The running community has lost one of its most influential figures. Jack Daniels, the legendary coach and exercise physiologist, has died at the age of 92. According to Runner’s World, Daniels passed away peacefully on Sept. 12, after watching his beloved Green Bay Packers win Thursday evening.
Daniels’s career spanned more than six decades, during which he coached dozens of elite American distance runners, wrote more than 50 articles, and authored several books–most famously, Daniels’ Running Formula. What he loved most, however, was sharing his knowledge with everyday runners, helping them find more success and enjoyment in the sport.
Born in Detroit in 1933, Daniels was a collegiate swimmer in the 1950s before earning degrees from the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Montana (double majoring in physical education and math). He went on to serve in the U.S. Army in Korea, then represented Team USA at the 1956 and 1960 Olympics, where he won a team silver and bronze in the modern pentathlon.
His curiosity about human performance and how far the body could be pushed eventually led him to running.
Perhaps his most lasting contribution was the development of the VDOT system–a practical concept for VO₂ max that accounts for running efficiency, mental toughness and race performance. Daniels’ Running Formula, his signature book, was refined with decades of training philosophy into formulas that taught runners how to train at the right intensity to maximize improvement.
Daniels coached a wide spectrum of athletes, from Olympians like Joan Benoit Samuelson and Alberto Salazar to recreational joggers. He worked with more than half a dozen NCAA track programs and was hired by Sport Canada in the 1970s as a researcher before joining Nike in the 1980s in a similar role, helping athletes like Benoit Samuelson prepare for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she won gold in the first women’s Olympic marathon.
“Simply put, I love to coach both young ladies and young men, and to be able to continue doing that makes life really enjoyable for me,” Daniels told Runner’s World in 2011. “I truly get as much enjoyment out of watching a young runner improve his or her performance as I get from seeing one of my runners make it to the Olympics.”
