| John Poston |
Full Name: John Hugh Poston
School: Jackson High School in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville JC in Jacksonville, Florida
Legacy Bricks: Legacy Walk Map Link
2008 Track & Field HOF - Loc 1
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| FSU Career |
| Track & Field | |
Year Pos Hgt Wgt Cl Ltr Hometown 50-51 S-R Jr * Jacksonville 51-52 S-R Sr * Jacksonville |
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| Conference Awards |
| Track & Field |
Year Award
1951 Dixie Conference - Outdoor - 100 Meters - Champion
Dixie Conference - Outdoor - 200 Meters - Champion
Dixie Conference - Outdoor - 4x400-Meter Relay - Champion
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| Member of the FSU Hall of Fame |
| Elected into the FSU Hall of Fame in 2008 |
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One of the original Seminole Track and Field superstar sprinters, John Poston set school records in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash and was a member of the record-setting mile relay team in 1951.
The team also set five new conference marks while winning the Dixie Conference Championship. The 1952 season saw FSU compete for the first time ever indoors and over that season, Poston led the Seminoles in scoring during historic wins over Georgia, Georgia Tech and Miami. As a senior, Poston broke his own records in the 100 and 220-yard dash. His time of 9.6 seconds in the 100 and 20.8
seconds in the 220 were the second and third fastest times in those events for all colleges and universities in the United States for 1952. John's final meet of the season was the Georgia AAU meet.
The mile relay took first place, setting a new Georgia AAU and FSU record. Reflections by John Poston My path to FSU was not that of a typical student athlete. I did not participate in any sport while in high school. Upon graduation I joined the Army and volunteered for paratrooper duty. During the last six months of my enlistment with the 11th Airborne Division, while serving with the Army of Occupation in Japan, a notice appeared on the bulletin board that each regiment in the Division would organize a track and field team and compete with each other. Since paratrooper training required rigorous physical activity and a great deal of running, I decided to try out for the team. So at the age of twenty I ran in my first track meet in Sendi, Japan. The season concluded with the all-division track meet in Sapporo, Japan where I won the 100 and 220 yard dashes. My tour of duty was completed two months later and I returned to the United States in August 1948 and immediately enrolled at Jacksonville Junior College. Since I had been out of the country for two years, I did not know Florida State University was now a coed institution. In the spring of 1949, the biology professor at J.J.C. organized a track club and arranged dual track meets with the local high schools. These usually took place on Tuesday or Wednesday. The high schools considered the meets as time trials. After graduation from J.C.C., I enrolled at FSU and tried out for the track team in the spring of 1951. Dr. Kenneth Miller was my first true coach and with his guidance in training and conditioning I began to improve as a sprinter and quarter miler. The highlights of my 1951 track season was setting a new school record of 9.8 seconds in the 100 yard dash, two new school records in the 220 dash with times of 21.8 and 21.6 seconds along with being a member of the record setting mile relay team with a time of 3:29.9. All three events were new Dixie Conference Records. The 1952 season began with the Southern Conference Indoor Games, the Southern Conference became the Atlantic Coast Conference the following year. This was Florida State University's first participation with an indoor track meet. No one on our team had ever seen an indoor track, much less run on one. Although we had no