Hall of Fame-bound: New honors for Jacksonville legends Bob Hayes, Earl Kitchings
Florida's high school hall of fame is calling for two of Jacksonville's sports legends.
Linked in history as player and coach at Jacksonville's Matthew W. Gilbert High School in the 1950s, Bob Hayes and Earl S. Kitchings will be enshrined together in the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame, the association announced Tuesday evening, honoring two of the giants in Northeast Florida's athletic history.
Hayes, a Gilbert graduate in the Class of 1960, became the world's fastest man on the track and a Super Bowl champion on the gridiron. Kitchings helped turn Gilbert into a Jacksonville football powerhouse, then moved to newly-opened Raines in 1965 to lay the foundation for the city's most successful public school program.
Their paths intersected at Gilbert in the mid-1950s. There Kitchings noticed the athletic talents of Hayes, then a seventh-grader, and the rest is history.
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WORLD'S FASTEST MAN
Hayes grew into a formidable all-around athlete in baseball, basketball and football — in his early years at Gilbert, he lined up at running back.
From there, he developed into a feared wide receiver and an electrifying sprinter at Florida A&M, qualifying to represent the United States at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo and winning two gold medals in the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay to earn the title of the world's fastest man.
Following the Olympics, he signed with the Dallas Cowboys before the 1965 season and played 10 seasons with the club, including a Super Bowl championship after the 1971 season. He twice led the NFL in yards per reception and twice in receiving touchdowns, completing his career with 371 catches for 7,414 yards and 71 touchdowns.
Hayes, who died in 2002 at 59, was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. His athletic legacy in Jacksonville is highlighted by the Bob Hayes Invitational Track Meet, nearing its 60th year as a showcase for high school and middle school athletes in Northeast Florida and beyond.
A COACHING GIANT
Kitchings made his mark on Jacksonville in coaching, leading Gilbert football from 1957 to 1964 and then Raines from 1965 until 1969 during a career that spanned the city's transition from racial segregation.
In 1958, he built Gilbert into an undefeated champion in the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association, defeating Fort Lauderdale Dillard for the FIAA title. Hayes was among the stars for the Eastside school, which outscored its opponents 254-43.
After Raines opened in 1965, he moved to the Northwest Jacksonville school and helped the Vikings to an FIAA championship in 1967. He subsequently served in school administration at Fletcher and at Florida Junior College, now Florida State College at Jacksonville. Kitchings died in 2009 at age 82.
The Vikings' Earl S. Kitchings Stadium, also called the Graveyard, is named in his honor.
The hall's 2023 class also commemorates the 1968 merger of the FHSAA and FIAA, among the steps in Florida's racial integration. Black schools during segregation were governed by the FIAA from 1932 to 1968, while white schools were under the FHSAA.
Coaches elected are Wayne Allen (girls basketball, Ocala Vanguard), Archie Dabney (multiple sports, Inverness Booker T. Washington and Crystal River), Freddie Dyles (boys basketball, St. Petersburg Gibbs), Carmen Jackson (track, Miami Northwestern), Marcia Pinder (girls basketball, Dillard), Frankie Shannon Rolle (multiple sports, Miami Carver), Nathaniel "Traz" Powell (football, Miami Carver and Miami Mays) and Vernell Ross (boys basketball, Havana Northside).
The FHSAA is also inducting former Miami Washington guard Larry Little, like Hayes a Pro Football Hall of Famer; administrators Blanche Ely and official Mae Francis Foley.
The date of the ceremony remains to be announced.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Bob Hayes, Earl Kitchings selected to FHSAA Hall of Fame
