A coach called 'The Saint' who inspired all around him

Jack "The Saint" St. Clair Jr., 80, Temple University's head men's track coach who led the Owls to a 104-32-1 record from 1967 to 1983, died of multiple organ failure Wednesday at home in Brigantine, N.J.

Mr. St. Clair also coached Temple's men's cross-country for 20 seasons, and at Cardinal Dougherty High School from 1956 to 1968, when his teams won eight Philadelphia Catholic League and city championships.

"Jack was a beloved personality within the track and field fraternity," said Bill Bradshaw, director of Temple athletics. "He was warm, outgoing, lovable and one of a kind. He coached hundreds of runners during his career at Temple."

Mr. St. Clair coached the Owls' 1971 one-mile-relay team to the NCAA finals. He coached seven-foot high jumpers Glenn Irion and George Horne. His javelin thrower, Rick Thomas, was on the U.S. Junior National Track Team that toured Europe in 1977.

When Mr. St. Clair was growing up in Port Richmond and running cross-country at La Salle High School (Class of 1944), one of his favorite training spots was Fairmount Park's Belmont Plateau.

In 1963, Mr. St. Clair and coaches from Villanova University and what was then St. Joseph's College designed the five-mile college course at Belmont Plateau. It is still considered a course with everything a runner could want: steep challenging climbs, rapid descents, grass and dirt trails, and spectacular scenery, including the Philadelphia skyline. Runners from across the country train there.

Mr. St. Clair was the primary designer of the 2.5-mile cross-country course on the plateau that the Catholic League first used in 1965. The Public League began running at Belmont in 1977. After retiring from Temple in 1983, he continued to officiate college meets at Belmont.

In a 2002 Inquirer report, Mr. St. Clair said of the Belmont course: "To run well, you have to be a bull."

After graduating from La Salle, where he was a top runner, Mr. St. Clair joined the Army. He served Stateside until being discharged in 1947.

He married Jean Furness in 1949. In 1951, he earned a bachelor's degree in education from Pennsylvania State University, where he was an All American and captain of Nittany Lions' 1950 NCAA cross-country championship team. He also was a member of five national AAU title-winning teams.

The couple returned to Port Richmond, and Mr. St. Clair supported his growing family by driving a truck for Pepsi Cola and working for the Postal Service. In 1956, with seven of their eventual 12 children, they moved to a four-bedroom, one-bath stone twin in East Oak Lane.

That year, he was hired to teach and coach track at Cardinal Dougherty.

Among his students was future son-in-law Frank Carver, a runner who won the Philadelphia Catholic League Championship in 1959 and was the league's one-mile champ in 1960. Mr. St. Clair helped him get a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where Carver was all-American in 1962.

"Jack helped scores of people like me who would never have had a chance to go to college," Carver said. "Eventually, any runner who The Saint recommended was accepted by Notre Dame, sight unseen."

"My father opened our small home to all the runners he coached. My mother and the 12 children were part of his team," said daughter Colleen Felix. "We went to all the meets, made sandwiches and cut oranges for everyone."

Mr. St. Clair worked hard to support his brood. In addition to his teaching and coaching jobs, for which he was never paid more than $16,000 a year, he was a bartender, a private coach, and a merchant who sold Adidas spikes out of his basement.

He set standards as high for his children as he did for his runners. Many children and grandchildren went on to become national champions in crew and track.

Daughter Kathleen Carver is a Special Olympics coach.

Later in life, Mr. St. Clair began letting his white beard grow in June to play Santa Claus for the children each year.

Mr. St. Clair was inducted in 1979 into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. The Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, for which he once served as president, honored him in 1977 for 25 years of service.

"My father was determined to make it to 80," said daughter Colleen. "Our family - more than 50 people - celebrated his birthday on March 18. He died three days later."

In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. St. Clair is survived by sons Jack 3d, Kevin and Brenden; daughters Jeannie Chieffo, Patricia Sharp, Karen Hatfield, Eileen Gallagher, Anita St. Clair, and Michele Billie; 31 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren. Son James died in 1988.

Friends may visit at 7 p.m. today at Bryers Funeral Home, 406 Easton Rd., Willow Grove, and at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Our Mother of Consolation Church, 9 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. A Funeral Mass will follow. Burial will be in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.

Donations may be made to Cardinal Dougherty High School, John St. Clair Scholarship Fund, 6301 N. Second St., Philadelphia, 19120.