Fairfax, Va. –Former longtime George Mason track and field coach Dalton Ebanks passed away Saturday in Connecticut. He was 68.

Ebanks coached at Mason for 19 years, including eight seasons as the head coach of the Patriots (1997-2005).

A native of Jamaica, Ebanks first came to George Mason in 1985 as an assistant coach with the women's team. He served in that capacity through 1990 when he became an assistant coach with the men's team. Ebanks was a member of the coaching staff that won the 1996 NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championship and was runner-up in the 1997 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Ebanks rose to the position of head coach in 1997 and maintained the program's strength through strong recruiting in his native country of Jamaica. During his reign, Ebanks produced an NCAA champion, numerous All-Americans and four Olympians, Diane Guthrie-Gresham (1992, 1996), Richard Phillips (2004, 2008, 2012), and Maurice Wignall (2004) representing Jamaica and Terri Dendy (1988) from the United States.