For 15 years, NFL player and track and field athlete James Ray Hines OLY (September 10, 1946 – June 3, 2023) held the 100-meter world record. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, he broke the 100-meter 10-second barrier and won individual and relay gold.
James Hines’ Biography, Wiki and Quick Facts
| Full name | James Ray Hines |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born | September 10, 1946 Dumas, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died | June 3, 2023 (aged 76) |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 81 kg (179 lbs.) |
| Number | 99, 81 |
| Position | Wide Receiver |
| High School | Oakland (CA) McClymonds |
| College | Texas Southern |
| NFL Draft | 1968/ Round: 6 / Pick: 146 |
| Team | Miami Dolphins (1968-1969) & Kansas City Chiefs (1970) |
| Country | United States |
| Ethnicity | – |
| Profession | Track and Field Athlete |
| Events | Sprints |
| College | Texas Southern Tigers |
World Athletics, the international track and field organization, announced Saturday the death of 1968 Olympic gold medalist Jim Hines. He died at the age of 76.
His death was unspecified in the news report.
Hines broke the 10-second barrier in the 100-meter dash with electronic timing.
World Athletics reported a hand-timed 9.9 at the 1968 U.S. Championships, which was amended to 10.03 with electronic timing. He won gold and set a new world record with an electronically-timed 9.95 at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Track career of Late Jim Hines
Hines, from Dumas, Arkansas, graduated from McClymonds High School in 1964. Hines became a sprinter when track coach Jim Coleman discovered his running talent. At the 1968 U.S. national championships in Sacramento, California, Hines became the first man to break the ten-second barrier in the 100-meter race, setting 9.9 (manual timing) and 10.03 (electronic), with Ronnie Ray Smith behind him (10.13).
And Charles Greene on the other semi-final (10.09). Track and field historians call June 20, 1968, the “Night of Speed” at Hughes Stadium.Houston-based Texas Southern University educated Hines. Texas Southern University Tigers track squad.
A few months later, at the 1968 Summer Olympics, Hines, a black athlete, faced racial riots in his home country and a threat of a boycott by the black athletes of the U.S. team, who were upset by the controversial idea of admitting apartheid South Africa to the Games and revelations linking the head of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, to a racist and antisemitic country club.
Hines won the 100 m final in 9.89, later amended to 9.95. The official photograph used Polaroid film and needed two minutes to process and read the 9.89 from a light beam across the finish line. His automatic time of 9.95 was compared to the hand timed 9.9 world record (Hines was again recorded at 9.9). Hand times require human reaction to start the watch, while automatic times start instantly with the pistol. World records required completely automatic timing in 1977. Hines’ electronic time was the fastest ever.
The race featured the third Olympic all-black podium. Hines and his teammates won the 4 × 100 m relay at the same Games, breaking another world record.
Football career of Jim Hines
Miami Dolphins drafted Hines in the sixth round of the 1968 NFL Draft. Hines spent 1968 on the Dolphins’ practice squad. He was called “Oops”. He had 52 all-purpose yards in ten Miami games in 1969.Hines’ single professional game was with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1970.Jeff Pearlman of Deadspin named Hines the 10th-worst NFL player ever.
Later years
Hines worked with Houston inner-city youngsters and oil rigs for years. Calvin Smith’s 9.93 at altitude in July 1983 broke Hines’s world record.
1994 Texas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Hines. Hines joined the 2016 Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame.
Hines, 76, died on June 3, 2023.
