HONORARY LIFETIME HTC MEMBER – JIM OAKS

Presented by Harold Tinsley

I stand before you tonight, not to present an award, but rather to represent the Huntsville Track Club in honoring a club member who has contributed his time and talent to our benefit for almost 30 years. It has been said that it’s not so much how a person’s contributions are viewed when they are made, as to how that person will be viewed many years into the future. The person we are honoring tonight is still contributing, but for much of what he has contributed we are now well into the future. As we look back tonight I think you will agree with me that the view of the past for our honoree, Jim Oaks, has been very, very bright. From this time forward, Jim Oaks, you will be an HONORARY LIFETIME HUNTSVILLE TRACK CLUB MEMBER.

There is not a club race director, current or over the past several decades, that has not benefited greatly from the support provided by Jim Oaks. He also has helped many other race directors here in town and in the surrounding area.

There is not a runner in Huntsville that has not benefited from the support Jim Oaks has contributed to their sport through volunteer race and club support, media exposure, coaching, motivation, and the knowledge from his experience on so many decisions that have been made over the years.

Jim Oaks has served as the media coordinator for the marathon since 1980 and also most years Cotton Row has been run. Over many of those years he and wife Ann hosted invited runners for both those races.

Media covering a running event in Huntsville over the last three decades have done so with the aid of Jim Oaks. More often than not the media is Jim Oaks. Most of the race articles in the newspaper are written by Jim Oaks and he wrote a weekly running column for The Huntsville Times for many years. Many Huntsvillians I am sure would recognize his face from the many times he has represented a club event on a TV sports cast. For more than two decades he contributed an article, age results and pictures to National Masters News following each Cotton Row Run and Rocket City Marathon.

It’s not just race articles, those results you see in the newspaper, most posted on the website and in running magazines either come directly from or were made possible by Jim Oaks. Those state records so many members take pride in begin with the results provided by Jim Oaks to state record keeper Buck Jones. Jim also has contributed scores of articles for the newsletter – who could forget his poem, “The Night Before Pancakes”. The origin of that poem is an insight to Jim Oaks and it is just one of many examples I could give you as an illustration of the detail and excellence he puts into a task, and to make sure all those who supported him knew their efforts were appreciated. Each year after the marathon Jim and Ann Oaks invited Louise and me to their house for a blueberry pancake breakfast with members of The Huntsville Times Sports Department. The poem was written for the breakfast in 1983 and was a masterpiece of good natured “digs” as a tribute to the Times Sports Staff for a super job in promoting and covering the marathon.

If you use RunScore you probably got your club copy from Jim Oaks, and most likely he helped you set it up on the computer you use, and instructed you on how to use it at your home. And most of all he helped you when something went wrong. He probably even coordinated late registration computer data entry and scored your race for you at the finish line. And he probably brought all the equipment and got the volunteers needed to do those critical race jobs. And long after the race was over and everyone had gone home, Jim was home verifying and correcting those results before they were made official and posted on the website. Usually that requires listening to tape recordings of the finish sequence and comparing that to the computer results, but many times that has also required phoning finishers to clarify the finish order when timing mistakes or bandits fouled things up.

His interface with the newspaper is much easier now that results can be sent via email. Before that he would have to carry a disk to the newspaper and phone all the TV stations. Formatting of the data input he provided back in those days was unique and complicated to say the least due to the funky computer system the newspapers used in the early days of computers. But even before then, he had to carry a hard copy and it was not unusual that Jim could be found at the newspaper sitting at a terminal typing them in – and it was two newspapers in those days.

When Jim Oaks became Cotton Row Run race director in 2002, his job was complicated by the course having to be changed several times due to construction downtown. We also have Jim Oaks to thank for adding the 5K and changing the 2 mile to a one mile so many more of the very young can participate.

For many years Jim directed the City High School Track Meet, which at the time was an HTC event. In all Jim has served as a club race director 11 years. He has also served on the HTC Executive Board 7 years as Secretary or Appointed Member.

In the past he was also a guest speaker at club meetings and race clinics in the North Alabama area.

For a number of years Jim was the HTC Webmaster and is still the person who posts most of the race results.

Each year at these awards Jim Oaks is the presenter of several awards and over the years Jim Oaks has received a number of awards, and we will briefly go over those.

But you know most of these things. Tonight I want to take you back in time and tell you a bit about Jim Oaks that you might not know. There’s a lot more about Jim Oaks than just his involvement in running that we are so familiar with. Settle in, because this is going to take a bit of time. For all the time Jim Oaks has given us I am going to give a bit of your time back to him. This is a special night for a very special club member. Jim Oaks is just the sixth club member to be so honored.

