Macon–Former Olympic track and field coach and Georgia Sports Hall of Fame honoree Jimmy Carnes will be featured speaker at Mercer University’s annual Founders’ Day Convocation at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Willingham Hall on Coleman Avenue.
A 1956 Mercer graduate, Carnes will share how his education at Mercer has influenced his success on and off the field.
Carnes served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team at the Montreal Games in 1976. He was selected head coach for U.S. Men’s Olympic Track and Field for the Moscow Games in 1980, which President Jimmy Carter decided the U.S. teams would boycott in protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. He later became the co-founder of Athletic Attic, a chain of retail sporting goods stores.
An Eatonton, Ga., native, Carnes began his coaching career in Atlanta as track coach for Druid Hills High School from 1956 to 1962. He went on to serve as head track coach at Furman University from 1962 to 1964 and at University of Florida from 1964 to 1976. Carnes posted an astounding 161-11 record during his 20 years of coaching track and field. He compiled a 52-20 record with 27 championships and six state titles at Druid Hills.
Two of the track teams he coached at Furman were 16-3 in dual meets and won both the Southern Conference Indoor and Outdoor title. Carnes also captured two SEC Indoor Championships with a 93-3 mark at the University of Florida. Named Georgia Coach of the Year six times, Carnes is in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. He competed in track and basketball as a student at Mercer.
Sponsored by the Mercer Student Government Association, Founders’ Day is an annual event for students, faculty, staff and friends of the University to celebrate the rich heritage of Mercer. For more information about this event, contact Cindy Strowbridge at (478) 301-7244.
