Will Bruce errr Caitlyn attend the service?

RIP

I wonder how Johnny Ham Jones is doing?

If I'm not mistaken he broke the world record for the 100yd (not meter) dash in high school but it was deemed either hand timed or wind aided. Regardless I don't think the people that controlled the world record were gonna let some high school kid from Lampasas, TX have it. The fact that he even got that close as an amateur high school kid shows how much of a gift he had.

Bryant03 said:

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If I'm not mistaken he broke the world record for the 100yd (not meter) dash in high school but it was deemed either hand timed or wind aided. Regardless I don't think the people that controlled the world record were gonna let some high school kid from Lampasas, TX have it. The fact that he even got that close as an amateur high school kid shows how much of a gift he had.

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When he ran at Temple, word was that the preceding week he had run a 9.1 100 yds which would have tied Crockett's or McTear's record. Everyone showed up to see him do it again but he ran the 440 instead.

Just now seeing Bryant03's post, I posted mine before I saw yours.

To clear up any confusion, the 100yd race I saw in Corpus was a different one than the one you describe with more than allowable wind. You race was earlier in the year, and maybe that's why at regionals the meet officials moved the race I saw to have him go against a headwind? Not sure.

A couple of other things I remember:

- In addition to being a track athlete in high school at the same time Lam was, I was also invested as a fan of the sport and kept up with the best times in the state. I seem to remember Lam coming out of freaking nowhere ....this dude just appeared in the sports page one day with the fastest time in the state and everyone was WTF'ing each other at practice the next day.

- I'm getting old so I'm only 95% sure this is true. Lam was the same class year as Curtis Dickey at Bryan. A couple of weeks after Lam posted some ridiculous time, someone somewhere got the idea to have him race Dickey in a meet at Bryan High stadium. I have a friend who SAYS he was there, and that it was a carnival atmosphere like Billy Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs. Lam beat Dickey. They both won state a month or two later in the 100 and 220 because Lam was 3A and Dickey was 4A. I welcome corrections and "you're out of your mind" responses because at 60 I may very well be.

ETA: Well, it looks like I was working on my original and seconds posts at the same time oklaunion was posting his as well. Only saw Bryant03s at first so apologies for that and for "repeating" the Bryan Viking meet. I thought it was the 100 yard dash but I guess it was the 220, like I said, I wasn't there but I heard it was a big deal.

AgDotCom said:

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I ran in the same regional track meet with him in Corpus in 1976. I didn't run against him, I was at a 4A school he was at 3A Lampasas. (6A and 5A in today's lingo).

In the 100 yard dash final (not meters), the helping wind was above the allowable limit should he set a record time. So they moved the race over to the other side of the stadium, not sure why they did that instead of staying on the same side and reversing the start, but whatever. The whole crowd of spectators moved over the other side like a herd of cattle. Lam won, but didn't set a record.

Two weeks later at the state meet he ran that epic anchor leg on the mile relay in 45.3 which took his team from seventh place to winners. I was not there that Friday night in Austin, but I did go the next day....all I heard all day was Lam Jones and his anchor leg the night before. I still go visit my track coaches once or more each year, they were there to see that anchor leg. Like just about everyone there that night, they say it's still the most memorable track and field event they've ever seen.

One of my old track teammates texted me this news today. My sadness upon seeing it caught me by surprise, maybe because after some rough times with drugs and alcohol, Johnny Lam had turned his life around back to the humble country boy he once was. Not many people can do that. He was a class act, RIP and thank you for the memories, Lam.

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"turned his life around".....his greatest accomplishment!

Sad, Rest In Peace, Johnny.

Didn't he play with Donnie Little and Johnny Ham Jones, or Johnny Jam Jones?

Terrific stories guys. Thanks for sharing.

RIP Johnny Lam Jones.

He played with Ham who I unfortunately had to guard in a tournament in Colorado City back in the day.

Whatever happened to Johnny Shem Jones or Johnny Yam Jones?

I'm not sure if it was ham lam or jam, but I do recall Carl Grulich running them down from behind in a game.

the old SWC had crazy talent back in the mid-to-late 70's (and into the early 80's).

Lam Jones was Earl Campbell's backup for his first 2 years in 76 & 77.

the 1979 game at Kyle was a star-studded affair.

Curtis Dickey, Jacob Green, Mike Mosley, Johnny Hector, Gerald Carter, and company

vs. Lam Jones, Jam Jones, Herkie Walls, Donnie Little, Johnnie Johnson, Steve McMichael, and so forth.

incredible talent

Jeff84 said:

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I was at that Viking Relays meet in 1976. Lam and Dickey ran against each other in both the 100 yards and the 220. Lam won both (9.3 to Dickeys's 9.4 and 20.7 to Dickey's 21.1). Lam was silky smooth as a runner while Dickey was a physical freak at about 6'2 210.
Viking Stadium was at capacity with about 10,000 fans or more to watch those two guys go at it. It was an awesome experience and I'm glad I got to witness that as a 14 year old!

