Milton Blatt, '28
Revered High School Track Coach,
1910-1997
Jamaica High School Faculty, 1930-1937
Milton Blatt, Legendary Track Coach
By Stuart Vincent. Newsday. Long Island, N.Y.
Jun 26, 1997. pg. A.65 (Copyright Newsday Inc., 1997)
Milton Blatt of Glen Cove, a celebrated track coach and English teacher at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens who guided the lives of thousands of students even as he guided his teams to 14 city championships, died June 12 at his home. He was 87 and had suffered from lymphoma and Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Blatt, affectionately known to his athletes as "Uncle Miltie," won 16 Queens borough outdoor titles in track and cross country in addition to the 14 Public Schools Athletic League city titles during his 35 years at Jackson. He also was a longtime guidance counselor and college adviser at the school.
But the event that was to earn him national prominence and a place in the record books was a 1966 match race he set up with rival Boys High School in Brooklyn to attempt a record in the two-mile relay. The race at St. John's University in Queens was a photo-finish, with both teams running the race in 7 minutes, 35.6 seconds - breaking the national record by 7 seconds. Jackson was declared the winner by inches. That record still stands, the oldest high school track record on the books.
"If I'm anywhere today, he's probably one of the people most responsible for me continuing in college and going on in law school, and he provided an identity for me in high school by letting me on the track team, even though I wasn't that fast," said Robert R. McMillan of Melville, a partner in the law firm of McMillan, Rather, Bennett, Rigano and a 1950 Jackson graduate. "I'm one example of probably thousands of lives that he touched across all racial and national lines."
Mr. Blatt was born in Manhattan and grew up in Hollis, Queens. He graduated from Jamaica High School and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from City College. He began teaching at Jamaica at the age of 20 but moved to Jackson High School in 1937 when the school opened. He started out coaching tennis and moved to track in 1946, learning what he needed to know from library books and applying the same principles he used in the classroom. Although he never had assistant coaches, he routinely coached squads of 60 to 70 students.
He was a founder and chairman of Jackson's Faculty Intercultural Committee and established the school's Student Relations Council, both of which worked to foster racial and ethnic harmony. Among his awards was the Grand Street Boys Dedicated Teacher Award, the National Conference of Christians and Jews Educational Award, and the Conolly Award from Long Island University for exceptional achievement as a teacher.
Mr. Blatt and his family moved from Queens to Glen Cove upon his retirement in 1972. In 1986, he and Boys High School Coach Doug Terry and the two teams in the 1966 match race gathered for a 20th anniversary photograph and story published by The Runner magazine.
He continued to work part time as a college adviser at Brandeis School in Lawrence and at the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County, the latter until he was 80. He officiated at high school track and cross country meets in New York City until he was 81.
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