The Trojan Relays will know henceforth be known as the Bruce Henderson Invitational. A large crowd gathered in the Atlantic High School Auditorium to celebrate the renaming of the Trojan Relays in honor of legendary Atlantic track and field and cross country coach Bruce Henderson. Unfortunately the meet itself had to be cancelled due to the rainy and cold weather conditions on Monday.

A number of former athletes and committee members spoke about what Bruce has meant to them, the Atlantic community, and the running community in general. Former athlete Jackie Sampson talked about how they got the process rolling.

Plaques were given out to Bruce along with two of his longtime assistant coaches Don Jenkins and Barb Olsen. Medals for the meet were made with Bruce’s likeness on them and that’s how they will be going forward. T-shirts were also made up for former athletes to wear to honor the occasion and a recording from track announcer Mike Jay was played for the crowd talking about Coach Henderson’s accomplishments. Coach Henderson showed his joy when speaking to the crowd.

Coach Henderson thanked many people that helped him along the way and at the end of his speech brought up his wife Gail to honor her help and share the spotlight with him. You can watch the full ceremony from our KJANTV broadcast below.