Hall of Fame coach Clyde Hart’s accomplishments are well-documented.
Coach to Olympic 400-meter champions Michael Johnson, Jeremy Wariner, and Sanya Richards-Ross, he also produced 34 NCAA champions and 566 NCAA All-Americans over the course of his 56-year career. A career highlight was being selected as men’s assistant coach for the 2000 Olympic Track & Field team when Michael Johnson, who Hart coached from 1987 to 1991 when he ran for the Baylor Bears, won his second consecutive 400-meter title.
USA Track & Field, the national governing body for track & field, long-distance running, race walking, and cross country in the United States, named Hart Nike Coach of the Year in 2004 in and again in 2006 before awarding him the Legend Coach of the Year Award in 2017.
A stellar career to be sure, but there was more to Clyde Hart than titles and awards.
Michael Ford, who was appointed the director of men’s and women’s track and field at Baylor in 2021, remembers his former coach as a father, coach, and mentor for whom family meant everything. Of the day in 1991 that Hart came to East High School in Rochester, New York, to recruit him, Ford recalls Hart not only made three promises — that he’d graduate, that he’d be part of a new family, and that he’d run fast — but also that he kept all three.
Stacey Smith ran for Hart as an undergraduate student at Baylor and served as his graduate assistant for two years before he named her associate head coach.
“To coach with one of the greatest track coaches of all time was a dream come true,” said Smith, who allows that Hart was a really tough coach but that he had the softest heart. “He loved us in his own special way which is why we worked hard for him. He saw your potential before you did, and he would find a way to draw the best out of you.”
She remembers learning a lot of life lessons from Hart, who told her to never stop learning.
“He said that it’s easy to become complacent, especially if you’ve had a lot of success, but that there’s always so much more to learn,” Smith said. “He used to say, ‘Coaching is fun! We get to do the sport we love every day. Take advantage of every opportunity.’”
Hart was a Baylor alumnus with a degree in business administration in 1956 when he returned to Arkansas where he had tied the state record in the 100-yard dash as a senior at Hot Springs High School. A year later during a turning point in American civil rights history, he took a teaching and coaching position at Central High School in Little Rock.
On his first day of school, September 4, 1957, a group of African-American students who became known as the Little Rock Nine, were met with force by local police, which prevented them from entering the building. Segregationists had fought hard to keep public schools in Little Rock from being integrated, and it took until the end of September before the nine were permitted to enter the building, though under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division.
The situation was so tense that Woodrow Wilson Mann, the mayor of Little Rock, asked President Dwight Eisenhower to send federal troops to enforce integration and protect the students, who were nevertheless subjected to a year of physical and verbal abuse by many of the white students.
In the summer of 1958, Governor Orval Faubus closed Little Rock’s public high schools to prevent further integration, leaving thousands of students, both Black and white, without access to public education until courts forced their reopening in 1959. During what became known as the “Lost Year,” Hart found work as a substitute teacher at other schools and even checked for bombs due to threats.
Returning to Central High School as head track and field coach in September 1959, Hart led the boys track and field team to record-breaking performances, notably in sprints and relays, by focusing on speed and endurance. The team dominated track and field during Hart’s tenure, often setting multiple records in single meets. Legendary sprinter Bob Hayes, class of 1960, not only set national school records but went on to win two gold medals in track at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
By then Hart had earned a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas and accepted a position as head track and field coach at Baylor, which became known as “Quarter Mile U” during his tenure.
His “train slower, race faster” philosophy, which he developed for 400-meter runners, was based on technical precision, endurance, and mental toughness. The 400-meter requires both anaerobic speed and endurance, and Hart knew from experience that athletes who are expected to run at maximum speed during every training session are prone to injuries, including hamstring strains and tears, calf strains, hip flexor and abductor strains, shin splints, and Achilles tendinopathy due to intense, repetitive loading during high-speed training sessions. The term “loading” simply refers to that part of the gait cycle where the body accepts weight and absorbs impact after the foot strikes the ground.
So, he changed the protocol. The key to his “train slower, race faster” approach was to combine intermediate training with specific speed-endurance intervals that allowed his athletes to perform better in the final 100 meters of a race. The strategy worked, and Hart went on to be the personal coach for nine Olympians, who won a total of 13 gold medals, one silver, and three bronze.
“When you think of Baylor you think of Clyde Hart,” said Smith, who remembers that even after he retired, Hart would spend time at the track with the team and the coaches he’d trained . “He loved Baylor and Baylor loved him. He will be missed tremendously.”
Hart passed away November 1, 2025 at 91 years old. He is survived by his wife, Maxine, and two sons, Greg and Scott.
