Newt Loken

Newton Clayton Loken (February 27, 1919 – June 28, 2011) was an artistic gymnast and coach of gymnastics, trampolining and cheerleading. While a member of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team, Loken was NCAA all-around gymnastics champion in 1942 and the Big Ten Conference all-around champion in 1941 and 1942. He coached the University of Michigan gymnastics team for 36 years from 1948 to 1983. Loken's gymnasts won the NCAA championships in 1963 and 1970, as well as 12 Big Ten championships. His record as Michigan's gymnastics coach was 250-72-1. Loken also coached the Michigan trampolining team to NCAA championships in 1969 and 1970.

University of Minnesota

Born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, of Norwegian descent, Loken attended West High School in Minneapolis where he became Minnesota's all-around gymnastics champion in the late 1930s. At the time of Loken's arrival, Michigan did not have a men's gymnastics program, which had been dropped several years earlier during the Great Depression.

Loken received a doctorate in education in 1955 and was a kinesiology professor at Michigan until 1983. Loken produced more trampoline champions and World Medal winners than any other collegiate coach.

One of Loken's best trampoline athletes was Ron Munn. Munn described his experience with Loken: “His great personality and tremendous coaching talent helped him develop outstanding teams on a yearly basis; therefore I accepted his invitation to attend Michigan.. . . . His wonderful personality and spirit inspired everyone on the team, and certainly added to the success their success. He always had a very positive attitude and the ability to bring out the best performance in everyone.”

As of 2007, the 88-year-old Loken was still a regular at Michigan's men's gymnastics practices and events. It was reported that he had not missed a Michigan home meet from 1948 to 2007. In 1968, Loken was given the Richard Aronson Special Service Award. In 1975, Loken received the Collegiate Gymnastics Association Honor Coach Award. The award for best performance of the night on either team, presented at each men's gymnastics home meet, is named after Loken.