National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

For the past thirty-five years, one would be hard pressed to find anyone who has had a greater influence in as many different areas of high school track and field than Doug Speck. He graduated from Eagle Rock High just outside of Los Angeles and went on to Pasadena City College and then Cal Poly Pomona before earning a Masters degree from Azusa Pacific University. Doug began his teaching career at Hueneme High in Oxnard (Ca.) as a cross-country and track coach in the early 1970s. From there he moved on to Arcadia High, where he coached both cross-country and track and field -- qualifying teams for the Southern Section postseason in the fall and to the state meet in the spring. In addition, he assisted in the development of the Arcadia Invitational, first as an assistant and then as the meet director. He was also the driving force in the early 1980s that gave the meet a national focus that allowed it to became the best in-season high school invitational in the United States, which it remains today.

Next Doug turned his attention to the national and international scene. In 1987, one year after the first-ever World Junior Championship, when the U.S. had failed to qualify for a number of events, he became the USATF Consultant to Juniors. During the next twelve years (1987-99), he mailed out over 50,000 envelopes to high school athletes with information and entry forms for the U.S. Junior Championships, the catalyst to greatly increasing both the quantity and quality of athletes that participated in the championship and advanced to the World Junior Championships. Doug has also served on various state high school advisory committees for both cross-country and track and field.  From the time he became a coach, he wrote extensively for California Track and Running News and developed his announcing skills to the point he was widely recognized at the best high school track announcer in the nation and one of the best track announcers, period.

With the passing of the CTRN publication in the late 1980s, Doug quickly turned his attention to the Internet, developing his own website that transformed the way people received their information on California track and cross-country.  In an effort to broaden the scope of Internet coverage, Doug and Rich Gonzalez teamed up to create DyeStatCal. Over the past ten years, it -- along with John Dye’s creation, DyeStat -- have become the two most heavily visited high school track sites in the nation. Never one to rest, Doug quickly realized the heightened interest in video of meets and pioneered how the technology could be used on the worldwide web in the calling of races and personal interviews, a skill which he hones to this day.  

Doug and his girlfriend, Leslie Paoletti, are currently living in living in El Segundo, Ca., just a cool breeze from the Pacific Ocean.