Did Johnny "Lam" Jones as a 17 year high schooler in the spring 1976 run one of the fastest 100s ever?

Question

gfuzat, as Johnny Jones 8.6/8.7/8.8 100 yard dash in the spring of 1976 as a 17 year old high schooler was supposed to have been electronically timed, but the electronic timing device did not work. I notice on your list of fastest hand timed 100 yard dashes ends in 1975 which means apparently that all track organizations in the US and worldwide no longer recognized hand timed 100 yard dash times after 1975 when the 17 year old Johnny Jones ran his hand timed 8.6-8.7-8.8 100 yard dash in the spring of 1976 when hand timed races were no longer recorded in the record books; although, that race was supposed to have been electronically timed. I would say that Johnny Jones having the 2nd fastest 100 yard dash in all of track history which was not at altitude would classify Johnny Jones as the fastest or one of the fastest sprinters of his era ending his sprinting career voluntarily at the age of 19 and not because of injury.

Answer 1

Yard or Meter? Yards are smaller, no? And yes, no hand timed. I've appeared behind people i breezed in hand timed runs.

Answer 2

Couple of things wrong with the story.

A guy from Trinidad won the 100m at the 1976 Olympics, and Lam got 6th.  There have been no electronic times of under 9 secs.  Johnny Jones is tied for the 6th fastest all time record (including hand held) at 9.33 sec.

Ultimately, he was fast, just not as fast.

Obviously, this is something that is very personal to you.  I love fast people and admit that Johnny Jones is very impressive especially given age.  It is shame that he decided to pursue football rather than focus on track. Michael Johnson upper body mechanics are terrible, but he owns the 400m record.  Jones' starts are not an issue, nor the altitude, etc.  I have been around track a long time and hand held times do not hold up.  I would assume that the 8 timers were all in the same area of the track.  So they were consistent, but still could be up .2 of a second off.  I do applaud your passion of Jones!

Let's look at the facts.  He was an alternate on the 4X100 and placed 6th at the 100m at the Olympics where the winning time did not break 10 sec.  In fact, he would not have made it to the finals of the 2004 Olympics in the 100m.  I believe that is very easy to state that he was extremely fast, not just not in ranks of the fastest ever.

Answer 3

there is a big difference between 100 yards, which he would have run, and 100m which they run nowadays. 100 yards is only about 91m. In a race that short it is possible that the hand times could be in great error. the 1976 100m gold medalist was Hasely Crawford from Trinidad and Tobago who ran it in 10.06, Jones was 6th in 10.27

Answer 4

No Because it was hand timed. Doesn't count for the recordbooks. For record books you need FAT timing which has a timer in the blocks and then another timer at the finish line. I really doubt he actually ran an 8.6. Hand times can't be trusted.