Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame
Before he dedicated 40 years to his alma mater as a teacher and coach, Fred Whiteside enjoyed an outstanding running career at Augustana, which included All-America honors in cross country as well as a school record in the mile run in track. Of the seven teams for which Whiteside lettered, five finished in the top 10 nationally. In recognition, he has been elected to the Tribe of Vikings Hall of Fame Class of 2015.
Whiteside graduated in 1970 from Rockridge High School, where he was a four-year letter winner in track, football and basketball. He was a two-time MVP in track and captained the track and basketball teams as a senior.
At Augustana, Whiteside began his running career in the fall of 1971 as a member of Coach Paul Olsen’s cross country team. He ran a 10th-place 25:40 at the CCIW Championship in Naperville, Illinois and finished 160th in 26:51 at the NCAA College Division Championship in Wheaton, Illinois. His performance helped the Vikings claim ninth place in the team standings. The following spring, he anchored a school record of 10:08.0 in the distance medley relay and helped Olsen’s track & field squad capture the CCIW title in Decatur, Illinois.
The 1972-73 year saw Whiteside take 14th (26:42) at the CCIW cross country meet at Petrifying Springs in Kenosha, Wisconsin and 118th (26:23) at the NCAA College Division Championship in Wheaton, where the Vikings finished 10th as a team. Earlier in the fall, he recorded a top 100 finish at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana. During the track season, he anchored a school-record 7:47.94 effort in the indoor two-mile relay as well as the winning four-mile relay at the Eastern Illinois Relays. He helped Olsen’s Vikings claim another CCIW title.
Whiteside helped the Vikings to sixth-place national finishes in both cross country and track in 1973-74. A co-captain in cross country, he finished fourth (20:59) at Grinnell’s Les Duke Invitational and repeated as a top 100 performer at Notre Dame. At the CCIW Cross Country Championship, which Augustana hosted at Credit Island, he finished sixth in 24:47. He followed that up by earning All-America honors with a 13th-place 25:04 at the first-ever NCAA Division III Championship in Wheaton. The Vikings won the CCIW title again in Whiteside’s final season of track. That year he set a school record of 4:11.3 in the mile and anchored a school-record performance (7:36.3) in the two-mile relay. He finished eighth in the nation with a 4:12.7 mile at the NCAA Division III Championship in Charleston, Illinois.
Whiteside was a Co-MVP for the Vikings in his final cross country season of 1974. He recorded individual wins in dual meets versus Bradley (26:16.3) and Northeast Missouri (25:01) and claimed third (20:42) at the Les Duke Invitational. He was 14th in 27:08 at the CCIW Championship, took fourth (25:49) at the NAIA District 20 meet in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and capped his career with a 32nd-place 25:42 at the NCAA Division III Championship in Wheaton.
After graduating in November of 1974 with degrees in business administration and Spanish, Whiteside’s coaching career at Augustana began in the fall of 1975. With Olsen away teaching on foreign term, Whiteside served as acting head coach for men’s cross country. Following a year (1977-78) of teaching and coaching at Westmer High School in Joy, Illinois, he returned to Rock Island, serving as an assistant on Olsen’s track & field and cross country staffs until being named head coach of the Viking women’s cross country program in 1982.
In addition to cross country, Whiteside took over the women’s track program in 1988. His track teams captured a dozen CCIW titles and his harriers seven in the 29 seasons since the league began sponsoring women’s sports. His track & field teams achieved four top-ten national performances, finishing sixth (1995) and 10th (2008) indoors and ninth (2007) and 10th (1997) outdoors. His cross country teams won the final four Illinois Small College State Championships before the event was discontinued following the 1991 season. Whiteside announced his retirement effective at the end of the 2014-15 academic year.
Fred and wife Cathie, also an Augustana graduate, have been married since 1977. They have two sons—Michael and Jay—and granddaughter Riley. The couple is active in numerous community organizations and events, including the Susan G. Komen Quad Cities Race for the Cure, the Quad City Marathon, Quad City Senior Olympics, the Cornbelt Running Club and Junior Achievement. In the fall of 2006, Fred and Cathie were the first recipients of the Quad City Marathon’s “Volunteer of the Year” award.
