Iowa Park track legend, Bobby Gilbreath, to be inducted into hall of fame
An Iowa Park track legend who led the High School to a state championship, Bobby Gilbreath, is one of seven in the Class of 2025 that will be inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame next month.
The 2025 class will be inducted on Friday, January 3, 2025, inside the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on the campus of Baylor University.
Gilbreath, an Iowa Park legend, was the son of the town’s postmaster. He won eight track state gold medals while at Iowa Park. He was the Texas High School State Champion Class A 880-yard run gold medalist as a sophomore in 1959. He followed in 1960 with gold medals in the broad jump, 440-yard relay member, and mile relay as he led the Hawks to the 1960 state championship.
In 1961 Gilbreath won the 180-yard low hurdles, broad jump, and the mile relay. He was named Outstanding Athlete at the meet. He set three state records in his high school career.
He earned a scholarship to Texas A&M and ran the fastest time in the nation at the Meet of Champions his freshman year in the 400-meter low hurdles, where he set the freshman national record with a time of 54.2 seconds.
Gilbreath’s life was cut short, at just 20 years old. He died of encephalitis on November 1, 1962. His Coach at Texas A&M, Charles Thomas, said of Gilbreath: “He was an extremely hard worker, a good student, and a fine leader. And he had a lot of natural ability. We will miss him both as a person and as a teammate.”
The others from the Class of 2025 are James Lott, the first Texas Longhorn to win an NCAA Indoor Track & Field title when he took home the crown in 1986 with a leap of 7 feet, 6 inches; Jim Howard, Jim Howard a Texas A&M high jumper who competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics; longtime Highland Park ISD Coach Jerry Sutterfield; Robert Speedy Gonzales, who at Sterling High School had an undefeated senior season in the 800, winning the Texas 5A state championship. He then earned All-American honors at the University of Nebraska and then won seven state championships as a high school track coach; Dr. Regina Cavanaugh is regarded as Rice University’s greatest female athlete. She was a nine-time All-American, earning three consecutive NCAA indoor shot put titles from 1984-86 and three straight NCAA outdoor crowns from 1985-87; Jim Bevan, the long-time Rice University cross country/track and field coach, who has captured 13 conference titles in his 20 years as head coach.
The 2025 class will be inducted on Friday, January 3, 2025, inside the Texas Sports Hall of Fame on the campus of Baylor University. For tickets, please visit https://www.ttfca.org/ceremony
