How do you write about an icon like Clyde Hart?
Clyde Hart was one of the greatest coaches of his era in American athletics history.
A class act with a wicked sense of humor and an ability to combine scientific theory with anecdote (we call it common sense), Clyde has coached athletes such as Michael Johnson, Sania Richards-Ross and Jeremy Warner for over five decades.
Coach Hart once told me about his 400 meter training. “Well, Jim Busch took over my Tuesday workouts and I took over his Thursdays. We learned from each other.” how he smiled and laughed at the same time.
His advice on Michael Johnson in 1996 and Sevilla in 1999 was quite surprising and completely off the mark. Clyde Hart knew what to do to keep MJ calm from 200m to 400m and between rounds. WR in Seville could have happened in the semis as MJ was on it until 300m when Clyde closed him down. Pretty damn amazing. His double in Gothenburg in 1995 must also be appreciated.
We will miss Clyde Hart. Heck, I’ll just miss chatting with him between races and heats.
My sincere thoughts and prayers to Maxine Hart, his wife of 69 years, his children, family, athletes and friends.
She and Jim Bush are now in heaven telling stories.
Hall of Fame coach Clyde Hart, who guided the USA’s 400 meters to Olympic glory, died Nov. 1 in Waco. He was 91 from USATF.org
Coach of Olympic 400-meter champions Michael Johnson, Jeremy Warner and Sanya Richards-Ross, he is best known for leading his men to 20 NCAA 4×400 relay titles during his 56-year career at Baylor. He was selected as an assistant men’s coach for the 2000 US Olympic track and field team before stepping down to focus on his work with Johnson.
“He was like a second father,” said Johnson, who has won four Olympic gold medals. “Our coach-athlete relationship was the best I could have ever hoped for because we were so committed to excellence and unafraid to take on the biggest challenges. We were together in my most difficult times and my most important victories as an athlete.”
From 1996 to 2012, Hart coached at least one Olympic gold medalist, including four in the 400. Under his leadership, athletes have won more than a dozen Olympic gold medals and he has produced 29 NCAA champions and more than 450 NCAA All-Americans. In 2004 and 2006, Hart was named USATF Nike Coach of the Year, and in 2017 he was honored with the USATF Legend Coach Award.
“The dedication, love, commitment and passion that he poured into me and countless others is unmatched,” said 2012 Olympic champion Richards-Ross. “His unwavering support and love for me that transcended my track prowess made us more like family than colleagues, and it’s that love and friendship that I will always cherish the most.”
“In addition to being my coach, he was also my coaching mentor,” said 2004 Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Warriner, now a high school coach in Texas. “Coach Hart once told me that even though he’s been coaching for 45 years, he’s still learning the 400 meters. It was special to me. It showed that he was always trying to find new ways to help us become faster and stronger.
Active in sports development, Hart was named the USA Men’s Head Coach at the 1985 Pan American Junior Championships and has served in a number of other international team positions over the years. Inducted into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001, he was named International Coach of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations (now World Athletics) in 2009.
A two-time NCAA National Indoor Coach of the Year honoree, Hart was president of the Collegiate Coaches Association from 1989-91. He was inducted into the Arkansas Athletic Hall of Fame, the Texas Athletic Hall of Fame, and the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame, and Baylor’s track and field facility was named in his honor.
Hart was born in 1934. on February 3 in Eudora, Arkansas, and starred in the sprints at Hot Springs High School, where he set the 100-yard dash state record as a senior in 1952. 220s and helped the Bears to gold in the 440-yard relay.
After graduating from Baylor with a degree in business administration, Hart returned to Arkansas and took a coaching and teaching position at Central High School in Little Rock after a year on the job. It put him at the center of one of the most important scenes in American civil rights history.
Hart’s first day at Central, September 4, 1957, was the same day the Little Rock Nine tried to attend school, and the ensuing battle between the state and federal governments led to the closing of all four Little Rock high schools for the 1958-59 school year. During that time, Hart was assigned to substitute at area elementary and junior high schools.
While at the center, where its boys track and field teams rewrote the state record book, Hart earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Arkansas. In 1963, he was hired as the head coach at Baylor.
Hart is survived by his wife of 69 years, Maxine, and two sons, Greg and Scott.
Since www.usatf.org.
Here’s a link to a FAVORITE coaching segment on RunBlogRun, Clyde Hart on 400 meter training, : https://www.runblogrun.com/2023/04/clyde-harts-guide-to-400-meter-training-from-1996-super-clinic-notes-world-coaches-notes.html?swcfpc=1
