The Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches (OATCCC) honored longtime Berkshire head cross country and track coach Julie Cole with its annual Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award during the organization’s Hall of Fame banquet in Columbus on Friday, January 27, 2012.

Each representative to the OATCCC nominates one person for each sport. David Kirk of Chagrin Falls, the District 2 representative, nominated Cole for the award. The OATCCC awards committee then evaluated the pool of 16 nominees and selected Cole to receive the prestigious award.

“Julie is very special, as you know,” Kirk said. “She is amongst the elite in Ohio coaching circles, but more importantly, she is an elite person. I have known her as a competitor, a rival coach, and a friend and in all of these relationships she is the epitome of Sportsmanship, Ethics, and Integrity in athletics.”

Cole graduated from David Anderson High School in Lisbon in 1979 and in 1992 became an inaugural member of the school’s hall of fame. Cole continued her athletics career at Kent State, where she was named the cross country MVP in 1980 and she also set several school records in track and field.

At Kent State, Cole was more than just an athlete.

“In addition to her athletic accomplishments, she epitomized the ‘total package’ athlete by graduating Magna Cum Laude as well as being a member of several honorary academic organizations,” said the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Dale Gabor, who presented Cole with the award.

In 1985 Cole began teaching and coaching at Berkshire and she preaches to her athletes the same values that led to her success on the track and in the classroom.

“It is this winning attitude that has made the Badgers one of the most respected programs in the state,” Gabor added.

The OATCCC recognized Cole’s coaching achievements but also saw the other attributes it sought in its Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award recipient.

“Julie Cole leads by example. Her athletes know this; they believe in her; they will do anything for her; they love her,” Gabor said. “Their successes have been as much a performance of dedication to her as to an achievement for themselves. They stay in touch after graduation; they come back to see her; they come for advice; they come for lunch; they come to run with their coach.”

A list of all Cole’s accomplishments at Berkshire: