DES MOINES, Iowa – Long-time Drake Relays official Bill Keck has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Paul Morrison Legacy Award. Keck has been involved with track and field at Drake Stadium as a competitor or official for nine consecutive decades including an illustrious officiating tenure.
After encouragement from Gus Rump, another long-time Drake Relays official, Keck began officiating at the Iowa High School State Meet and Drake Relays in 1964. He became the longest-tenured Drake Relays official in 2019 after working his 56th straight Relays. With his only absence being the pandemic cancelation in 2020, the 2025 running will mark his 60th year as a Relays timer or clerk. Keck will be the first official to hold their post for 60 years.
Bill began his officiating experience on the timing crew at the Drake Relays and the State Meet. He moved onto the clerk staff after automated timing technology rose in popularity and has served on the Drake Relays Committee for over 40 years. Keck is a Relays Champions Club member, helping to ensure that generations will celebrate America's Athletic Classic for years to come. His family business, Keck Parking, has also provided round-the-clock transportation for elite athletes during Relays week, adding to the local atmosphere of such a global event.
In 2019, Keck was enshrined in the Iowa Association of Track Officials (IATO) Hall of Fame and is the eighth recipient of the Paul Morrison Legacy Award.
"Bill Keck embodies the Drake Relays," Franklin P. Johnson Director of the Drake Relays Blake Boldon said. "His service to the Drake, Des Moines, and track and field communities is unmatched and his love for the sport is evident. Bill's legacy, while not yet finished, is certainly worthy of this esteemed recognition."
Keck made his first appearance as a youth runner when he ran a leg on the Hubbell Elementary Shuttle Relay at the 1949 and 1950 Drake Relays. Later in his adolescence, he led off the Des Moines Roosevelt Junior High Shuttle Relay that took fifth at the 1951 Relays. From 1954-56 Keck ran on a total of four different Roosevelt relays that collected Relays medals. In 1955, he won two gold medals at the Iowa High School State Meet on the Roughriders' mile and mile medley relays. His athletic career continued at Cornell College from 1958-60 where he won four more Drake Relays medals including a pair of golds in the Iowa College mile relay and Iowa College 880-yard relay.
Bill and his wife, Barbara, have been married for over 60 years and are the proud parents of Joan, Cindy, and Dave. They have been blessed with 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. His son, Dave, is a 25-year Relays umpire who was inducted into the Drake Relays Officials Wall of Honor this year. Grandson Nathan also officiates as his schedule allowed.
The award is named in honor of longtime Drake University athletic historian Paul Morrison, a beloved figure on the Drake campus who passed away at the age of 100 on Nov. 30, 2017. Morrison was took pride in and maintained historical Drake athletics narratives while attending 80 Drake Relays. A half-mile stretch of Forest Avenue in front of the Knapp Center is named in his honor.
Morrison was the initial recipient of the Legacy Award in 2017, followed by Franklin (Pitch) Johnson, in 2018; the Gary Osborn family and Scott Osborn in 2019; Bob Clark, 2021; Dave Mills, 2022; Pete Guerrini, 2023; and Mike Henderson, 2024.
