Emmet W. “Jim” Luttrell
June 7, 1934 - September 10, 2019
Emmet Wright “Jim” Luttrell Jr., “The Gentleman Coach,” passed away on Sept. 10 at the age of 85. “Coach Luttrell” influenced countless people as a mentor and educator. To his family, he was a kind and generous man and great example of how to be a husband, father and grandfather. Born in San Francisco, raised in Oakland, he was athletic from an early age, often taking the bus to Oaks Ball Park in Emeryville to watch the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks and his favorite player, catcher Billy Raimondi. As a boy, he learned to hurdle by jumping hedges near his home on Wellington Street. His talent attracted the Oakland High coach, convincing him to join the track team and he became a standout hurdler. Jim lost his mother, Grayce, when he was 14. His father, Emmet Sr., remarried and moved the family to Menlo Park. Though enrolled at MenloAtherton, he transferred to Sequoia High because they had a track team. There, Jim won the 1952 NCS title in the 180-yd low hurdles and nearly won the state championship, finishing 2nd in a close race to Selma’s Ancel Robinson at the L.A. Coliseum. Always a Stanford fan – his father was an alum – Jim turned down Cal-Berkeley to attend Stanford and competed in the 220-yd hurdles. In 1955, he was 5th in the 220 hurdles at the NCAA Championships in L.A. At the AAU national championships in Boulder, CO, Jim was 4th in the 400-meter hurdles in 52.5, establishing a Stanford record that would stand for 16 years. Though it was run on a dirt track, with inferior shoes compared to today’s, the time still places him No. 15 on Stanford’s list of all-time performers in that event. After a 1954 USC-Stanford football game, Jim met USC music major Rhoda Rossell on a blind date at an SAE Fraternity party. They fell in love and were married in 1957. Their love affair lasted 62 beautiful years, raising 5 children together. After completing grad school at Stanford, Jim began a 38year career as an educator and cross country/track and field coach in the Sequoia Union High School District. After 2 years at Carlmont, Jim joined the staff at a new high school, San Carlos, and remained there during its entire 22-year existence, heading the track and cross country programs, teaching P.E. and serving as student activities director. When San Carlos closed, Jim moved to Woodside High, where he coached, taught and served as athletics director until his retirement in 1996. In 1984, he coached Woodside to the state girls’ track and field championship when Wendy Brown, a 1988 Olympian, won the meet singlehandedly and set a national HS record in the triple jump. At San Carlos, he coached Mitch Kingery, whose 1973 record of 14:28 on Belmont’s 2.95-mile Crystal Springs Cross Country Course never has been broken. He was recognized as a CCS Honor Coach, inducted into the Woodside Community Hall of Fame, and the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course Hall of Fame. Most importantly, Jim gave attention to every member of his teams, no matter their ability. If his athletes missed bus rides home, Jim often drove them himself, in his VW bus. Jim led Future Olympians, a weeklong summer track camp for 7-12 yr olds, through the Parks and Rec. for 50 yrs, inspiring countless future athletes. When Jim was 12, attending Park Blvd. Presbyterian Church in Oakland, he answered an altar call: “Anybody who believes Jesus is their lord and savior, come forward.” He did. It initiated his life of service. Jim was officially involved as a deacon, elder, and a member of a pastor search committee for Trinity Church in San Carlos for over 35 years. He treasured his time spent with his family, especially barbecuing at Sunday night dinners, summers at the cabin he built with his father on Lake Almanor, and backpacking trips with his sons and daughters. He is survived by his wife Rhoda, children Jim Luttrell (Lynn), Rick Luttrell (Sheree), Sheri Siguenza (Rob), Linda Kiefer (Dave) and Laura Perdikomatis (Ian), as well as 10 grandchildren, two great grandchildren, step-sister Ruth Sayre, nephew Charlie Oltman, and niece Katie Shinnick. He was preceded in death by his father, Emmet Wright Luttrell Sr., mother Grayce Luttrell, step-mother Irene Luttrell and sister Joan Oltman.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 2 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church in San Carlos.