James Franklin Oaks, III, was born in Tishomingo County, Mississippi on August 16, 1938. He attended high school in Iuka, Mississippi where he lettered in basketball and football 3 years. He was quarterback on the football team and team captain his senior year. He was the State 4-H Public Speaking Champion, Class President, Student Body President and Class Valedictorian. He began attending “singing schools” while in elementary school and had leading roles in school musicals his junior and senior year of high school.

He attended Millsap College for one year before attending the United States Military Academy at West Point for 4 years where he was honored with the Academic Gold Star his senior year. He played quarterback on his cadet company’s regimental championship intramural football team. He also participated in intramural soccer, track and wrestling. He was a member of the Cadet Chapel Choir and Cadet Glee Club. While in the Glee Club they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, Perry Como Show and toured the northeastern states. He graduated 23rd in a class of 534 and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Army following graduation.

In the Army he earned his Jump Wings and Ranger Tab in 1961. He was first stationed in Korea where he played quarterback on his artillery battalion’s football team, which won the 1st Calvary Division League Championship. He won the Division Cross Country title and also participated in other sports such as tennis and handball, and was selected the 1st Calvary Division Outstanding Athlete. From there he attended Missile School in Fort Bliss, Texas and then spent 2 years on Redstone Arsenal. He returned to Fort Bliss and then to Fort Sill, Oklahoma before spending a year in Vietnam. He received both the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal. He resigned as Captain and moved back to Huntsville in 1969 where he married Martha Ann Lay and sold insurance for several months before beginning his career as a math teacher at Huntsville High School.

He taught at Huntsville High for 3 years and then attended graduate school at the University of Cincinnati for one year before returning to Huntsville High where he taught for a total of 24 years before retiring in 1994. Jim Oaks is an accomplished actor and singer. In 1971 he played John Adams in a Bicentennial production of “1776” and also played the title role in a local production of “The Music Man” – those are just two of many over the years. If you haven’t heard Jim Oaks sing, my description is that his voice transition is almost as startling as that of Gomer Pyle – and his voice is just as good – that’s for those of you old enough to remember Gomer on TV.

Jim was the PA announcer for Huntsville High School basketball from 1974 to 1993. He also announced The Huntsville Times Classic Basketball tournament each year.

Among the many sports Jim Oaks has participated in, he also played tennis in the service and played in local tennis tournaments until he got hooked on running in 1979. When he began teaching at Huntsville High in 1969 they needed a tennis coach and that began his coaching career.

He coached the Huntsville High Boys Tennis Team 9 years winning 6 City Championships and was State Runner-up 2 years. He coached the Huntsville High Girls Tennis Team 10 years winning the City Championships all 10 years, won one State Championship and was State Runner-up 4 times.

Why did Jim switch from coaching tennis to coaching cross country at Huntsville High and how did he get involved in running himself? The seed was planted when he watched the first Rocket City Marathon in 1977. But at that time he was a serious tennis player and as he approached age 40 he realized he had a shot at being a top player in the master’s category and attended a pro tennis school in Florida. In 1979 he decided he needed more stamina for the long tennis matches and began coming to the running park for the Summer Cross Country Runs to get in better shape. The cross country runs were a 1mile, 3 mile and 6 mile run back then. My first memory of Jim Oaks was this little guy trudging along near the back of the pack – in both the 3 and 6 mile runs – that’s a total of 9 miles for a beginner. By the end of the summer he was no longer at the back. Running not only came natural to him, but was fun and he enjoyed the socializing with runners and the good natured kidding Alton Dickerson used to make everyone back then feel welcome and part of the group. The seed sowed more than a year earlier watching the marathon had bloomed – he was hooked on running. He joined the HTC in August, 1979.

Huntsville High needed a cross country coach, so in the fall of 1979 Jim began coaching both the boys and girls cross country teams. Up until this time Grissom and Butler had been the dominant cross country and track teams in the city. Jim coached boys cross country for 14 years winning 9 City Championships, 3 State Championships and was State Runner-up 3 times. In his 15 years coaching girls cross country he won 3 City Championships, 2 State Championships and was State Runner-up 3 times.

By 1983 Huntsville and Grissom had become not only the dominant city cross country teams but dominated the State 6A Championships for years. How dominant were the Huntsville High boys and Grissom girls? In 1983 the Huntsville High boys won the State Championship and the Grissom girls won State. In 1984 Jim’s boy’s team scored a perfect low 15 points in the City Championship and at state all seven of his Huntsville runners finished in the top 20 and all five scoring members made All-State. Their 38 points was a new record low for the boy’s competition. They won by 65 points as Vestavia's 103 points was second best. The Grissom girls won just as impressively scoring 35 points to 91 by McGill-Toolen. The Huntsville High girls were 3rd and this marked the beginning of Jim’s girls teams rise to the top. The future sure looked bright as 7 of the top 12 finishers in the Junior High meet were from city schools.