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It's a damn shame stud skill position football players don't run track like they used to, they were damn good at both sports. The state meet was a showcase of badassedness when these blue chip recruits would line up and smoke some of the pure sprinters. I used to go to the Saturday events at the state meet back in the day. When Dickey won the 100 and 220 4A state titles, he looked like a truck next to all the other guys and blew them away. Edwin Simmons, same thing....both he and Dickey looked like what would come off the assembly line if you could build the ideal RB specimen from scratch, then they go out and win the sprints easily.

Lam Jones and Carl Lewis both weighed about 175-180, Lewis being an inch or two taller. Here's Dickey vs. Lewis on the anchor leg of the sprint relay....I love this photo, pure raw athletic God given talent on display. Look at the size / build differential:




I never went to the Friday night events, so like I said I missed the Lam Jones 4x440 anchor leg. If there was one thing I could go back and do over again, I would go see that. I'm not a huge Kirk Bohls fan, but Bohls says that anchor leg is the most memorable sports moment he's seen in his life, and he's seen a lot: Bohls on Lam Jones anchor leg

Seems like Lam was sick for a LONG time. I recall hearing about his health issues well over 10 years ago from a t.u. alum.

I saw Lam Jones at this track meet. It was amazing.

I also saw Billy Olsen pole vault over the moon a year or two later at the bluebonnet relays.

Xxxxxxxx

Olympic gold medalist and former UT star died Friday after long battle with cancer

The 1976 meteoric rise of Johnny "Lam" Jones from little-known high school sprinter to Olympic gold medalist began in Brownwood.

Starting with the Bluebonnet Relays in mid-March through the UIL state track and field meet in mid-May, Jones blazed a trail that left competitors helpless, compelled unemotional sports writers to become cheerleaders, and prompted fans of all ages to pour out of the grandstands at the state track meet.

Along the way, Jones was timed in 9.05 seconds in the 100-yard dash and 20.7 in the 220 and routinely ran down other anchor runners to win the mile relay with 440-yard splits in the 45- to 46-second range. He also led Lampasas to the Class 3A (present-day 5A) state team championship.

By the final day of July, Jones' remarkable 1976 track season peaked when he won a gold medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics as a member of the U.S. 4x100-meter relay team. At age 18, he left for Montreal as the youngest athlete from Texas ever to earn a berth on the U.S. Olympic track and field team. He returned a few weeks later as an Olympic gold medalist, a national celebrity and a Texas icon.

Jones a member of the University of Texas football and track teams and a first-round draft pick of the New York Jets died Friday at age 60 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was first diagnosed with cancer of the plasma and bone marrow in 2005. Once 6 feet tall, the cancer and its treatment left Jones standing about 5-9.

Jones wasn't a magician, but as a Lampasas senior, he performed optical illusions that remain a vivid memory for those who saw him run.

"What he was doing was a visual lie. Humans just don't do that," said Art Lawler, a former sports writer for the Abilene Reporter-News who covered Jones in 1976.

"You just don't see someone run people down from 30 or 40 yards behind. Visually, you just can't comprehend it when you see someone come up that fast on all the others," Lawler said.

Jones wasn't a complete unknown before 1976. In football, he scored 45 touchdowns in two seasons and was selected all-state. He signed to play football at UT.

As a junior at Lampasas High in 1975, he won state in the 440-yard dash in 47.6 seconds. The high school conversion to meters was still a few years away.



Bluebonnet Breakout



After three track meets in 1976, the Lampasas 440 relay with Jones wasn't producing the times Badgers coach Scott Boyd had expected. Seeking another individual event for Jones instead of the 440 relay, Boyd decided to time his senior in a 100-yard sprint one day after practice.

"It was the week of the Brownwood meet, and Scott stepped off 100 yards on our dirt track," said Nancy Boyd, the widow of Scott Boyd, who died in 2003 at age 57. "Johnny didn't even have his running shoes on. It was just a 'ready, set, go' start.

"Scott wouldn't tell Johnny what he'd clocked him in (9.24 seconds). He shook his stopwatch and told Johnny to run it again. The second time, Scott showed Johnny the watch (which read 9.37). Johnny shook his head and said, 'Coach, you've got to get a new watch.' "

Coach Boyd entered Jones in the 100, 440 and mile relay at the Bluebonnet Relays and both their lives changed forever. Within an hour's time in Brownwood, Jones won the long jump with a mark of 24 feet and one-half inch; the 100 in 9.2; and the 440 in 47.8. Later, Jones gave the first of his legendary mile-relay anchor performances, turning a slight lead over Copperas Cove into a 30-yard bulge with a 45.8-second lap.

