Daney inducted into NAIA Hall of Fame

Michael Daney, a member of the Oklahoma Choctaw Tribal Nation, was recently inducted into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame.

Daney was a track and cross country athlete at Haskell Indian Junior College, Oklahoma Baptist University and Northeastern Oklahoma State University, as well as a coach at Haskell Indian Junior College and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, where he is currently a health and physical education instructor.

Daney serves as a coach, mentor, and facilitator of the Sport Warriors Track Club, a program that is designed to encourage and assist Native American post-collegiate runners to continue to compete on a national level in USATF national competitions. Daney mentored and coached three runners that qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

As an athlete at Haskell Indian Junior College, he was a two-time NJCAA national cross country qualifier and was named the cross country team MVP while earning letters in cross country, basketball, and track.

While being an athlete at Oklahoma Baptist University, Daney was a member of the NAIA Cross Country All Conference Team, NAIA District 9 Cross Country Champion, and NAIA National Cross Country Qualifier. He was All Conference in the Three Mile Run and Steeplechase and was also named to the NAIA All Region Team Steeplechase.

Daney also attended Northeastern Oklahoma State University, and he was the winner of the NIAA Native American Cross Country Championship, Conference Track Champion and school record holder in the one and two mile.

Daney began his college coaching at Haskell Indian Junior College and was a part of the four-peat Haskell’s Men’s Marathon National Championships that is still an NJCAA record. His men and women’s teams qualified for seven NJCAA National X-Country Championships and were all top 10 finishes. Daney coached 18 male and female All-Americans including one national champion and he was a two-time NJCAA Region X-Country Coach of the Year.

Daney also coached 10 NJCAA National Championship at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. He coached 23 All-Americans and seven individual national champions. He was named NJCAA Regional Coach of the Year five times and National Coach of the Year 10 times.

Daney currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife, children and grandchildren.

For more information on the NAIA Hall of Fame, visit https://www.naiahf.org/.