Could it get any better? Yes. The next year, 1985, the Huntsville High boys won for the third year in a row and the Grissom boys were 2nd. The Grissom girls won again for their 4th consecutive State Championship and 8 in the last 10 years. The Huntsville High girls moved up to 2nd. The two city schools took 1-2 in both boys and girls 6-A races.

The Huntsville High girls were 2nd again in 1986 and finally in 1987 they broke the hold Grissom had for so many years and brought the championship home to Huntsville High for the first time. The five Huntsville High scorers made All-State winning with a dominating 32 point low score to Grissom’s 2nd place 66 points. The Huntsville High junior varsity teams won both the boys and girls team races and the individual winners in both races were Huntsville High runners. So Jim’s 4 teams won 3 of the races.

The Huntsville girls team had an off year in 1988 but came back to win again in 1989. They won even though the 5 scoring Grissom girls all made All-State going 4-6-8-10-15 for 43 points, plus their next three runners placed 16-17-19. How did Huntsville High beat that? The top 3 finishers were all Huntsville High runners and the other two scorers were 11th and 20th for 37 points. Runners from the two city schools took the top 4 places, 7 of the top 10, and 13 of the top 20 places.

Over the years Jim coached several State Individual Champions. They included Margaret Robinson, who won the 6A girl’s title all four years (1989-1992) that she competed for the varsity; Chrissy Jennings, 6A girl’s in 1985 and 1986; Jeff Weitenbeck, 6A boy’s in 1979; Julie Steenburn, 9^th grade girl’s in 1986; Chris Alley, 9^th grade boy’s in 1987 and Ashley Patrick, 9^th grade girl’s in 1987.

Comments from two of his runners provide a view of Coach Oaks:

“He not only told us what to do, he’d tell us how to do it, and why we were doing it. He’d give us each a vision of where we needed to be the next week, next month, next year….and a plan of exactly what we needed to do in getting there. He’d tell you what the payoff would be. I’ve never heard of a coach at the high school level that was able to create that kind of vision in an athlete.”

And another stated: “He was as interested in molding our character, as he was in developing our athletic abilities.”

Watching the Rocket City Marathon in 1977 had intrigued Jim and he wanted to give that a try. So less than 6 months after showing up at the Summer Cross Country runs to get in better shape for tennis, he was entered in the 1979 Rocket City Marathon. A friend had given him a copy of the article “Training For The Marathon” and with that training he finished his first marathon in 2:53:17 – not a bad way to start.

His second marathon was the Magic City Marathon in Birmingham in 1980 where he was the master’s winner 2:46:49. He followed that later in the year with a 2:43:30 for the master’s title in the Vulcan Marathon.

For his 4th marathon he switched to a marathon training plan authored by Tom Allison that was published in Running Times. It was geared towards people who had run marathons and who wanted to maximize performance. With that he trained for the 1981 Boston Marathon. He ran another PR finishing Boston in 2:37:51.

Of that race Jim wrote: “That night after Boston as I waited at Logan Airport to start the trip back, I thought of a lot of Huntsville Track Club runners whom I wished could have been there to share the thrills of that day. And I wished that my five year old son could know just how young his ‘old man’ had felt during the last four miles of the race that day.” Now that’s unique. I don’t know about you, but I never felt young the last miles of a marathon.

Injuries and an accident all but halted his running the last part of 1981, so 1982 became a rebuilding year. He ran Boston again in 1982 and it was his first marathon not to get a new PR, but he still ran an excellent 2:49:10 coming off his injuries. That year Jim continued as the Rocket City Marathon Media Coordinator, but also ran placing 5th master with a PR 2:35:50.

Jim ran Rocket City again the next year. 1983 was the hottest Rocket City ever. The medical team gave 75 of the runners IV’s and the finish percent and PR percent dropped drastically due to the heat and humidity. The article “Shot Down By A Forty-Five” published in Racing South magazine noted that the list of 13 top national masters read like a Who’s Who. Some of those were Bill Hall, Norm Green, Don Coffman, Bill Olrich, Morgan Looney, and Ernie Billups. Most had sub-2:30 PR’s and held numerous national age records. Jim hit the first mile in 5:48, just 4 seconds faster than he would average. Jim had an excellent sense for pacing and was able to do it right from the start, not getting caught up in excitement that first mile, as most of us do. All the top masters were already out of sight with Bill Hall passing the first mile in just over 5 minutes and most of the others not far behind. Past half-way 45 year old Jim Oaks was still running 5:50 miles while everyone else in the race were dying. Only Lisa Martin, the female winner and still the Rocket City women’s record holder, who set the Australian Women’s Record that day, passed Jim the last 24 miles of the race. Jim picked off 10 of those 12 masters to win the 45-49 age division. Most were younger than Jim and had been “shot down by a 45 year old”, thus the title of the article. In very unfavorable conditions he ran a new PR 2:33:49 for the best time ever for an age 45 runner from the 11 state Southern Region. However, I did find out that he is human; in the heat and humidity he did “hit the wall” the last two miles of that 1983 marathon, but still didn’t let anyone pass him.

