The first time I met James Webb was on New Year’s Eve over eleven years ago. I was working my other job in the food serving industry and both James and his wife were one of my last customers during a long night. He introduced himself just before he left and explained that he was the track coach at North Hardin High school and to come and watch us this season. Who knew at the time, the profound effect that chance meeting had on me.
Growing up in the Hardin County area, I knew that North Hardin had a reputation as a very good track team, but over the past 25-years, they have taken elite status and Webb had a lot to do with that as the head guy.
I still remember the first time I covered one of his track meets and it was in 2005 at Meade County. Most track coaches tend to be helpful and the good ones are willing to help instruct all athletes even ones that are considered the competition. That’s one thing Neal Cardin (former staff photographer on the News Enterprise) once told me that Webb was one of those guys that tried to help everyone not just his own kids.
One thing I do remember about James was that I always wondered how he could find so many elite track athletes each season and I found out later that he taught a strength and conditioning class and it turned out to be a great place for him to find these people.
I remember talking to former track athletes that ran for him and several said he had an uncanny ability to watch a person train or lift weights and tell what events they would be best suited for. That’s another great quality of a coach. The ability to identify talent.
I also remember a conversion I had with Kianna Gray, one of the best female runners in school (not to mention Region) history. He tried to get her to come out for track when she first moved to Radcliff and she refused. So, he was persistent and she finally came out and won her first race. That proved to be the first of many that led to multiple state titles in track and field and a scholarship to Kentucky.
I remember reading an interview James once did several years ago and I discovered that one of the greatest coaches I ever knew only ran track at the Middle School level. He started out as a track coach at Tates Creek Middle School, then a grad assistant at EKU until finally coming to North Hardin and was mentored by HOF athlete and coach Rudy McKinney.
I remember he once said the toughest thing about coaching young athletes was “pushing athletes themselves physically without mentally losing them.”
He also stated that Pole Vaulting and the Discus were two events he struggled to grasp as a coach.
Fortunately, James worked with several great coaches like John Russell, Sam Franklin, Aaron Coney, Antonio Jackson, Kenderick Johnson and James Jackson.
I remember when the Boys and Girls won the team State Tournament trophies on the same year, John Russell, who coached the Girls squad kept the Girls state trophy (as a mark of pride) in his car trunk until James told him to eventually take it out so it could be put in the display case.
Russell was one of the first coaches that once told me that “We (the other coaches) Just Follow Webb’s Lead.” Russell also once told me that the biggest gauge of success for his girls’ team wasn’t beating the other teams they competed against, but to compare their performances to Webb’s boys. “If we can beat them then we definitely knew where we stood for state!”
Webb always loved to compete that way and it definitely made the North Hardin track team during those days so much fun to watch because every event was highly contested. Not just the running events, but shotput, high jump, long jump and pole vaulting.
That’s why North Hardin won the Region 25 times, 4-state championships and 8-runner-ups at state. That doesn’t even count all the individual state champions (and there were many) and there were too many to count.
He always lived by the belief that running track would make you better at other sports, which is why you see so many soccer, football and basketball players compete in events. I remember when Billy Thompson went out for high jump one year and ended up having a great season playing basketball because it helped develop better jumping ability.
James, who lived in Dallas, Texas was and still is a huge Dallas Cowboy fan. I always enjoy talking football with him as the season arrives and how they blew it which seems to be quite often.
James stepped down as head coach at North Hardin several years ago. When he left it seemed like a huge part of the program left as well. In a sport that garners little attention because it’s seen as a lower tier, he was a breath of fresh air and was the main reason I started following track and field. I still do, but it’s different now. Coaches come and go and can be replaced, but what they sometimes bring to the sport cannot.
I still see James quite often. In fact, he’s just as busy as before. He umpires softball games, still works track events and you can catch him at the KHSAA State Events like I did in March handing out basketballs for the shoot-around.
When it came time to find a photo of James for this story, I discovered that I had very few. Once again, track and field coaches are easy to identify, but unlike their football, basketball and baseball counterparts are not always considered as flamboyant which is why I had so few. Although James didn’t always stand out, his teams did. They were always well coached and well prepared for competition at the highest levels.
It’s ironic that one of the greatest coaches of my time went almost invisible during my shoots, but he was far from that. For a guy, who spent most of his time selling young athletes on the value of track and field, he made a big sale that New Year’s Eve night when I began covering track and every time I shoot one of them I’m sure I’ll always be thinking of him as well.
