Theodore "Ted" Whitaker enters his 22 season as the head track & field and cross country coach at Savannah State University. The Camden, South Carolina native attended Jackson High School and matriculated from there to South Carolina State College in 1960. He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education at SCSC in 1965. Whitaker then received his Master of Science degree at Indiana University in 1969.
Whitaker began his coaching career in 1965 at Michael C. Riley High School in Bluffton, South Carolina. He taught physical education and science while serving as athletics director and head men's basketball coach. Whitaker was also Bluffton’s head football coach from 1966-68 and head Middle School track coach from 1970 to 1972. He left Riley in 1972 and took a job at Bluffton/McCracken High School in Bluffton, South Carolina where he taught physical education and was athletics director until 1983. At Bluffton/McCracken, he was head men's basketball coach from 1972-80, assistant men's track coach from 1972-74, head men's track coach from 1974-83, added head women's track coach to his duties from 1979-83 and was men and women cross country coach from 1976-83.
In 1983, Whitaker’s career led him to Hilton Head, South Carolina where he taught physical education, was athletic director, head men and women track & field coach and head men and women cross country coach at Hilton Head High School until 1996. He spent the next year in Savannah, Georgia as a member of the Groves High School Faculty teaching weight training and personal fitness while coaching men and women track & field and men and women cross country.
During his 35-year coaching career (32 high school, 3 college) Ted Whitaker has captured 66 track and cross country region titles, 12 track and cross country state titles, six track and cross country state runner-up titles, and one Class A men's basketball state runner-up title. He has been named region Coach of the Year, a national finalist for Coach of the Year, region track and cross country Coach of the Year 17 times, state track and cross country Coach of the Year seven times, national nominee for state Coach of the Year three times. He has coached two National High School Track & Field All- Americans, three National Collegiate Athletic Association All-Americans, and one National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American. Whitaker was twice winner of the Greenville News Number One Award for best overall athletic program in South Carolina(all classes), six-time winner of the "Wachovia Number One Award" for best overall athletic program in the region and he was the 1996 South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association(SCACA), Athletic Director of the Year.
He is married to the former Alavern L. Grant of Bluffton, South Carolina and he has five children; Adrian , Kevin, Kellye, Tori and Taylor .
Full Name: Theodore Whitaker
Education: South Carolina State ’65, Indiana University ‘69
Favorite Athlete: Â Arthur Ashe/ Muhammed Ali
Favorite Food: Â Pork Chops
Favorite Leader: Â Malcom X
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