'78 Shrewsbury Grad Inducted Into Springfield College Hall of Fame

Information submitted by the National Throws Coaches

On Oct. 14, Rob Lasorsa, who graduated from Shrewsbury High School in 1978, was inducted into the Springfield College Alumni Hall of Fame.

This prestigious Hall of Fame includes coaches such as James Naismith, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Ed Steitz.

Lasorsa is well known in the world of track and field.

While competing at Springfield College in 1982, Rob earned All-America status in the shot put. He was also named the Springfield College Male Athlete of the Year as a junior. He held the Springfield College shot put record for about 15 years.

Since his days at SC, Lasorsa has become the founder and President of the National Throws Coaches Association. He has become a most sought-after speaker on throwing events in U.S. track & field.

In 1995, Lasorsa was named U.S. Track & Field Men’s Shot Put Coordinator, a position he still holds at the time of his SC Athletics Hall of Fame induction.

Since being named the Coordinator, the U.S. has won one Olympic gold medal, three additional Olympic medals, five World Outdoor titles, five World Outdoor silver medals, three World Indoor titles, three World Indoor silver medals, and earned eight Track & Field No. 1 World titles.

Lasorsa has been a member of the U.S. Track & Field coaching staff at the 2011 Pan American Games in Mexico, at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Spain, and at the 2005 Junior Pan American Games in Canada. He has produced 11 coaching DVDs and videos, and authored four books.

In the 1980s and ‘90s, he was a track & field coach at North Carolina State University, the U.S. Military Academy, and Kent State University. At 32 years of age in 1993, he became the youngest track & field head coach in NCAA Division I while at Kent State.

From 1996 to the present, he has been a sales and marketing representative at M-F Athletic and Perform Better, the largest distributor of track and field products worldwide, and also one of the top suppliers of strength, conditioning, and fitness equipment.