Charlie Merrifield, a native of Butte, Mont., is a 1954 graduate of Western Montana College (WMC) with a two-year diploma. He transferred to Western from the Montana School of Mines.Â
Merrifield, lettered in football and track, was an important cog in the Bulldogs Montana Collegiate Conference (MCC) track and field championship in 1953 and 1954.Â
In the 1953 MCC meet, he won the 440, finished second in the 100 and ran a leg on the record-breaking mile relay team. The team broke a relay record that had been set in 1938. Merrifield was one of two Bulldogs competing at the 1953 NAIA national meet.
In the 1954 meet, he set a new conference mark in the 220 and ran a leg on the record breaking mile relay team. It was the seventh year in a row that WMC had won the conference mile relay title. Merrifield also won the 44o and finished third in the 100. Merrifield was one of three Bulldogs representing WMC at the NAIA national meet.
After graduation, Merrifield taught three years at Whittier School in his home town of Butte, Mont. In 1957, he returned to WMC to complete his bachelor’s degree with a major in math and minors in English and physical education.
He then taught in Helena, Mont. and Las Vegas, Nev. before returning to Butte in 1961 to begin a 30-plus year career as a math instructor at Butte High School. In 1964, Merrifield on a grant from the National Science Foundation, completed a Masters in mathematics and a minor in physics from the University of Colorado.
He coached for nearly 70 years as both an assistant and head coach in a variety of sports, but primarily track and field. His teams won numerous divisional and state titles and his student-athletes won many individual titles as well.
His speciality became the hurdles. During one memorable eight-year stretch, Merrifield coached athletes won nine of 16 hurdle events at the state meet.
In 1991, he was inducted into the Montana Coaches Hall of Fame. In 2003, he was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame. In 2004, the track complex at Bulldog Memorial Stadium in Butte was renovated and dedicated to Merrifield. And, in 2016, he was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Merrifield and his wife Betty were married for 63 years. He passed away March 6, 2023