experience on an indoor track, we took second place in the mile relay behind Alabama with a time of 3:29.9 and it was the school's first indoor track record. Some of my highlights of the 1952 season: Setting new school records by running the 220 dash on a curve in 21.7 seconds and on a straightaway in 21.5 seconds along with being a member of the school record setting 440 yard relay, sprint medley relay and mile relay teams. May 10, 1952 was memorable; that was the day I ran a 9.6 second 100 yard dash and a 20.8 second 220 yard dash establishing new school and track records in these events. The time in the 100 was the school record for thirteen (13) years and the time in the 220 was the school record for eight (8) years. In addition to these records, the 9.6 one hundred was the second fastest time and the 20.8 two twenty was the third fastest time in the United States that year as reported in the Encyclopedia Britannic 1952 Year Book. Our 1952 track and field team had a successful year by winning all but one of our dual and triangular meets. We also achieved the first FSU victories over NCAA Division I schools by beating Georgia, Georgia Tech and Miami. FSU's classification at that time was as a NAIA school. My last representation for FSU was at the National Intercollegiate Championships in Abilene, Texas. Tom Bowman was the first track and field athlete to participate in a national meet in the decathlon and I was the second track athlete to participate and the first runner to do so by earning a third place finish in the 100 and a fourth place finish in the 220. During my two years at FSU, I had the privilege of setting
eight individual school records, was a member of six record setting relay teams, set three Dixie Conference records and two FSU track records. Also, I led the team in scoring both years. |
| FSU Statistics |
| Track & Field |
Date Opponent/Meet Event Place Results Points Comment
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1951 Season
03/28/1951 Duke 100-Yard Dash 3 1
03/28/1951 Duke Mile Relay 2 0.75
03/31/1951 Mercer 100-Yard Dash 1 10.2 5
03/31/1951 Mercer 220-Yard Dash 1 23.7 5
04/14/1951 Southern Relays Sprint Medley Relay 3 3:31.4
04/14/1951 Southern Relays Mile Relay 3 3:23.3
04/21/1951 Davidson College 100-Yard Dash 1 9.8 5
04/21/1951 Davidson College 220-Yard Dash 1 21.8 5
04/21/1951 Davidson College Mile Relay 1 3:40.3 1.25
05/05/1951 Mississippi College 100-Yard Dash 1 9.9 5
05/05/1951 Mississippi College 220-Yard Dash 1 21.6 5
05/12/1951 Howard 100-Yard Dash 1 9.8 5
05/19/1951 Dixie Outdoor Championship 100-Yard Dash 1 10.0 5
05/19/1951 Dixie Outdoor Championship 220-Yard Dash 1 22.3 5
05/19/1951 Dixie Outdoor Championship Mile Relay 1 3:29.9 1.25
1952 Season
03/01/1952 Southern Indoor Conference Mile Relay (I) 2 0.75
03/29/1952 Florida Relays Sprint Medley Relay 3 0.50
03/29/1952 Florida Relays 100-Yard Dash 4 1
04/05/1952 Davidson College 100-Yard Dash 1 9.9 5
04/05/1952 Davidson College 220-Yard Dash 1 22.5 5
04/05/1952 Davidson College Mile Relay 1 3:32.6 1.25
04/12/1952 Loyola-New Orleans 100-Yard Dash 1 10.0 5
04/12/1952 Loyola-New Orleans 220-Yard Dash 1 21.9 5
04/12/1952 Loyola-New Orleans Mile Relay 1 3:30.6 1.25
04/19/1952 Mercer 100-Yard Dash 1 9.9 5
04/19/1952 Mercer 220-Yard Dash 1 21.5 5
04/19/1952 Mercer Mile Relay 1 3:27.0 1.25
04/26/1952 Georgia Tech 440-Yard Relay 1 43.5 1.25
04/26/1952 Georgia Tech 100-Yard Dash 1 9.9 5
04/26/1952 Georgia Tech 220-Yard Dash 1 21.9 5
05/03/1952 Mississippi College 440-Yard Dash 2 50.6 3
05/03/1952 Mississippi College 220-Yard Dash 1 21.7 5
05/10/1952 Miami 100-Yard Dash 1 9.6 5
05/10/1952 Miami 220-Yard Dash 1 20.8 5
05/10/1952 Miami Mile Relay 1 3:28.5 1.25
05/24/1952 Georgia AAU 100-Yard Dash 3 3
05/24/1952 Georgia AAU 220-Yard Dash 2 4
05/24/1952 Georgia AAU Mile Relay 1 3:22.4 1.25
06/07/1952 Nat Intercollegiate Champ 100-Yard Dash 3 6
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