Johnny Gibson, record-setting hurdler and coach, dies at 101
Posted Tuesday, 2 January, 2007
NEWTON, N.J. -- Johnny Gibson, who in 1927 set the world
record for 400-meter hurdles, has died. He was 101.
Gibson, who also coached Seton Hall's track team from 1946 to
1972, died Friday after spending the past several years at the Barn
Hill Care Center, a nursing home in Newton.
"He was a pretty healthy guy all his life," one of his sons,
John Gibson Jr., said Tuesday.
Gibson set the world record of 52.6 seconds for the 400-meter
hurdles on July 2, 1927, at the national championships in Lincoln,
Neb.
He worked days running messages on Wall Street, actually running
from building to building, according to The New York Times, which
interviewed Gibson several times in his later years. His training
including hurdling park benches.
The next year, Gibson failed to qualify for the final of his
event at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
At Seton Hall, he coached sprinter Andy Stanfield, who won two
gold medals at the 1952 Olympics and a silver at the 1956 games.
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