Hall of Fame
Steve Spence, from Elizabethtown, distinguished himself as a world-class distance runner.
A 1985 graduate of Shippensburg with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Spence made a name for himself as a member of the Raider cross country and track and field teams, where he was a seven-time NCAA Division II All-American. He spent 10 years as a volunteer coach at the university while he was running competitively as one of the top American road racers.
Spence is a Central Pennsylvania native from Elizabethtown. He came to Shippensburg University after graduating from Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown. As a student-athlete, he earned All-American honors in the 5,000 meters four years in a row in outdoor track and one year in indoor track while also receiving All-America honors twice in cross country.
Spence was PSAC champion in the 1,500 meters in 1982 and 1984, the 5,000 meters in 1982 and 1985 and the 10,000 meters in 1985. Two of his All-America honors in the 5,000 meters, outdoor in 1984 and indoor in 1985, were NCAA Division II national championships. In 1982 and 1985, Spence was voted the PSAC’s Outstanding Track Athlete. Spence still holds four school records in the 3,000 and 5,000 meters as well as the 1-mile and 2-mile runs while holding the outdoor record in the 5,000 meters.
At Lower Dauphin, Spence won the 1980 Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Athletic Association (PIAA) Class AAA 1,600-meter championship in a then-state record time of 4:12. He also won the 1980 PIAA District 3 championship where he established meet records of 4:15 in the 1600 and 9:15 in the 3200.
Spence was promoted to a full-time assistant coaching role in November 1997 before being named the head coach of Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field in July 1998, succeeding Galen Piper and Robert Walker.
In eight seasons as the head coach of six sports, Spence was named Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Coach of the Year six times (MXC – ‘01, MITF – ’03, ’05, MOTF – ’03, ’04, WOTF – ’05). He was also named the NCAA Division II East Regional Men’s Track and Field Coach of the Year from 2003-05. During his first season as a head coach, the SU women’s cross country team earned a third-place finish at the 1998 NCAA Championships – the highest in school history – trailing only the perennial powers of Adams State and Western State.
In 2003, Spence was inducted into the NCAA Division II Coaches Association Cross Country Hall of Fame and in the spring of 2005, was voted into the RRCA Hall of Fame along with Keith Brantly.
At Shippensburg, Spence has tutored 85 All-Americans in track and 14 All-Americans in cross country. Among the distinguished distance runners he has mentored are Randy Lowe, who won the 10K outdoor national championship in 1992, Emily Budnyk, the national runner-up at the 10K outdoor national championship in 1999, Mary Dell, the national runner-up in the 3K steeplechase in 2010, and daughter Neely Spence, a four-time national champion in the 5K and two-time national cross country champion.
He has also coached four national championship indoor distance medley relay squads, winning both the men’s and women’s titles in 2011, and helped mentor Brayden Burleigh – the 2014 NCAA Division II indoor champion in the mile.
