Gayle Hatch
Weightlifting/Strength Training
Gayle Hatch, Senior U.S. International Coach
Gayle Hatch's contributions to Olympic-style weightlifting and strength training are
quite considerable. He has been active as a weightlifting and strength & conditioning
coach for more than thirty-five years. Among Hatch's many accomplishments are memberships
in both the USA Weightlifting and USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Halls of Fame and
he served as Head Coach of the men's 2004 USA Olympic
Weightlifting Team that competed in Athens, Greece, the home of the modern
Olympics. Only one other Louisianian has ever been an Olympic Head Coach - Skip
Bertman, 1996 US Olympic Head Coach for baseball. Hatch's club, the Gayle Hatch
Weightlifting Team, has a tradition rich program that has won 49 USA Weightlifting
National Championships. Coach Hatch has also had athletes make three United States Olympic
Teams, and 12 World Teams. He has had more than 50 athletes selected to other U.S.
international teams. Some of the outstanding lifters coming out of the Gayle Hatch program
include Olympians and World Team Members, Bret Brian and Tommy Calandro, and Olympic Squad
and World Team Members, Blair Lobrano and Matt Bruce, as well as World Masters Champions,
Walt Imahara and Chuck Meole. Hatch has also had 20 athletes selected to Junior World
Teams including junior American record holders, Buster Bourgois, Brandon Baker and Blair
Lobrano.
The contributions that Coach Hatch has made extend beyond the reach of the athletes he
has coached. Many of the current top U.S. Weightlifting coaches say they have patterned
much of what they have done after the Gayle Hatch Program. Coach Hatch is considered one
of the pioneers of Olympic-style strength training in this country. In his career, through
direct contact and the ripple effect, he has helped countless strength coaches on the
professional, collegiate and high-school levels reach a better understanding of explosive
strength training for all athletes. His philosophies were utilized in recent years by
strength coaches at LSU, Alabama, Miami and Tennessee. These football teams won
a total of 6 BCS National championships. Appalachian State won two Division 1AA Football
National Championships using the Hatch System. LSU and Miami baseball teams also won
national championships using the Hatch System. LSU's mens and womens final four basketball
teams used the Hatch System as well. Outstanding athletes coming out of
Hatch's strength training program include Heisman Trophy candidates Warrick Dunn,
Bucky Richardson, N. F. L. first round draft pick, Anthony McFarland as well as
NBA players, Brandon Bass, Glen Davis, Tyrus Thomas and Marcus Thorton..
Coach Hatch has won numerous national coaching honors and is a member of the USA
Weightlifting Hall of Fame and the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame.
He holds USA Weightlifting's highest certificate ranking, Senior U.S.
International Coach and is the director of USA Weightlifting's Southern Regional Training
Center, located at the US Sports Training Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Coach Hatch
is regarded as one of USA Weightlifting's strongest leaders. In 1990 the USAW Board of
Directors approved a proposal by Coach Hatch to start out-of-competition random drug
testing for both national and junior national squad members. Hatch graduated from Baton
Rouge's Catholic High School in 1957, where he was a record-setting, MVP award
winning, All State, All American athlete excelling in basketball, football and track.
