Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois athletics honored one of its all time great track and field athletes earlier today as they retired a jersey in honor of former Olympic triple jumper John Craft.  The annual Mega Meet will also be renamed in honor of Craft starting with 2012 running of the event.

Craft becomes the seventh former Eastern Illinois athlete to have their jersey retired. He was a triple jumper at EIU from 1965-69 and still holds the school mark for the outdoor triple jump at 53'9”. As a senior in 1969, Craft won three of four National Championships as he won the NAIA, NCAA College Division and AAU titles while placing third in the NCAA University Division Championships to become EIU's first University Division All-American.

Craft would go on to win five AAU outdoor triple jump championships (1969, 1971-74) and four indoor AAU triple jump championships (1971-74) as he ranked among the world's elite athletes. In 1972 he set both the indoor and outdoor American triple jump records. His jump of 56'2” at the USA Olympic Trials earned him a spot at the 1972 Munich Olympics with his record setting mark. He set the indoor mark of 55'5” winning the first annual USA-Soviet Union Dual Meet.

Craft would compete as a member of the US Olympic Team at the 1972 Munich Games placing fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 55'2.75”. He was inducted into the NAIA Helms Hall of Fame in 1974 and the USTFCCCA Division II Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2003. In 1982 Craft was a charter member of the EIU Athletic Hall of Fame. Following his competitive career Craft worked as long time coach at Eastern Illinois serving as the women's track and field coach until 2002.