"Exercise: Combating the Aging Process"
4:00 pm, Thursday, April 21, 2005
Bobbitt Visual Arts Auditorium
A member of the Albion College faculty from 1952 to 1975, Elkin R. “Ike” Isaac also served as
head basketball coach (1953-1959), head track coach (1953-1962), and head cross country
coach (1962-1969). He led his teams to one Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA)
basketball title, six consecutive league championships in track and three
cross country championships. He also served as athletic director.
Upon leaving Albion in 1975, Isaac became athletic director at the University of the Pacific.
He retired there in 1984.
As an Albion student, Isaac earned All-MIAA honors in 1943, 1946, and 1947 for his outstanding
performance on the basketball court. He was captain and voted Most Valuable Player of the 1947 team.
He also played football for three years. Isaac was inducted into the Albion College Athletic Hall
of Fame in 1989 and received the Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999.
He interrupted his college career from 1943 to 1945 to serve in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot
during World War II.
In honor of Isaac’s long-time support of Albion College athletics, the College’s outdoor track,
rebuilt and resurfaced in 1997, was named in his honor. The Elkin Isaac Track Drive was co-chaired
by Cedric and June Luke Dempsey, both ’54, with assistance from Thomas Schwaderer, ’56.
The Elkin R. Isaac Endowed Lectureship was created in 1991 by Isaac’s friends and former students.
Today, this endowment has been expanded to fund the Elkin R. Isaac Student Research Symposium.
Ike and his wife, Edie, reside in Kalamazoo.
