EAST LANSING, Mich. — Jim Bibbs, the longtime Michigan State track and field coach in East Lansing, Mich., who broke racial barriers in college coaching, died Saturday, Oct. 10, at age 97.
Bibbs coached the Spartans from 1968 to 1995, the longest tenure of any track and field coach in program history. His athletes won 52 Big Ten titles, earned 26 All-America honors, claimed three NCAA titles and set two world records.
He joined the staff in 1968 as the first Black coach in Michigan State history. In 1977 he became head coach, the first Black head coach at the university and the first Black head track and field coach in the Big Ten.
A sprinter at Eastern Michigan, Bibbs tied the world record in the 60-yard dash at 6.1 seconds in 1951, matching Jesse Owens. He later won a state title at Ecorse High School in 1967 and led the U.S. women at the 1967 Pan American Games.
He entered the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010 and was the university homecoming grand marshal in 2022.
