Jim Hines, first sprinter to finish the 100 meters in less than 10 seconds, passes away

Jim Hines, a sprinter for the United States of America and the first person to run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds, passed away on Monday at the age of 76, according to World Athletics.

Hines was the first man to officially run a 100-meter race in under 10 seconds in the 1968 US Championships in Sacramento, with a hand-timed 9.9 seconds.

Hines later that year dropped the world record to an electronic timing of 9.95 seconds by winning the 100m gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City at altitude.

Surprisingly, that record lasted 15 years, making it the longest-standing men’s 100-meter world record during the fully automatic era.

Another American, Calvin Smith, finally broke it in 1983 with a time of 9.93 seconds while also in the air.

Hines, a construction worker’s son, was reared in Oakland, California, but was born in Dumas, Arkansas, in September 1946.

His first love was baseball, but when Jim Coleman, an athletics coach, saw his aptitude for sprinting, Hines was already among the top 20 in the world over 100 yards by the age of 17.

His first podium finish at the US Championships occurred in 1965 when he finished second in the 200 meters while a student at Texas Southern University.

He set a new world record in the 100-meter race at the Mexico Olympics by leading home Lennox Miller of Jamaica and Charles Greene.

When he led the USA to victory in the 4x100m relay in 38.24, Hines added another Olympic gold medal as well as a world record.

His gold medals were taken by criminals who broke into his Houston house shortly after the Olympics. But after he published a request for the medals’ return in his neighborhood newspaper, they were sent back to him in a simple brown package.

Hines stopped competing in sports at the end of 1968 and later played for the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.