Gary Kurtis Schwartz, 78, died peacefully on April 3, 2023, at his home in Springdale, Arkansas. Born on April 12, 1944, in Tampa, Florida, to Kurtis W. and Janice Swanson Schwartz, he grew up in Wessington Springs, South Dakota. Although he was a “town kid” he spent many summers working on his Grandma Doughty’s farm and also did construction work with Sonny Hansen. Competing in American Legion baseball and in the Canoe Derby on the Missouri River along with antics on the old swimming pool high dive in the Springs City Park were among his summer activities. Life changed when the Patton family moved into a home across the street from the Schwartz family. Soon, he and Myrna Patton became a couple who dated for eight years, attended different colleges and then married in 1967, in the United Church of Christ in Wessington Springs. Their wedding was timed between Gary’s competition in a national track meet and the beginning of graduate school summer classes at Ohio University. And so began fifty-six years of married life adventures together organized around the calendars of cross country, indoor and outdoor track seasons! While living in State College, Pennsylvania, the family grew with the birth of sons, Michael and then Matthew and the boys were soon included in family trips surrounding recruiting visits and track meets across the country along with some fishing along the way and visits to family in South Dakota.
An active multi-sport athlete in high school, Gary was South Dakota Prep Athlete of the Year in 1962. He competed on the University of Kansas track and field team as a discus thrower and was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, graduating in 1966. Following graduate school at Ohio University, be began a 34-year cross country/track and field coaching career as an assistant coach at Ohio University, University of Massachusetts, USMA (West Point) as a member of the US Army, and at Penn State University before becoming Penn State Lady Lions’ head women’s coach, a position he held for four years before returning to the University of Kansas as head coach for men’s and women’s Jayhawk track and field/cross country for 12 years. He completed his career at the University of Arkansas in Razorbacks athletics administration.
In his years as a head coach, his athletes earned 133 All-American honors, he coached six top-4 teams at the NCAA Championships and coached eight Olympians.
His son, Mike, said, “My dad always celebrated the competition successes of his athletes and coaches but truly cherished their successes in their personal and professional lives as they moved into the world to make their own mark on it.” Son, Matt, added, “Although he is no longer here with us physically, I know his spirit and the lessons he has passed on will continue to be lived out by those that my dad has come across throughout his lifetime.”
Gary was honored to coach at the National Sports Festival twice and served on international coaching staffs for U.S. teams in Spain, England, Belgium and Canada. The inaugural president of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association, he also served on the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee for six years as well as on various national committees from 1980-2005. Gary was inducted into the Kansas University Athletics Hall of Fame, South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, the Howard Wood Dakota Relays Hall of Fame and the initial class of the Wessington Springs High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
An avid fly-fisherman, Gary also enjoyed fly-tying and was involved as a fishing buddy with Reel Recovery Fly-fishing Retreats for men with cancer and worked with Reel Recovery for veterans. He enjoyed traveling and camping, especially if it included fishing.
Following his retirement, Gary and Myrna enjoyed traveling and spending time with friends around the country and internationally as well as with their family which grew with the addition of four grandchildren.
An accomplished and humble man, Gary was most proud of his roles as husband, Dad and Papa.
Preceded in death by his parents and sister, Cheryl Schwartz, he is survived by his wife, Myrna (Patton) Schwartz; two sons, Michael and his wife, Maureen, and their children, Dane, Francie and Leighton of Leawood, Kansas; and Matthew and his wife, Jennifer, and their son, Oliver, of Lawrence, Kansas; two sisters, Joanne and her husband, Robert Beck, of Cadiz, Kentucky, and Judy Schwartz of Wessington Springs, South Dakota; “inlaws and out-laws” Marvin and Carla Mentzer and Donald and Debra Patton of Wessington Springs, South Dakota, Verna and Gary Spencer of Ft. Pierre, South Dakota and Kathryn Patton of Maple Grove, Minnesota, and a host of extended family, friends, and former athletes.
A memorial service was held on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, in Springdale, Arkansas. A Celebration of Life for Gary will be held Saturday, August 12, 2023, at 2 p.m. at Foothills Bible Fellowship Hope Hall in Wessington Springs. An interment ceremony for immediate family will be at Hope Cemetery. Memorial gifts in Gary’s honor may be made to: Circle of Life Hospice, 901 Jones Road, Springdale, Arkansas 72762; or Reel Recovery of Arkansas at 6454 Norman Avenue, Springdale, Arkansas 72762; or Penn State Gary Schwartz Endowment/ Scholarship Fund at http:// raise.psu.edu/GarySchwartz.
