In the Nov. 30, 1998 issue, readers were greeted by a photo of a smiling 52-year-old from northern Chautauqua County.

The bio read, in part: “Retired from coaching after 24 years at Fredonia State, having won 20 consecutive State University of New York Athletic Conference championships. He was named SUNYAC coach of the year 13 times and led the Blue Devils to a dual-meet record of 95-5.”

It’s been nearly 28 years since Jim Ulrich received that formal introduction by SI, but if you fast-forward to his return to the Blue Devils’ campus two weekends ago, the 2016 Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame inductee required no get-to-know-you intro on a cold and wet day.

He appeared to feel right at home.

Submitted Photo Former Fredonia State track & field head coach Jim Ulrich was all smiles during the ribbon cutting of the upgraded $12 million track on campus last month.

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Trevor Hitchcock is one of the most decorated athletes in school history. The Falconer native, who now resides in Dunkirk, won an NCAA Division III national championship for the Blue Devils in the indoor weight throw in 1994, and was a national runner-up in the hammer throw (1994) and the 35-pound weight throw (1995).

The All-American honors are merely a special bonus, though, as Hitchcock still considers the relationship he has with his coach as an enduring memory of his time at Fredonia State.

“My parents were divorced (while I was) in high school,” the 1991 Falconer graduate said late last week, “and he was one of my closest confidants. We’ve been in contact all through my adult life. He reaches out, I reach out. We send Christmas cards back and forth.”

Other Blue Devil track & field alumni apparently feel the same way about their former coach. Hitchcock estimated there were a couple dozen former athletes who joined Ulrich at the unveiling of the upgraded $12 million track. It was Fredonia State’s first home meet in nearly two decades. Ulrich, who now resides in Punta Gorda, Florida, was all smiles, mirroring the ear-to-ear grin he sported in that SI photo from years before.

“I showed up,” Hitchcock said, “and I went right to the throwing facility, and who did I find out there?”

Ulrich, naturally.

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Hitchcock was one of the guest speakers at a sportsmanship symposium at Northwest Arena in Jamestown last Friday. About 250 student-athletes from 25 area high schools participated.

During that forum, he described how Ulrich, now 79, didn’t mind “some unorthodox teachings.”

“We would spend hours working on our technique,” Hitchcock told the teenagers. “One of the ways he taught us was he gave everybody a push broom and we would use that push broom to practice those spins (in the hammer throw). Every time you’d spin and swing that broom we would check our high and low focal points. … The higher and shorter you can get in that spin, the better you could throw it.

“We looked ridiculous using those brooms, (but) where did it get me? Four All-American trophies and a Division III national championship for a guy who never picked up a hammer until I was a freshman in college.”

Not surprisingly, mentor and mentee talked for a couple hours during their reunion at Fredonia State. As weekends go, it will be one neither man will soon forget.