By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman cross country and track and field coaching legend Bob Camien passed away Sunday at the age of 76 after a long illness.
Bob Camien
Camien was living in Naples, Fla. with his wife, Julie, at the time of his death.
Camien and close friend and fellow coach Rick Brading both came to Seaman as shop teachers and coaches in the 1979-1980 school year,
"We taught beside each other in the woodworking shop and metal shop, and coached both track and cross country together for 30 years,'' said Brading, Seaman's head girls cross country and girls track and field coach. "Coach Camien was the real deal. He pushed his athletes hard because he wanted them to be fierce competitors.
"Nothing was more exciting to him than to see two athletes going stride for stride, battling down the stretch all the way to the finish line."
Before starting his long career at Seaman, Camien, a native New Yorker, was an elite track athlete for Emporia State University.
Camien ran distance under ESU Hall of Famer Fran Welch in college after running for another ESU Hall of Famer, Jim Fraley, in high school in New York.
"Bob brought his New York toughness to Seaman High School,'' Brading said.
Camien led Seaman to an impressive run of Centennial League championships as well as a Class 6A girls cross country title in 1984 and the Class 5A state track and field title in 2006.
Bob Camien (back row, right) coached Seaman to the Class 5A track and field team title in 2006. Camien passed away Sunday at the age of 76. [Submitted photo to KSHSAA.org]
"Bob was a great mentor for coaches such as myself, Luke Wiens (Seaman boys cross country coach) and Scott Petersen (Seaman boys track coach),'' Brading said.
Current Seaman administrator Shelly Prengel was previously an assistant track and field coach under Camien.
"I've always considered it a privilege to have coached with Bob for about 10 years, and as a young coach at the time, I learned a lot from him,'' Prengel said. "Bob expected a great deal from his athletes, but he cared very much for them as individuals and there was never any doubt how much they respected him.
"When we won the boys state title in 2006, he didn't celebrate his success as a coach -- his enjoyment came from the boys and their excitement from their accomplishment."
Petersen said Camien also had a major impact on his career.
"Coach Camien was a great blessing to me,'' Petersen said. "He welcomed me to the coaching staff in my first year, 2002, and I count it a blessing to call him a friend. He had a huge heart both as a competitor and for the student-athletes. He had a gift for finding and molding teenagers into adults through running.
"His wisdom and humor still guide much of the cross country and track programs at Seaman High School. Bob also taught woodworking and designed our most appropriate memorial for him -- a trophy case at the high school with records and images of state champions Bob crafted, just as he crafted the legacy that fills it.''
Seaman's annual track and field meet, one of the biggest regular-season meets in Kansas, is named the Bob Camien/Claudia Welch Invitational in honor of Camien and former girls track coach Welch.