In 2010 Hatch received the Legends Award at the finals of the State Basketball
Tournament. He averaged 35.5 points and 22.5 rebounds throughout the 1957 State Basketball
Playoffs setting a record double/double that still stands today. Hatch's
37points and 24 rebounds in the State Playoff Semi-finals game is still the best
double/double in the history of Louisiana high school basketball. He is a
member of the CHS Grizzly Greats Hall of Fame and the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of
Fame. On May 31, 2002, Catholic High School named its new state of the art weight
room the Gayle Hatch Strength Training Center. At Northwestern State University in
Natchitoches, Louisiana, he starred in basketball and set numerous school records
some of which still stand today. One of those records came in a 44 point, 18 rebound game
against powerhouse KentuckyWeslyen. Hatch hit an amazing (.857) 18 out of 21 field goal
attempts setting a field goal percentage record for 20 attempts or more in a game. That
still stands as a school and Louisiana state college record and also ranks as
one of college basketball's all time best. This state college record puts Hatch on a
list with such Louisiana great players as Pete Maravich, Bob Pettit, and Shaquille
O'Neal. Hatch is a member of the Graduate "N" Club Hall of Fame,
Northwestern's highest athletic honor. In 2002, Dr. Randall Webb, President of
Northwestern State University, presented Hatch the school's distinguished award , The
Nth Degree. In 2004, Coach Hatch was selected to Northwestern State University's
"Long Purple Line Hall of Distinction". It is the university's most prestigious
honor and recognizes former Northwestern students whose career accomplishments have
enhanced the reputation of the university. Also Dale Brown established a basketball
scholarship in the name of Gayle Hatch. The funding will come from the Dale Brown
Foundation. Hatch who is part Delaware Indian was inducted into the American Indian
Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. He was selected in two categories: basketball and US
Olympic Weightlifting. The uniform that Coach Hatch wore in the opening ceremonies
at the 2004 Olympics Games is part of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American
Indian in Washington D.C. Coach Hatch is also a member of the National Masters
Weightlifting Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Weightlifting Hall of Fame and the Louisiana
Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Senior Olympic Games Hall of
Fame and the National Strength and Conditioning Association Founders Club Wall of
Fame. Hatch received the 2004 Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches
Society's Presidents Award. The presentation was made February 25, 2005 at the NFL
Combine. In 2006 LSU's Head Basketball Coach, John Brady, presented Coach Hatch a
Final Four Ring for the role he played in the Tiger's great season. At the end
of the 2007 season, LSU hired Hatch as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the
men's basketball team.
In 2008 Coach Hatch was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Also inducted
were Louisiana Tech and NBA great, Karl Malone, NFL greats, Leonard Marshall and Aeneas
Williams and Major League baseball great, Darryl Hamilton. The selection committee is made
up of an elite panel of state sports media.
In 2009 Coach Hatch was selected as Head Coach for the Men's USA World Team. The
team competeted in the World Weightlifting Championships held in Seoul, South Korea.
In March 2010 Gayle Hatch received The Ledgends Award from the Louisiana High School
Athletic Association for his outstanding accomplishments in the sport of basketball.
During the 1957 State Playoffs he averaged 35 points and 23 rebounds per game for Catholoc
High School. A record that still stands today.
On January 2, 2011 the New Orleans Saints and Peoples Health recognized Coach Gayle
Hatch for his excellence through exceptional achievements after the age of 65. The
presentation took place during the New Orleans Saints Tampa game played at the Superdome.
In 2012 Hatch was named a Louisiana Legend by the Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB)
for his unparalleled success.
Hatch who finished his collegiate career in 1962 signed a professional contract with
the Chicago Majors of the American Basketball League forerunner of the ABA which
eventually merged with the NBA. After his basketball career, he came back to Baton Rouge
and started his weightlifting and strength training program.
Alvin Roy was a major influence on Hatch's weightlifting and strength training career.
Roy had trained Hatch as an athlete along with other noted athletes such as 1959 Heisman
Trophy winner Billy Cannon, Green Bay Packer's Hall of Fame fullback Jimmy Taylor, and
all-time professional basketball great Bob Pettit. These, along with many other
outstanding athletes, trained with Alvin Roy at his training center in Baton Rouge. Roy
served as team manager for the winning United States Olympic Team at the XV Olympiad in
1952 in Helsinki, Finland. He was also professional football's first full-time
strength coach. He installed the first comprehensive, year-round strength program for the
San Diego Chargers. As a result, the Chargers went on to win the World Championship. Over
the years, Roy installed strength programs for the Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders and
Kansas City Chiefs. After Alvin Roy's retirement, Hatch took over the strength coaching
duties at Alvin Roy's Training Center. What Hatch did -- and what many had said couldn't
be done -- was to add a successful Olympic-style weightlifting program in a commercial
gym. But Alvin Roy's words to Hatch were to prove prophetic: "Gayle," Alvin
said, "if anyone can do it, you can." The rest is history.
In June of 2003 both Alvin Roy and Gayle Hatch were inducted into the inaugural USA
Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame.