Jimmy Carnes
| Sport(s) | Track and field |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
November 29, 1934 Eatonton, Georgia |
| Died | March 5, 2011 (aged 76) Gainesville, Florida |
| Playing career | |
| 1952–1956 | Mercer University |
| Position(s) |
Basketball Track and field |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1956–1962 | Druid Hills High School |
| 1962–1964 | Furman University |
| 1965–1976 | University of Florida |
| 1976 | U.S. Olympic Team (Asst.) |
| 1980 | U.S. Olympic Team |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1980–1984 | U.S. Track & Field Fed'n (Pres.) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 161–11 (.936) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
|
Southern Conference Indoor (1962, 1963) Southern Conference Outdoor (1962, 1963) Southeastern Conference Indoor (1975, 1976) |
|
| Awards | |
| Georgia Coach of the Year (1957–1962) Florida Sports Hall of Fame (1980) Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (1984) USTFCCCA Hall of Fame (1998) USA Track & Field Hall of Fame (2008) University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame |
|
James Jerome Carnes (November 29, 1934 – March 5, 2011) was an American track and field athlete, coach and administrator. A successful coach at the high school, college and international levels, Carnes compiled a 161–11 career dual meet record, highlighted by four college conference championships and six state high school championships. He was the head coach of the U.S. Olympic track & field team and the Florida Gators track and field team, the founder of the Florida Track Club, and a member of the U.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame.
Jimmy Carnes was born in Eatonton, Georgia. He attended Mercer University in Macon, Georgia from 1952 to 1956, where he played for the Mercer Bears basketball team and was a javelin thrower and high jumper for the Bears track and field team. Carnes dated his future wife, Nanette, a Mercer education major whom he knew from Eatonton, while they were undergraduates.
Carnes graduated from Mercer in 1956, and accepted his first job as a physical education teacher and assistant coach for the football, basketball and track teams at Druid Hills High School in DeKalb County, Georgia. In his second year at Druid Hills, he was named head coach of the track team. From 1957 to 1962, Carnes' Druid Hills track teams were a perfect 52–0 in dual meets and captured six Georgia high school state championships, and he was recognized as the Georgia coach of the year six times.
In 1962, Carnes became the head cross country and track and field coach at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. His Furman track and field teams were 16–3 in dual meets, and won both the Southern Conference indoor and outdoor track and field championships in his two seasons there. After the 1964 track season, Carnes accepted the head coaching position at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. From 1965 to 1976, Carnes' Florida Gators track and field teams finished in the top three in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) fifteen times, won two SEC indoor track championships, and compiled a 93–3 overall record in dual meets. Among his many Gators track and field athletes were sixty-five SEC individual champions, four NCAA individual champions and twenty-four All-Americans.
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