Lawler was so impressed he snapped a photo of Jones and submitted it, along with a summary of Jones's performance, to Sports Illustrated for consideration in its "Faces in the Crowd" page.

"It ran a couple of weeks later," Lawler said. "A lot of sports writers claim to have discovered Johnny Lam, but we gave him his first national publicity with the mention in Sports Illustrated."

Nancy Boyd, who compiled two scrapbooks filled with Jones's feats in 1976, said the Bluebonnet Relays marked the start of his statewide popularity.

"It was the beginning of his tremendous fan following, when his performances inspired perfect strangers to take time to send personal notes," Boyd said. "I have one from Wayne Turner in my scrapbook. He owned an office equipment company in Brownwood."

Turner wrote: "I usually don't get too excited by track meets except by those people that I know and am really rooting for but Saturday, I got excited and so did the rest of the fans here in Brownwood. We count ourselves fortunate to have been able to see you perform the tremendous feats you did at the Bluebonnet Relays."

To understand the statewide fascination with Jones, you have to realize that in the 1970s, track and field was the dominant spring sport in Texas high schools. Only the state's largest schools played baseball at the time, and softball was mainly a club sport.

Track meets were still run off with preliminaries, often in the mornings, and final races, usually in the afternoons. That format made invitational meets more watchable, and they drew large crowds in Texas especially to see the sprints and relay races.

The state's metropolitan newspapers, which each week compiled and published the top high school track and field performances in Texas, initially questioned the 9.2 time Jones was given at the Bluebonnet Relays. It was a small-town meet, they reasoned, and the race was likely timed by someone with a stopwatch in his hand only a few times a year.

But Jones kept posting similar times week after week. In late March at the San Angelo Relays, he dropped the 440 in favor of the 220, and won it in 20.7. He also won the 100 in 9.5.

Then in the mile relay, Jones attracted more committed followers by erasing a 40-yard deficit and rallying Lampasas to a victory with a 46.5-second anchor lap. Lawler claims, and San Angelo sportswriter Frank Rudnicki doesn't deny, that he was beating the windows in the San Angelo Stadium press box as Jones passed the final runners.

Jones added a 9.05 wind-aided time in the 100 to his growing resume at his district meet in Round Rock. Bud Kennedy, then a sports writer for the Austin American-Statesman, chronicled the growing fan hysteria.

"Women shrieked. Children squealed. Grown men jumped up and down," Kennedy wrote, adding that Jones signed autographs after his performance.



A state meet like no other



By the time the UIL state meet arrived in mid-May, Jones easily was the No. 1 attraction. The state meet crowd was estimated at about 25,000 although if a statewide poll were conducted today, a million-plus would claim to have been there.

Jones won the 100 and 220 that Friday evening in Memorial Stadium, but his times of 9.4 and 21.0 weren't as fast as what he had previously run. Fans were growing impatient when the mile relay, the final event, began. They were craving a superhuman feat.

By the time Mike Perkins, Tom Lancaster and Leon McClendon ran the first three laps of the Class 3A mile relay, Lampasas was mired in last place. The distance Jones trailed the leaders has grown through the years and remains open for debate.

"People say he was 50 yards behind, but I think it was more like 25," said James Blackwood, an assistant track coach at Texas who later helped coach Jones in college.

"I thought it was more like 40 yards," Rudnicki said.

Jones didn't pass anyone until the lap was halfway finished, but when he began picking off other anchor runners, they fell like dominoes. By the final 50 yards, Jones was in third place and closing on the leaders.

In press boxes in the 1970s, there were strict rules about not cheering. Violators would be removed or ridiculed. Or both. But even the most cynical journalists from the state's premier newspapers became swept up in the moment as Jones closed on the two lead runners.

"There wasn't an ounce of professionalism in the press box that night," Lawler said. "I maintained mine for the first 220, but when the others started cheering, I did too."

Jones passed the final two anchor runners, winning the mile relay in dramatic fashion, as well as the 3A state team championship for Lampasas.

In the grandstands, Nancy Boyd had been so disheartened by the deficit Jones faced that she turned away.

"Then I heard the announcer. He's fifth, fourth, third," she recalled. "So I turned around and watched. The lead runners had gone wide down the homestretch. And then there was that moment, that split second, when in the blink of an eye, he darted past them with that unbelievable burst of speed.

"I wasn't really sure I saw what I really saw."

Seconds after Jones crossed the finish line, fans poured out of the grandstands and onto the track toward their new hero. Security personnel got the crowed headed toward the awards stand, where Jones and his Lampasas teammates received their mile relay medals and their state championship trophy.