Yes, Jim Oaks was a top marathon master but also outstanding at the shorter distances. At age 44 he ran 33:56 on the tough Cotton Row course. His 10K PR is 33:31. At age 44 he ran 4:48.6 in the first HTC Invitational Mile in 1982.

The HTC Grand Prix began in 1985 and Jim Oaks was the master’s winner scoring a perfect 1000 points as he was the top master in every race he ran. He was a repeat winner in 1986 at age 48.

Jim Oaks has served on the RRCA Hall of Fame Selection Committee for 22 years starting in 1986. He has served as the committee chairman two times 1990 through 1992 and again 1997 to the present. He has represented the club most years at the RRCA convention and Road Race Management Race Directors Meeting dating back to the mid 1980s. He has been an outstanding ambassador for the HTC. And he has swapped stories with just about everybody that’s anybody in our sport.

Jim Oaks was presented the HTC Outstanding Achievement Award in 1985 by HTC President, Norm Harris. In making that award Norm concluded with the following about Jim being the HTC Media Coordinator:

“This is one of those “behind-the-scenes” jobs that require unbelievable hours of hard work for which there is little reward. Much of this time is spent researching and writing articles for the newspaper. A task such as this can’t be done by just anybody no matter how much energy and enthusiasm they may have. It takes a special person who can project his enthusiasm into you; a person who you naturally like, respect and want to help; a person who has an obvious and deep concern for what he is about; a person who comes across as so honest that you simply must believe them. People like that are not that way as a result of a conscious decision, but rather because it is simply “what they are”. There is a genuine quality about them that cannot be taught or learned and that commands respect. Jim Oaks is one of these people.”

In 1994 Jim Oaks was presented the HTC Media Award by HTC President, Lawrence Hillis. Hillis concluded with the following: Jim Oaks is “someone I admire as a great athlete, a championship coach, a devout Christian, a loyal husband and father, and a personal friend.”

In 1996 Jim Oaks was selected by the past HTC presidents as one of the all time top 25 HTC Volunteers to be honored at the club’s 25th Anniversary Celebration Banquet.

In 1997 Jim was again presented the HTC Outstanding Achievement Award. In making the presentation Jeff Weitenbeck had this to say: “Jim has poured more time, talent, energy, patience, teaching, training, influence and caring into the RunScore finish line results system than anyone knows with the exception, of course, his wife, Ann, whom we are forever grateful for her sharing and gracious attitude. Jim and Ann are individuals who give freely and unselfishly of their time, talent and energy.”

In 1999 Jim was nominated by HTC President, David Purinton, for the RRCA Rod Steele Memorial Award as the Outstanding Volunteer in the Nation – which he won. In concluding the nomination letter Purinton, wrote: “He volunteers not because he is asked or because he knows that volunteers are needed. Jim volunteers because he loves running, and he enjoys being involved. This makes him a driving force for every member of the track club, an example worthy to be emulated.”

In 2001 Jim Oaks was inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame. He was honored not by just the many club members attending, but by most that filled the North Hall at the Van Braun Center. The following was written by former Huntsville High student Ernie Blair, but is something I’ve also experienced many times: “When encountering Coach Oaks in any social or day-to-day situation, one is continually amazed by the number of former Huntsville High School students rushing over to shake his hand and thank him for something he did that improved their lives.”

Jim and Ann have one son, Jay, who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado where he works at Colorado State University.

In 2006 Jim was presented the HTC Dedication Award by Craig Armstrong who concluded with the following: “In some ways we have all just grown to expect Jim to be there at every race taking care of all the timing and finish issues. To be the go to guy that has all the answers. I for one know that I speak for everyone sitting here and all those people that could not be with us tonight when I say Thank you. Thank you for all you have done for the running community and continuing to BE THERE for all of us to go to when we need some answers.”

In sports, being the “Go To Guy” is the highest honor teammates can bestow on one of their own. Yes, Jim Oaks, you are the HTC “Go To Guy”. Thank you and Ann for all you have done for the club. We have been on a wonderful 28 year ride with you.