Let me tell you about my friend, Jim Hite. I’ve been thinking about writing something about Jim since his heart attack last fall. I started thinking about something that happened last spring that really gives us a valuable insight about Jim Hite.

Jim and Joyce have been coordinating the USATF Masters Track and Field Meet at Savannah State University for several years. Jim asked me to help this year. Things can get a bit hectic during these meets, especially for the race director. One of the events was an 80 meter hurdle race for women. Since the NCAA does not have a race of this distance, the marks for the hurdles had to be measured that morning. When the event was announced, there was only one participant. As the lady approached the starting line, she asked the starter to check the distance between the hurdles. After checking, it was discovered that the hurdles were placed incorrectly. Jim immediately borrowed a tape and began marking the curb at the correct distance for the hurdles. This took some time, and several people began to get concerned about the schedule, we were getting behind. I stood back and watched Jim. He calmly announced that the hurdles were spaced incorrectly and that we needed to get them straight. It took 15 or 20 minutes to measure, mark and move the hurdles. When the hurdles were set, Jim announced that the race could begin. I remember thinking that with all that trouble, I hope this lady can set a world’s record. But then I thought about Jim’s attitude though out this whole ordeal. He was going to give that lady her moment in the sun; the hurdles would be placed correctly so that she could race. As he was measuring, someone approached Jim and asked if the 200 meters had already been run. Jim, while still moving the hurdles, informed the gentleman that the 200-meter race would be run on time. The gentleman said thanks and went on warming up while Jim set the last flight of hurdles. Jim walked by me and said, “I think we’re ready.” I knew that for two people on that track, that 80 meter hurdle race was the most important event at that moment...the lady from Atlanta and Jim Hite.

That’s the way Jim approaches everything in which he is involved. That lady had trained for this event, driven from Atlanta, registered for the event, and Jim made sure that she received the same attention and consideration as anyone at the meet...even if she was the only participant in the race.

When I first met Jim, he was coaching at Bryan County High School and I was coaching at Jenkins County High School. We both coached girls basketball, boys and girls track and boys and girls cross-country. Track and cross-country were called minor sports in those days. We labored in relative obscurity most of the time. But our athletes sure had a good time. There were many cross-country meets where the 1st and 2nd place teams were usually Bryan County and Jenkins County. We won a few and they won a few.

It was common for Jim and I to take our runners to area weekend races. I remember taking my team to Pembroke when Jim was director of the Pembroke Lung Run. I also remember Jim and a group from Pembroke coming to Millen to compete in our Town Square Trot Road Race. We took our teams to the state cross-country meet together and often stayed at the same motel. I could tell that running was very important to Jim.

Is Jim competitive? You bet cha!!!! I remember one year our teams were scheduled to compete in a cross-country meet at Georgia Southern College. There was a 5K Road Race in Statesboro that same morning. I spoke to Jim and we both wanted to support the 5K Race, but we couldn’t because of the high school cross-country meet. We decided to enter the 1-mile fun run. I remember standing at the starting line, me.....Jim....and about 40 little kids. The starter announced that he wanted everyone to have a good time and that this was a non-competitive event. Yeah, right. The gun sounded and we were off. I remember Jim and I running together for five thousand two hundred and seventy five feet. And then it happened...about two steps from the finish line; Jim’s shirt somehow got tangled in my right hand. I couldn’t help but step across the finish line just a second ahead of him. Of course, Jim seems to think that maybe I grabbed him....I don’t recall. But that is the only time I ever finished a race ahead of Jim...until the Hoofin’ For Habitat 5K at GSU last October. More on that race in a minute.

I set my 5K personal record at a race Jim was directing in Statesboro. I took the school mini-bus and about 12 students over to compete in the race. I had a great race and was really excited about my time. After the race, Jim came over with a really big smile. He’s coming to congratulate me on my new PR I thought. Wrong! I remember the excitement when he announced that Joyce had invited him to the Metter Athletic Banquet the following week. I found out later that Jim had to buy his own ticket.

The rest is history!!!

There are few honors greater than to be asked to stand beside someone at their wedding, I had the privilege of standing with Jim and Joyce on their special day. I thought at the time, and I still think, that here is truly a match made in heaven. They seemed perfect for each other. I was right.

Last year I visited Jim in Augusta after his heart surgery. I didn’t know what to expect. You always worry about opening the door and seeing someone lying in bed with tubes and wires running all over the place. Not Jim. When Pat and I opened the door, Jim was in the chair beside the bed. Joyce and Jody were there along with someone from the Augusta Running Club. Jim was preparing his workout schedule for 2003. I couldn’t believe it...well...yes I could.

I talked to Joyce a couple of days later and she said the doctor had told Jim to begin walking in a couple of days...oh no....Joyce told the doctor to spell out exactly how many minutes he could walk each day. She wanted to make sure that Jim knew that he was limited to 10 minutes on Thursday, 12 minutes on Friday etc. About two weeks after his surgery I met Jim at Magnolia Springs and I walked 18 minutes with him. His recovery was coming along right on schedule. I remember the excitement when he talked about walking a 5K in about a month.

Remember that I said I had beaten Jim to the finish line twice? The second time was on October 19, 2002, The Hoofin’ For Habitat 5K. Jim had permission from his doctor to walk the 5K. I finished the race and waited around the finish line. Joyce and several other people were there. Most of them didn’t know what Jim had been through. I saw Jim coming down the home stretch. I could see by his face that he was having a tough time, not a tough time finishing the race...but a tough time walking. He wanted to RUN!!! He crossed the finish line and the crowd applauded. I applauded just a little louder than everyone else (everyone except his number one cheerleader......Joyce). I applauded because I got to see Jim Hite finish a race. A couple of months earlier Jim didn’t know if he would ever be able to walk 3 miles, and now he was almost racing again. I don’t usually get goose bumps, but I did that morning. Anyway, I walked over and congratulated Jim; of course he was disappointed in his time. But I could tell that he really enjoyed that 5K. I know I did.

I could write pages on Jim’s contributions to our sport. But I can some it up best by recounting a story I told about Jim and Joyce last summer. Jim had arranged for the Georgia Games Olympic Torch Run to come through Millen for several years. At the 2002 ceremony at the Jenkins County Courthouse, Jim and Joyce received special awards for their service to the Georgia Games. I was asked to introduce Jim and Joyce and say a few words. I told a story about a preacher who would sit beside the railroad tracks in his little town and watch the trains roll by. He would do this almost everyday. One day, one of his friends asked him why he liked to sit and watch the trains. The preacher replied, “I just like to see something moving through this town that I don’t have to push.” That’s the way Jim and Joyce are to running in Georgia. Not much moves through our running community that Jim and Joyce are not pushing.

It seems that my days of beating Jim to the finish line are over. Jim is running again, not walking, and his 5K time is around 25 minutes and he’s working to get faster. But just so you know Jim, one day, I’m going to be close to you near the end of a race, and if your shirt is blowing just right, and I my hand accidentally gets tangled, and there’s nothing I can do, I might just beat you one more time. But if there is one person in this whole world that I don’t mind finishing behind...it’s my good buddy Jim Hite.

There is one last thing about Jim that makes him really unique in our society today. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never...and I really mean never...heard anyone say anything bad about Jim Hite. And that’s really saying something.

In closing I just want to thank Jim for all the memories, the miles, and the great times.......and here’s to another 69 years on the roads my friend!!!!!