Running track for Edwin Zarowin, who at the age of 87, might be the oldest coach in all of NCAA sports, is no walk in the park. Most people would be intimidated by his statements of wanting their minds not their bodies, but there are students who just can't seem to stay away.
In fact it hasn’t seemed to scare the hundreds of kids Edwin Zarowin has coached over his 52-year career as a track and field coach. Before life dropped him off on Hunter College’s campus, Coach Z, as he is affectionately called, was the head coach of Brooklyn Technical High School’s track and field program.
During his 22-year tenure at Tech, the former assistant principal turned head coach taught close to 100 kids at a time. Due to a write-up in the New York Times one Sunday about a possible retirement, he was contacted by Hunter College the very next day to come in for a job interview.
He jokingly remarked that the job interview was four hours long. At the end of the interview, the interviewer stated “You had this job long before you interviewed.”
Coach Z sharply stated, “So why did you interview me for four hours if I already had the job?”
“Well I used to run track for Sheepshead Bay High School when you coached Brooklyn Tech,” the then Hunter College Athletic Director recalled, “and when we ran against Brooklyn Tech you kicked our butt.”
Kicking butt might be the right way to categorize Hunter College’s dominance in track, as the Hawks have won a total of 45 titles under Zarowin’s leadership, making him one of the most victorious coaches in CUNYAC history, not to mention the longest tenured coach as well.
Considering Zarowin himself has never run track and field, this accomplishment speaks volumes about his ability to coach anything and anyone.
“I hung out with all the guys on the track and field team and would always tell them I would never be on the track team,” added the coach. When asked why he would never do it, he smartly replied, “I could never run around in my underwear.”
He primarily wanted to coach football, but the football coach at Tech was beloved by his students, so his dream never came to pass- but another one was born when the school’s track coach became ill, leaving the Cross Country head coaching job vacant.
Reluctantly accepting the position signaled the start of his coaching career at Tech, as the coach later passed away leaving the position to an already in-place Zarowin.
“Never say never,” stated the Hunter Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee. “You might not like math but you might become a teacher one day and end up having to teach the very same thing you hated teaching,” he quipped.
When asked about the differences between coaching at the high school versus collegiate level, Coach Z talked about the number of students he coached drastically decreasing from 100 to nearly eight on his men’s and women’s collegiate teams.
He realized that guys and “gals,” as he refers to his female student athletes, were the same and they should be taught equally.
“I don’t have guys and gals. I have athletes,” said Zarowin.
“The ladies run with the guys. They all train together. Sometimes I lower the hurdles for the ladies, and if the men run 600 meters the ladies run a little less, but other than that, each athlete pulls their weight”, continued Zarowin.
But there is one statistical difference in his teams, and it relates to his women’s indoor team. Compared to the five other teams he currently coaches, his women’s indoor team has won significantly less. At most, his men’s outdoor team has 15 titles while his women’s indoor team won only three.
When asked why this was the case, he initially did not have an answer, but later commented by saying: “Women are needed more at home than guys. Sometimes they may have to take care of a younger child. So there’s less time available for them to practice.”
To offset some of the setbacks in his student athletes lives, particularly the ones his female student athletes have faced, he has helped them get jobs on campus and assisted in trying to help them dorm or get a place to stay in the area. But even he will tell you that it is hard to compete with their lives and their academic commitments. Most students, when pressed, have chosen their jobs and their families over practicing, which he has referred to as being the most difficult thing when it comes to coaching collegiate athletes.
Gone are the days of home room, and traveling in packs. It’s every man or in this case woman for his or herself.
“That is hard,” said Coach Z, sighing deeply.
Another hurdle his students have dealt with is not having a designated place to train. They train in Hunter’s gymnasium.According to Zarowin, they do their interval work in the gym and do their long distance running on a nearby park.
“There are variations in what we do to become successful that other people don’t do,” added the former coach of the year.
But even with these extra demands placed on his athletes, most have never wavered, and Coach Z finally struck gold with his struggling women's team this spring, as they captured the first place title in the 2014 CUNYAC Outdoor Championship for the first time in nine years.
"They feed off of each other," said Zarowin. "With good teams, that is how it works. They all want to be good and it pushes them further."
Whether they realize it or not, his students dominance on the track have made Coach Zarowin’s program unlike most programs in CUNYAC and Division III sports. It is also unparalleled to other athletic programs because it accepts everyone.
“I believe anyone who is interested in track can be made a champion...almost. I do not have tryouts. If you come to the door, I will take you,” affirmed the veteran head coach.
But this does not mean that you can choose to participate in any aspect of the sport you wish to.
“I have to be very selective in terms of how I use them,” the 87-year-old stated. “I observe their body.”
Some students come into the program thinking they were great at one thing but came out better in another. Whatever their abilities, Zarowin has proven he can mold almost anyone into a winner.
But there was almost a time when this was not the case. Where he believed that no matter what he tried, it would not make one young man, his current men’s team captain Richard Barbecho, a champion.
“There was something in me that thought he did not have what it took. His abilities were dismal, but I did not have the heart to tell him ‘I don’t think you belong on the track team,’” said the Brooklyn resident.
“But he was a hard worker,” Zarowin added. “Now, as a team captain and senior, he scores in many of the competitions we participate in.”
With someone who has accomplished so much, one would think that he would say it was one of his 19 titles that would be the most special to him, some of which line the walls of his overflowing office- but no. He stated: “It was when that young man (referring to Barbecho), our present men’s captain, started here at minus zero and became a star.”
Track is not for everyone, and even Zarowin will tell you that’s why most young men and even some young women don’t call it their favorite sport.
“People have to be taught to punish themselves. It hurts to get better,” declared the head coach.
It’s hard to remain on top in this league when conference rivals CCNY, under the leadership of Hugh Reid, are constantly in hot pursuit of Hunter’s top ranking, but it’s even harder when high profile sports like basketball take precedence over track. On several instances Zarowin referenced times his teams learned of their competitions locations only days before an event.
Zarowin, along with this gripe, stated that for his students to overcome all that they have to do to compete, they, along with other CUNYAC students, should be able to reap more rewards from the conference.
“Track is the hardest sport to get into shape and become better and better at,” said Zarowin.
Many of his students have gotten better and made running an integral part of their lives long after they stopped being a Hunter Hawk. According to Sports Information Contact Jennifer Kraham, Coach Z “does not have an email address or use computers,” but somehow, his students always find their way back to him long after they have left the college.
They always come to him and update him on how they are using their minds, not their bodies to do the one thing Zarowin used to hate but now can’t get enough of: running.