Gallery: (10-23-2022) Jim Carlisle HoH Look Back
For more than three decades, Jim Carlisle – whose immense love for track & field took root at Wayland Baptist University – was considered one of the most respected track officials in the nation. "He had a passion for track & field, and it started when he became a student assistant (coach) at Wayland," Traci Carlisle said of her late husband.
Before his untimely death in 2020 at age 65, Carlisle – a retired high school guidance counselor – worked as an official at hundreds of track & field meets from the high school level all the way up to the Olympics. He held various USA Track & Field Association offices and is a member of both the Texas Track & Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the USA Track & Field National Officials Hall of Fame.
(NOTE: Jim Carlisle – along with Tamyra Mensah-Stock, Alden Mann, Shahala Hawkins and Mary Williams – will be inducted into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor, and Kathy Harston will receive the Harley Redin Coach's Award, at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 during a ceremony at the University Center on the WBU campus. Friends and supporters are invited to attend.)
Surprisingly, Carlisle was never that engaged with track & field growing up in Kress. At 6-foot-4, he did play basketball for the Kangaroos and walked on at Texas Tech. But he wound up at Wayland where he discovered his love for what became a lifelong passion.
"He grew to love track & field through Bill Hardage," Traci said. A former Pioneer track standout who later became a WBU vice-president, Dr. Hardage was Wayland's head coach of track & field at the time, and Carlisle served as his student assistant coach from 1974-76 and as WBU's first fulltime assistant coach from 1977-78. He helped Hardage, an inaugural member of the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor in 1992, coach several conference and district championship teams as well as numerous cross country and track & field national qualifiers and a handful of record-setting all-Americans.
Carlisle graduated from Wayland in 1977 with a bachelor of science degree in physical education with a history minor. He then began a 35-year career in public education, first as a teacher (mostly junior high and high school history) and coach (football, basketball and track & field) in Whitharral, Seymour and O'Donnell. After marrying in 1982 (the couple met on a blind date), they moved back to Plainview where Jim served as Wayland's director of student account services from 1985-88 before he returned to teaching and coaching at Cedar Hill and Carrollton Newman-Smith. Carlisle earned a Master's degree in guidance and counseling from East Texas State in 1993, which set the stage for his next 22 years as a high school counselor in Lewisville, Coppell and Frisco before retiring in 2016.
Carlisle began working as a track & field official in 1986, first at the high school level, then college and ultimately at the USA Track & Field and International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) levels. He officiated as a referee and technical official at all levels of the USATF circuit including youth, professional and masters, as well as the World Jr. Championship, Texas high school championships, the prestigious Texas Relays for more than 25 years, more than 40 NCAA and NAIA conference meets including the Big 12, SEC, Sunbelt, Southland, Mountain West and several NCAA national championships.
Carlisle officiated at six U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta, Sacramento and Eugene, Ore., the Pan American Junior Championship and the Central American Caribbean Championship. All those meets meant lots of traveling, especially in the spring and summer. "Wherever the meets were, he was going," recalled Traci, who on occasion accompanied her husband to meets, but not too often. "I did go with him to Hawaii when he officiated a meet there," she said with a chuckle. Unfortunately, she didn't get to explore the islands much. "He put me to work" at the meet, she said.
Through the years Carlisle was involved in most all aspects of meet officiating. With certification and experience, he moved up to National Technical Official and Master Referee. Carlisle also held various positions within USA Track & Field. "When he died he was certification chair for the Southwestern Track & Field Officials Association, which is part of USA Track & Field," Traci said.
The highlight of Carlisle's officiating career came in 1996 when he was selected to work the Olympics in Atlanta. "He was very proud and quite honored to be selected to do that," Traci said. At the Olympics, Carlisle served as an umpire of running events.
The Atlanta Games often are remembered for the bombing at Centennial Park, which directly killed one person and injured 111 others. "I remember him calling me and saying, 'Hey, we're OK. That's not where we are staying.'"
Carlisle has been honored numerous times for his work as an official, receiving the Roy Griak Distinguished Service Award from the USATF in 2019. He was inducted into the USATF National Officials Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Texas Track & Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
Traci said Jim grew up in a Christian home with supportive parents, Doug and Fannie, who taught him values, respect and love which were evident in the man he was. Jim was very close to and supported by his older brother, Mike. Traci said her husband "had the passion but with it also the patience and perseverance" to be an excellent track & field official. She said Jim credited both his high school basketball coach, Randall Murry, and Dr. Bill Hardage for "setting the example of how to conduct yourself." In addition, Jim had several mentors in track & field including W.A. Wise, Max Goldsmith and Chester Bradley.
Carlisle died unexpectedly of a heart attack on July 12, 2020. Memorials were suggested to a scholarship fund in his name at Wayland. At his funeral, Traci said she was "amazed at how many people acknowledged Jim's help and mentoring," many in the track and field community. "Through God's grace Jim was able to do a lot of things, meet a lot of people, go to a lot of places and have the opportunity to be a mentor and witness to a lot of people."
As for being selected for induction into the WBU Athletics Hall of Honor, Traci said, "Jim would be honored and thankful to mentors, friends and family that helped and supported him along the way. To be recognized by his university is one of his greatest honors since WBU is where it all began."
