LEWISTON — When Jane Woodhead Jawor’s incredible track-and-field career ended at the University of Tennessee, it took her a few moments to figure out what she was going to do with her life.
Jawor decided that she would give back to her community by becoming a coach and mentor to young athletes.
And while her milestones remain on the record books, Jawor doesn’t spend her days reflecting on her unforgettable accomplishments in the shot put, discus and javelin.
“Honest to God, I can’t remember one meet from the next,” Jawor said. “It is not part of my personality to know what happened in the past.”
But then again, that’s not unusual considering her numerous accolades. As an athlete, Jawor has always been a competitor who focuses on the present and future.
There is another accolade for Jawor coming her way — her induction into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame on April 28 at Lost Valley.
“It is a huge honor,” Jawor said. “I am very proud of it. Again, I am standing on some very big shoulders, so to be up there is a wonderful, amazing thing.”
She will be joining inductees Lewiston High School tennis coach Anita Murphy, the third winningest high school hockey coach in the nation, Norm Gagne, and Edward Little graduate Valerie Brown Ackley.
When you take a good look at Jawor’s stunning performances — especially in the javelin — it explains why she earned her place in the A-L Hall of Fame.
Jawor, who graduated in 1986 from LHS, earned a degree in sports management from Tennessee in 1991. She was unbeaten in the three throwing disciplines at the high school level. She also held state records in each event.
“The first state meet, I won Nationals with a 213-foot softball throw,” said Jawor, who had no problem recalling that event. “I won the Pathmark, which is now the Nike International. I won the Pathmark indoor shot put in 1986 at 46-6.
“Discus was my best event. Actually, in high school, I was undefeated in all of them, but when I got to college, I was more competitive in the javelin.”
After being heavily recruited by the University of Florida, she opted to attend Tennessee, where she was twice named an All-American in the javelin.
“When I got to the University of Tennessee, the head coach, Gary Schwartz, he was the head coach, but he was also the throwers’ coach,” said Jawor, 45, who is now raising three sons with husband, Edward, a Bates College graduate. “I was the only thrower, so you are not going to invest a lot of time on one athlete when you still have other running events.
“So I just didn’t improve a whole lot, technically. And then my junior year, Dorothy Doolittle took over and she was simply an amazing technician, and I improved a lot. In the javelin, I basically learned how to roll the shoulder and the throw, and then I got injured.”
Jawor tore her rotator cuff her senior year at Tennessee but elected not to have surgery.
“At the time, I worked so hard in high school that I really didn’t have that much left by that senior year,” Jawor said. “I was comfortable saying, ‘I will just rehab it.'”
Before her injury, she won the Junior National Outdoor, was a member of the USA Junior Team in Europe and the Olympic Festival Team.
She kept her scholarship, graduated and returned to her hometown.
“I immediately started coaching at Lewiston High School, I loved it,” said Jawor, who coached the LHS boys’ team for two years and worked as an assistant women’s coach at Bates . “I was really excited about coaching. I definitely identified with coaches.”
And ambitious track athletes continue to identify with her.
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