Hall of Fame
John “Laddie” Lawrence’s name has been synonymous with success in the sports of cross country and track and field among the high school ranks in Connecticut for the past 50 years. A member of four hall of fames for his achievements in coaching, the springboard to Lawrence’s legendary coaching career began at what was then Southern State College as Laddie was a student-athlete running cross country and track from 1964-68.
As a Mulerider, Laddie ran alongside SAU Sports Hall of Fame inductees George Eriquezzo, Wayne Roper, Jackie Seale, and Dan Veach. After exhausting his eligibility as an athlete, Lawrence had one more semester remaining before he was set to graduate and then track and field coach Rip Powell assigned Laddie to serve as the student coach of the 1968 cross country team. That year’s cross country team posted an impressive 13-1 dual meet record.
Upon his graduation, Lawrence returned to his home state of Connecticut where he quickly became an assistant boy’s outdoor track and field coach at Staples HS in 1970. The following year, Lawrence assumed the head coaching role of the boy’s indoor track and field team. Two years later he added boy’s cross country head coaching responsibilities, and by 1977, Lawrence was the head coach of three sports at Staples as he moved from assistant to head coach of boy’s outdoor track and field. Impressively, Lawrence remains head coach of all three programs to this day.
Lawrence’s longevity in the realm of coaching has garnered unparalleled personal and team success. Through his most recent completed cross country season, Lawrence had won over 82% of dual meets and amassed over 1,800 victories in that time. Across the three sports, his teams have posted 33 undefeated seasons and at one point had registered 142 consecutive wins. His teams have won 150 championships with over 100 of those coming within the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference (FCIAC) and over 40 at the state level in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).
Individually, Lawrence has coached over 300 FCIAC Champions and nearly 350 CIAC Class or Open Champions. Nearly 40 have captured New England Championships with eight reaching the pinnacle with National Championships. With over 1,000 all-county plaudits garnered under Lawrence, nearly 500 have also gone on to achieve all-state status, over 170 have been all-region and 28 have earned All-America honors.
For his career, Lawrence has earned numerous coaching awards. In 1990, Lawrence was named the National High School Athletic Coaches Association National Coach of the Year. Most recently, Lawrence was named as the Connecticut Boy’s Cross Country Coach of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in 2015 and 2016.
A titan in the coaching circles for cross country and track and field in the northeast, Lawrence has also spent a majority of his career serving on numerous committees with several as chairman. He currently serves as chairman of the FCIAC Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field committees.
