women's for three years. He has coached over 325 NAIA All-Americans in cross country and track & field, which represents over 80% of the All-Americans in all of Malone athletics history.

Jack recently served as an assistant coach for the USA Track and Field Team during the 2012 Olympic Games. In addition to working with the men's distance runners for Team USA at the London Olympics, he has had several previous international coaching opportunities. He was named Head Manager for the 1999 Junior Pan American Track & Field Team and was twice named as U.S. Coach for men's cross country at the World Championships in Boston and Capetown, South Africa. He was also selected the Assistant Coach for the U.S. World Championship meet in Helsinki, Finland in 2005.  Jack has coached two Olympians and served on the Track & Field Competition Management Team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

A member of the USA Track & Field Board of Directors, Jack has written textbooks on coaching and has been published numerous times. But most importantly, he has impacted many lives for Christ at Malone University and outside of its borders. He has served as a church elder for his home church, “Christ Presbyterian” and has conducted youth camps at Camp Wakonda for over 20 years in affiliation with “Christ Presbyterian”.

He and his wife, Jill, reside in North Canton, Ohio.  He has one daughter and three grandchildren.

Link to NCCAA Hall of Fame story