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Tony Waldrop
Personal information
Born	December 29, 1951; Columbus, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	December 3, 2022 (aged 70); Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Education	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Occupation(s)	university president, academic administrator, researcher
Employer(s)	University of South Alabama; University of Central Florida; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sport
Sport	Track & Field
Retired	1976
Medal record
Men's Athletics
Representing the United States
Pan American Games

Tony Waldrop (December 29, 1951 – December 3, 2022) was an American academic administrator, researcher, and athlete.^[1]^[2] In 2014, he became the third president of the University of South Alabama.^[1]^[2]

Early life

Waldrop was born in Columbus, North Carolina.^[3]^[4] In high school, he was the state champion in the half mile.^[5]

Waldrop attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar and served on the track team.^[3]^[1] He graduated in 1974 with a B.A. in political science as a Top Five NCAA Student Athlete.^[3]

In 1980, he received a MA in physical education from UNC, followed by a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular physiology in 1981.^[3]^[5] He received postdoctoral training at the Harry S. Moss Heart Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.^[3]

Track Career

When he was a freshman member of UNC's track team, he had never run more than seven miles in one session.^[5] Nevertheless, he followed the coaching staff's instruction to run ten miles in the morning and ten miles in the evening.^[5] After a week, his arches collapsed and he was on crutches.^[5]

Waldrop was a six-time Atlantic Coast Conference winner and six-time All-American while at the University of North Carolina.^[3]^[4] He set the world indoor record (3:55.0) in the mile in 1974.^[3] He won two NCAA championships: the indoor 1,000 yards in 1973 and the indoor mile in 1974.^[3]^[4]

Waldrop ran the mile in 3:53.2 for a win at the Penn Relays in 1974.^[4]^[6] He was on the cover ofTrack and Field News in both March and May 1974; the latter feature him at the Penn Relays.^[7]^[6] He also was the first man to break the 4-minute mile in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in 1974.^[8]^[4]

In 1975, he became the assistant track coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[6] That same year, he won the gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City for the 1500 meters.^[6] He retired from track after the 1976 indoor season.^[6]^[9]

Waldrop said, "It was a really easy decision to decide to hang up the shoes and get on with the rest of my life. I never regretted the decision [to retire during the Olympic year], maybe there were one or two seconds of momentarily regret when I watched the 1500m at the Olympics... I accomplished a lot more in track than I ever imagined I would. There were a lot more things I wanted to do with my life…"^[6]

Waldrop went to the U.S. Olympic trials in 1972—he said the pressure was so great that it wasn't fun.^[6] As a result, making the Olympic team after college was "never an overwhelming goal."^[6]

Academic Career

From 1982 to 1986, Waldrop was a research fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.^[3] He was a recipient of the National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship.^[1] While at Texas, he also taught respiration and physiology for medical and health science students.^[3]

Waldrop was a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, teaching undergraduate, graduate, and medical students.^[3] He was promoted to vice chancellor for research at Illinois.^[3]^[4]

Waldrop became vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001.^[3] There, he oversaw $577 million in research funding, annually.^[6]

In August 2010, he became provost and executive vice president at the University of Central Florida.^[10] In 2014, he became the third president of the University of South Alabama.^[1]

Personal life and death

Waldrop married Julee Briscoe of Chapel Hill, the daughter of Vic Briscoe who was a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor of physics.^[3] She also attended UNC and ran track.^[3] They have two sons, Cabe and Dallas.^[3]

On December 3, 2022, following a lengthy illness, Waldrop died at his home in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at the age of 70.^[11]^[12]