Forrest Grady "Spec" Towns (February 6, 1914 – April 9, 1991) was an American

track and field athlete Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. He was the 1936 Olympic champion in the 110 m

hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

and broke the world record in that event three times. Born in

Fitzgerald, Georgia Fitzgerald is a city in and the county seat of Ben Hill County, Georgia, Ben Hill County in the south central portion of the United States, U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of 2020, its population was 9,006. It is the principal cit ...

, Towns grew up in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in high school at Richmond Academy. In 1933, he earned a football scholarship to the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

(UGA) after a sports journalist had seen him

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

ing in his backyard. Rather than high jumping, Towns specialized in the high hurdles. While competing on the UGA Track Team from 1933 to 1937, Towns won five Southeastern Conference individual titles and two

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

titles. He won both the NCAA and AAU titles in the 120 y hurdles event in 1935. It was the beginning of a 60 race winning streak, lasting until 1937. In 1936, Towns was named to the American Olympic team, becoming the first

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

n to achieve this. During the Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Towns became the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

holder with 14.1, and he won the Olympic gold in 14.2. Also, he became the first Georgian to earn Olympic Gold. Shortly after the Games, he became the first hurdler under 14 seconds. At a race in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, he dramatically improved the world record to 13.7 – a time that would stand until 1950. After college, Towns became head track and field coach at his alma mater, Georgia, a position he held until 1975. In 1991, he died of a heart attack in

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

at age 77. He was honored at the University with the naming of the

Spec Towns Track Spec Towns Track is the track and field facility and stadium for the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia. The track was originally built in 1964 and the stadium grandstand was added in 1987 to accommodate 1,000 spectators. In 2011, the ...

in 1991, and an annual meet called the Spec Towns Invitational. Towns was voted into the Georgia Hall of Fame (1967), the USATF Hall of Fame (1975), the University of Georgia Athletic Association’s Circle of Honor (1997), and in 2025, Towns became the first University of Georgia track athlete to be named to the Collegiate Track & Field/Cross Country Athlete Hall of Fame. Towns was the official starter for the first-ever

Peachtree Road Race The Peachtree Road Race (branded AJC Peachtree Road Race for sponsorship reasons) is a series of two 10-kilometer runs held annually in Atlanta, once during the first weekend of January and the other on Independence Day. They are held on the sa ...

on July 4, 1970.

References

External links

Extensive biography

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame profile

Forrest “Spec” Towns
at the

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

* 1914 births 1991 deaths American male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Georgia Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Georgia Bulldogs track and field coaches Georgia Bulldogs football coaches People from Fitzgerald, Georgia Track and field athletes from Georgia (U.S. state) Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Georgia Bulldogs football players NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub

See also

References

External links