For the last decade, Simmons has been heralded as U-M’s oldest living former head coach. He became the Wolverines’ first women’s track and field coach in 1976, although his contributions to women’s sports began 16 years earlier when he and his first wife, Betty, started a girls track club in Ann Arbor called the Michigammes.
It was a pioneering program that enabled women to dream as big as men and provided the catalyst to careers in such challenging fields as law, engineering and medicine.
“Back then, people said it wasn’t ladylike to sweat,” Simmons said. “We just said, ‘Let’s give women an opportunity to compete.’
“We thought, when it comes down to it, life isn’t just about what you do. It’s about what you become.”
Ken (Red) Simmons is 99 — and there are photos showing him working out. A great profile from the Detroit Free Press.