Men's Track

Coach: Ralf Uebel
Contact: Men's Track or call the Athletic Department at 619-388-3486

His Latest Challenge:
Rebuilding City College’s Track Program

In 1984, newly named San Diego City College track coach Ralf Uebel found himself in a locker room in Denver asking how to put on football pads. The former Danish Olympic track coach had never played the game, yet had impressed scouts enough with his natural ability that he was invited to camp. Incredibly, Uebel lasted the season with the Broncos, making the team’s “taxi” squad as a defensive end.

“It was a short experience, but fun,” he said with a laugh. Uebel has brought his experience and sense of adventure to City College, where this spring he will direct what has become a rarity in college athletics - the re-birth of a track and field program. The City College program, dormant for a decade, will feature both men’s and women’s teams when it begins competition late in the spring semester.

Uebel comes to the Knights after coaching the hammer and javelin throwers for the Danish Athletic Federation in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as well as long stints as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University, a powerhouse in college track. So why come to City College at this point in his life?

“San Diego is a great city and there are family relocation reasons,” Uebel said. “As far as coaching, I had gotten away from coaching in part because of restrictions the NCAA had in terms of working with athletes. But, this opening at a community college is a different ballgame. I could do this part-time and still teach, which is what I love to do.”

Judging from the classes he teaches, Eubel seems highly qualified to tell his athletes why their javelins are going far. He teaches physics and a chemistry lab at Bell Junior High in Paradise Hills. Prior to that, he taught Conceptual Physics to high school students in Hawaii, and biology and physics at the University of Hawaii Laboratory School.

Now, he also has the chance to build men’s and women’s track teams at City College.

“This will be an all-out program,” he said. “We have the facilities and location, there’s no reason why we can’t expect to do well.

“It is going to take some patience,” Uebel added. “We can’t go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 5 seconds. But, I think that at least in our conference we can be respectable.”

Uebel and City College do have some natural advantages as they start their re-building process. The Knights already have a solid cross country program under distance coach Paul Greer, a former sub-four-minute miler. City College is located in what should be a college sprinting hotbed. And, Uebel is bringing considerable expertise with him in the throwing events. All of that, Uebel said, could add up to a well-rounded team.

One of the biggest factors beneffiting the fledgling program, however, could be the relatively track-poor environment into which the team is being thrust. For years, San Diego State fielded strong men’s and women’s teams under Dixon Farmer and Jim Cerveny. That program, however, has fallen on lean times, with the men’s track and cross country teams being cut. It has created a sense of under-achievement in what once was a track-rich area.

“I think there is definitely a need for our program at City College,” said Uebel, pointing to students who will benefit from a year or two of maturing at the community college level, or others who will have the opportunity to learn technical events such as the throws or jumps for the first time.

So now, Uebel is looking to recruit from many different sources. That includes athletes who might have considered San Diego State at one point. He also is hoping to attract athletes already on the City College campus itself, some of whom are finding out about the new opportunities in track and field via interested faculty, who are pitching in to help recruitment, and others on current Knight teams. To that, he says he’ll add athletes recruited from his previous contacts.

And, of course, there is the natural lure of San Diego and its weather, conditions that have left the city with a proud, albeit increasingly ebbing, heritage in the sport.

But, for someone who made the NFL without even knowing how to put on the equipment of the game, restoring a bit of track’s pulse in the heart of San Diego is just another challenge filled with fun.