Charles Craig

Charles "Charlie" Craig (born October 17, 1942) is an American track and field coach and former triple jumper. He was the gold medalist at the 1967 Pan American Games and was an American champion both indoors and outdoors.

Craig attended California State University, Fresno, eventually gaining a master's degree there. As a student-athlete, he competed for the Fresno State Bulldogs track team and was among their leading men in jumps and sprints. He was a key part of the Bulldog's 1964 team that won the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships (Fresno's first). He broke the American collegiate record for the triple jump and won that title at the NCAA Championships. His jump of defeated all comers, although due to wind-assistance it was not ratified as a collegiate record (being an improvement of more than 15 inches on any previous mark). This brought him selection for that season's Pan American Games held in Winnipeg and his best jump of (wind assisted, but only two centimetres short of Adhemar da Silva's games record) was enough hold off Brazil's Nelson Prudencio and win the gold medal. This made him the second American to win that title, following in the footsteps of the previous champion, Bill Sharpe. In his last year of competition, he won at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a meet record of (a personal record) and then placed third at the USA Outdoors. He was head coach for the Roadrunners for over thirty years. In 1991, Craig was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame.

National titles USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Triple jump: 1967 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships Triple jump: 1968 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships Triple jump: 1964