Skip Navigation

In Memoriam: KSC Track Coach Robert Taft

Story By:
| Writer/Editor
Former KSC track coach Robert Taft
Former KSC track coach Robert Taft

The Keene State community is saddened to learn that former financial aid director, cross country/track and field coach and KSC Hall of Famer Robert Taft died on Jan. 9, 2017, at his home in Tionesta, Pa.

The sixth coach to be inducted into Keene State’s Alumni-Athletic Hall of Fame, Taft was responsible for putting the college’s cross country  and track teams on the map as a regional and national power.

“Like Ron Butcher in soccer and Glenn Theulen in basketball, Robert Taft should be recognized for building the cross country program at Keene State,” said Peter Hanrahan, one of Taft’s first runners. “He started with nothing and developed a national caliber team in just a few years.”

Taft came to Keene State in the fall of 1968 as the College’s financial aid director and took on the role as cross country/track and field coach when he saw the dedication of the small group of runners that comprised what was then a club team. Taft took over as coach when the College sanctioned the program in the fall of 1969. Taft was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Here’s his obituary that ran in the Keene Sentinel.

Related Stories

Contact Keene State College

1-800-KSC-1909
229 Main Street
Keene, New Hampshire 03435