American Sprinter was the first man to run 100 meters in Under 10 seconds.
Jim Hines (US) was the first man to run 100m under 10 secs at the US championships.
Hines broke his own record at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, where an electronic timer recorded him at 9.95 secs.
He held the record for nearly 15 years until Calvin Smith (US) ran a time of 9.93 secs in 1983.
Hines held the longest length of time and the athlete has held the record for the Men’s 100m, since the Amaturo Athletics Foundation began keeping track – 110 years ago.
Hines was born in the state of Arkansas in 1946 but was raised in Oakland, California. He was first interested in playing Baseball but showed a real talent for sprinting as a teenager. He attended Texas Southern University where he ran for the Tiger Track Team before competing in National Championship and the Olympics.
Hines was part of the new generation of ‘POWER RUNNERS’ that emerged in sprinting in the 1960’s – athletes with huge muscles and the build of boxers.
The 100m sprint is one of the most spectacular sports disciplines, serving a measure of the limits of human potential.
Hines was confident in the months before the Olympic games. When the Oakland Tribune asked him if he thought he would win in Mexico he said “Yes for Sure”.
The 1968 Olympics are widely remembered for the Civil Rights protest staged by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two African American medallists in the 200m race who raised their fists in solidarity with the Black Power movement while standing at the Winners Podium as ‘The Star – Spangled Banner’ played. Hines who was also Black had no comment when a reporter asked what he thought of attempt to organize a Black Boycott of the 1968 Games.
But in 1991 he told ‘The Los Angeles Times’ that not all of the Black Athletes at the Games – himself included – agreed with the protest.
“Most of us felt the best way a Black athlete could make a statement was by going and doing his best”. Hines said ‘Tommie and John felt what they were doing was for all Black Athletes and Black men of America.
In the race, Hines faced a field that included Jamaican sprinter Lennox Miller and his American teammates Charles Green and Mel Pender.
In Mexico City, Hines burst out of the blocks and ran with the wind at his back eyes wide open and teeth clenched as he tore to the front of the pack and broke the rope.
“It was the best start I had in my life and it was the best 100m I ever had,” he said afterward.
His World record stood until 1983 when Calvin Smith broke it with a speed of 9.93sec. The website for World Athletics, the International governing body for track and field lists Usain Bolt as the current world record holder with a time of 9.58sec set in 2009 at the World Athletics Championship in Berlin.
Hines won another Gold at the 1968 Olympics helping his teammates Pende, Greene, and Ronnie Ray Smith triumph in the 4×100 m relay for the United States of America.
In 1974 Mel Pender told the New York Times that Hines used his confidence to intimidate opponents, you just hear him saying ‘I am ready Baby’ Pender said.
He’d say it so nonchalant like there is no way he could lose.
After completing the 1968 track and field season, Hines coveted for his speed, played the American Football League. He joined the Miami Dolphins as a receiver and in doing so gave up any further chance to compete in the Olympics, which at the time required to be amateurs.
Jim Hines never got a chance to better his record.
He was the fastest man in – his reign for nearly 15 years.
