He coached Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) to a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, but there was so much more to Julius Menendez who passed away on April 14, two days before his 91st birthday in Gilroy, Calif.
A native of East St. Louis, Ill., Mr. Menendez has the distinction of being the only known American to coach USA national teams in two different sports. Besides serving as the head coach of the 1960 USA Olympics boxing team, he was designated the coach for the USA men’s soccer team for the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He was the USA men's soccer team assistant coach for the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Competing as a light heavyweight (81 kg.), Clay was one of three Americans to win a boxing gold medal in Rome. (See "Julie" in Clay's corner during the gold medal bout.) Middleweight (75 kg.) Eddie Crook, Jr. (1929-2005) from Detroit and light middleweight Wilbert McClure (71 kg.) also were gold medal winners and Quincey Daniels was a bronze medalist in the light welterweight division (63.5 kg). Mr. Menendez's boxers are one of only five (1952, 1960, 1976, 1984 and 1988) USA Boxing teams since 1924 to win three or more gold medals at an Olympics Games.
An accomplished boxer and semi-pro soccer player, Mr. Menendez was the 1946 national Golden Gloves champion at 147 pounds after winning local Golden Gloves titles in East St. Louis in 1941 and St. Louis, Mo., in 1942. His amateur career included bouts in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He boxed professionally from 1946 to 1948 and fought in a preliminary match prior to the 1947 Rocky Graziano-Tony Zale middleweight title bout in Chicago Stadium. His professional record was 14-1-2 with three knockouts.
Mr. Menendez, who counted baseball stars Joe Garagiola, Sr., and Yogi Berra among his childhood friends in St. Louis "The Hill" neighborhood, played semi-pro soccer in the city of San Francisco's First Division from 1947 through 1950.
Mr. Menendez came to Santa Clara County in 1949 and was involved with the county's three major universities receiving his bachelor's degree in 1950, coaching boxing and soccer and teaching human performance and physical education classes at San Jose State; serving as the Santa Clara University boxing coach in 1949 and 1950, and earning his master's degree in education from Stanford in 1951.
Mr. Menendez joined the San Jose State coaching staff in 1953 as an assistant boxing coach. He assumed the duties of head coach for the 1954 season. In seven seasons as the Spartans' boxing coach, he directed the team to the 1958, 1959 and 1960 NCAA Championships and coached 15 NCAA boxing champions.
In addition to his duties as boxing coach, he took the men's soccer coaching position in 1954. In his 36 seasons as the San Jose State men's soccer coach, his teams won 295 games, had 22 consecutive winning seasons from 1963 through 1984, and participated in 11 NCAA Tournaments. The 1968 team finished third at the NCAA Championship. Heading into the 2012 season, his victory total ranked tied for 39th on the NCAA Division I list for career coaching victories.
Mr. Menendez was the Chair of the NCAA Soccer Committee from 1968 to 1975 and Chair of the NCAA Boxing Rules Committee in 1959 and 1960. He was a Past President of the California Association of Heath, Physical education and Recreation, Santa Clara County.
Mr. Menendez authored books on soccer published by John Wiley & Sons and boxing published by Ronald Press, produced instructional films on soccer and had a patent on a golf teaching device. He served on the Minneapolis Conference of Physical Fitness - the predecessor to John F. Kennedy's President's Council on Physical Fitness.
His honors included induction into the San Jose State University Sports Hall of Fame and accorded Legend status, the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Hall of Fame. He received the 44th annual Honor Award from the NSCAA in 1984.
During the 1970's he served as a color analyst on San Jose Earthquakes broadcasts.
Fluent in English and Spanish, Mr. Menendez served in the Navy from 1942 to 1946. He also entertained friends and family with his card tricks.
He is survived by his wife, Doris (Goulter) Menendez, sons Jack and Danny; and daughter, Terri.
Donations can be made in Mr. Menendez's name to the Julie Menendez Endowment, c/o The Spartan Foundation, San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192.
Funeral services are pending as of April 18, 2013.