Jim Hines, First Sprinter to Run 100m in Under 10 Seconds, Dies at 76

Jim Hines, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who was the first man officially timed at under 10 seconds in the 100-meter sprint, died on Saturday. He was 76.

World Athletics announced Hines’s death in a Sunday release. Echoing the global governing body's sentiments, USA Track and Field tweeted, "The sport has lost a legend."

Hines is best known for two iconic races in 1968. On June 20 of that year, he was clocked running the 100-meter sprint in a world-record 9.9 seconds by a manual timer in Sacramento, Calif. (adjusted to 10.03 seconds electronically). On Oct. 14, at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, he ran the race in 9.95 seconds to break his own mark.

The 9.95 stood as the electronically timed world record for 15 years, until American Calvin Smith eclipsed it by 0.2 seconds in Colorado Springs in 1983. Hines won another gold medal in Mexico City in the 4x100-meter relay as his team ran a world-record 38.24.

Hines, a native of Dumas, Ark. who ran collegiately at Texas Southern, spent parts of three seasons in the AFL and NFL from 1968 to ‘70 with the Dolphins and Chiefs.