Former Bates College men’s cross country coach Al Fereshetian follows the action during the Bates Invitational race at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester in September 2019. Assistant coach Art Feeley is in the foreground. Phyllis Graber Jensen photo for Bates College
Former Bates College track and field coach Al Fereshetian died last Saturday, the college announced in a news post on its website.
Fereshetian, who coached the Bobcats for 26 years before retiring in 2021, was 66 years old. The college did not give a cause of death. Fereshetian was a Professor Emeritus of Physical Education at the college.
A celebration of life is scheduled for 11 a.m. on July 6 at East Auburn Baptist Church.
The college’s news post noted that Fereshetian was born and raised in Arlington, Massachusetts, by first-generation Armenian Americans. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1983, where he began his coaching career.
He was the head track and cross country coach at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, from 1989 until taking over the Bates track and cross country programs in 1995.
During his Bates tenure, 48 athletes accumulated a combined 101 All-America honors, including nine individual NCAA championships. His track teams won the 2012 NCAA Division III New England indoor title and the 2013 New England outdoor title, and the cross country team qualified for the NCAA Division III championship seven times.
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