"We had to get security to take the Lampasas kids to our (UT) dressing room until the crowd calmed down and thinned out," Blackwood said.

Texas track and field fans had their stunning moment. Their visual lie. Their sprint hero to embrace. Jones' anchor lap was timed in 45.5.

"It's the most dramatic moment I've seen in sports," Lawler said. "He ran so smooth, you could have put a cup of coffee on top of his head while he ran and he wouldn't have spilled a drop."



Olympic Homecoming



Johnny Jones's storybook track season of 1976 didn't end with the state meet since his meteoric rise coincided with an Olympic year.

During summer meets measured in meters, Jones qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 100. At the Trials, Jones qualified for the Olympic team in the 4x100 relay and the 100. At the Montreal Olympics the ones known for gymnast Nadia Comaneci's perfect 10 Jones's events were all that mattered to folks back home in Texas. He finished sixth in the 100 in 10.27.

A week later, in front of 70,000 spectators, he joined Harvey Glance, Millard Hampton and Steve Riddick on the Olympic gold-medal U.S. 4x100 relay team that set a world record with a time of 38.33 seconds.

Less than 24 hours later, on Aug. 1, 1976, Jones was due to arrive in a private plane back home in Lampasas. Rudnicki was there and witnessed something as unforgettable as the state meet.

"Everybody was there from little grade-school kids to 80-year-old ladies, and they were all sweating in the hot sun in the middle of the summer," Rudnicki said. "It was one of those scenes that was surreal the anticipation of the conquering hero from a small town who was still an amateur athlete and had won a gold medal for his country.

"It was Americana at its best in a lot of ways. It was a scene that has since fallen by the wayside in the Olympics now, with all the professionalism and the top athletes doing commercials for Disneyland," Rudnicki said.

Jones ran collegiate track only two years for Texas, winning four events at the 1977 Southwest Conference meet as a freshman. He also played football for the Longhorns, and injuries basically ended his track career.

The New York Jets made Jones a first-round NFL draft pick, but in six pro seasons, he averaged a modest 23 receptions for 387 yards and two touchdowns.

After his football career, Jones battled alcohol and drug problems, and in 1988, he spent a year in jail after pleading guilty to indecency with a child. He later called the arrest the turning point in his life. He reportedly was sober from 1990 forward, and he devoted much of his final years to speaking to youth groups about the dangers of alcohol and drugs.

Jones visited Brownwood in 2013 in support of a fundraiser golf tournament hosted by the local R.O.C. (Revitalizing Our Community) organization.

My high school friends (all eventual high school football coaches except me) and I saw Johnny "Lam" Jones run in a state semi or quarter-final meet in San Angelo in the Spring of 1976.

He was the anchor of the 4 x 400 yard race and received the baton approx. 50 yards behind the lead (he got it just before the first curve and the leader was already past the second curve).

The crowd started cheering him on and getting louder and louder almost every stride he took. Believe it or not, he caught and passed the leader to win the race for Lampasas. The crowd went crazy and I get goosebumps every time I think of that race.

It is the greatest athletic feat I have ever witnessed in my lifetime.

W said:

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the old SWC had crazy talent back in the mid-to-late 70's (and into the early 80's).

Lam Jones was Earl Campbell's backup for his first 2 years in 76 & 77.

the 1979 game at Kyle was a star-studded affair.

Curtis Dickey, Jacob Green, Mike Mosley, Johnny Hector, Gerald Carter, and company

vs. Lam Jones, Jam Jones, Herkie Walls, Donnie Little, Johnnie Johnson, Steve McMichael, and so forth.

incredible talent

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I always thought I saw Earl Campbell truck one of guys in the 1979 game at Kyle. Obviously I misremembered the year . It must have been 1977. But to your point, there was a crap load of talent in the SWC back then.

91AggieLawyer said:

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Seems like Lam was sick for a LONG time. I recall hearing about his health issues well over 10 years ago from a t.u. alum.

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He was. He put up a long hard fight.

HunterAggie said:

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My high school friends (all eventual high school football coaches except me) and I saw Johnny "Lam" Jones run in a state semi or quarter-final meet in San Angelo in the Spring of 1976.

He was the anchor of the 4 x 400 yard race and received the baton approx. 50 yards behind the lead (he go it just before the first curve and the leader was already past the second curve).

The crowd started cheering him on and getting louder and louder almost every stride he took. Believe it or not, he caught and passed the leader to win the race for Lampasas. The crowd went crazy and I get goosebumps every time I think of that race.

It is the greatest athletic feat I have ever witnessed in my lifetime.

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My dad was there. Even after seeing it with his own two eyes, he still could barely believe it.