By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Clyde Hart, who served as Baylor’s head track coach for more than 50 years, died at 91 on Saturday after a battle with cancer.
Hart coached nine Olympians, 566 All-American performances and 34 individual NCAA champions, including 20 national titles in the 4×400 relay, during his tenure from 1963 to 2005. Under his leadership, Baylor’s track program became known as “Quarter-Miler U.”
“Coach Hart is one of the legends in track and field. He will truly be missed,” Baylor Vice President and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades said in a statement. “He is the reason why coaching is such an honorable profession. The impact that he had on his student-athletes is immeasurable . . . just ask them.”
Hart coached Olympic gold medal winners in six straight games, including the men’s 400-meter champion from 1996 to 2004. His most famous protégé, Michael Johnson, set world records in the 200m and 400m and won four Olympic gold medals.
“Coach Hart’s impact on that team was immeasurable,” Tony Miller, who ran the 400 under Hart in the early ‘90s, told The Baylor Lariat in 2020. “You can’t put one thing that Coach Hart meant to that team. He embodied what that track team stood for.”
Hart is a member of the USA Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame, Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. He earned USA Track and Field Coach of the Year honors in 2004 and 2006.
“He was an amazing coach, phenomenal mentor and a second father to me,” said current head coach Michael Ford, a six-time All-American and two-time national champion who ran for Hart at Baylor, in a statement. “Today, we lost a great man, Baylor legend and super human being. He will always be remembered and in my heart.”
Hart is survived by his wife of 69 years, Maxine Barton Hart; sons Greg Patterson Hart and Scott Barton Hart (and wife Kimberly); grandsons Ryan Walter Hart (and wife Taylor) and Mason Clyde Hart (and wife Nicole); granddaughter Kennedy Ann Razo (and husband Nathan); great-grandson, Thorne Hart; brother James B. Hart (and wife Carolyn); sister-in-law Ann Barton Jones; and brother-in-law Dr. Gerald Cobb.
Services will be held Wednesday at OakCrest Funeral Home in Waco, with visitation from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A celebration of life will occur at 1 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church. A reception will follow.
