Obituary
Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham track and field program lost a member of its family this past weekend as former assistant coach
Mike Galanka passed away at the age of 75 after battling congestive heart failure for several years.
Galanka served the track and field program for over 25 years, guiding the field events squad to numerous victories at the indoor and outdoor CTC Championships, as well as at the Atlantic 10 and Metropolitan Championships. Under his direction, school records in the high jump, triple jump and weight throw for both indoor and outdoor seasons were broken consistently.
"Mike was the nicest, most humble, tremendous coach that there could be and a very good friend" Fordham track and field head coach
Tom Dewey said.
Galanka, who was also a football assistant with the Rams from 1981-85 as a member of O'Neil Tutein's staff, was the 1997 recipient of Fordham's Jack Coffey Award for outstanding contributions to Fordham Athletics and received a special award from the
IC4A Coaches Association prior to the Outdoor Championships in 2004 for 25 years of service to track and field.
He set up the Robert Davenport Football Scholarship at Taylor University and in lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to that scholarship fund at The Office of Scholarship and Stewardship, Taylor University, 236 W. Reade Ave., Upland, Indiana 46989.
The track and field team will hold a memorial service on Tuesday January 16 at 6 p.m. in Dagger Johns.
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