Western Colorado University Athletics

Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Ed Ali made his way to Western in 1948 from Louisville, Ohio. Ali played basketball, track and field and baseball for the Mountaineers.
 
Ali's most lasting moment as a Mountaineer came on Sept. 29, 1951. Ali, Smitty Whipp and Paul Wright measured out a two-mile course using a 100-foot steel tape on Tenderfoot Mountain for 18 athletes to run. This became known as the W Mountain Race and is now the oldest running race in the state of Colorado. This fall will mark the 66^th running of the race.
 
"While enrolled as a student, Ed whole-heartedly contributed his abilities and efforts for the betterment of Western State," John Burritt said about Ali. "Surely this fine man who truly contributed to Western State during his college years – and in an uncommon, continuing way since then – is worthy of being honored with induction into the esteemed Mountaineer Sports Hall of Fame."
 
After leaving Western with a bachelor's and master's degree in 1953 Ali would spend a year in the military before becoming a teacher and coach at Fowler High School. At Fowler, Ali helped establish the track and field program in 1956, led the basketball team to consecutive third place finishes in the state tournament and co-coached the football team to a state title in 1957.
 
In 1958, Ali moved back to Ohio and became a teacher and coach at Norton Junior High and High School. Ali would work there for the next 24 years before retiring in 1982.
 
Ali passed away in Los Alamos, New Mexico on May 27, 2015.