Forrest Towns

Forrest Grady "Spec" Towns was born on February 6, 1914 in Fitzgerald, Georgia. Towns grew up in Augusta, Georgia and played football as a high school student at Richmond Academy. Following graduation from Richmond Academy in 1933, Forrest went on to attend the University of Georgia on a track scholarship and took up hurdling under the expert tutelage of esteemed Hall of Fame coach Weems Baskin. While in college Towns specialized in high hurdles: He won both the Amateur Athletic Union and National Collegiate Athletic Association titles in the 120 yard hurdles in 1935 and enjoyed an extraordinary winning streak in sixty consecutive hurdle races that lasted until 1937. Forrest subsequently won the gold medal in the 110 meter men's hurdles at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany. In the wake of his Olympic triumph Towns three weeks later set a new record in men's hurdles at a meet in Oslo, Norway that remained unbroken for fourteen years. Moreover, he won the Amateur Athletic Union title in 1936, the National Collegiate Athletic Association title in both 1936 and 1937, and the Amateur Athletic Union indoor title in 1938. In addition, Forrest was the head track and field coach at the University of Georgia from 1946 to 1975. Towns died at age 77 on April 9, 1991 in Athens, Georgia. The University of Georgia paid tribute to Forrest with the naming of the Spec Towns Track in 1990 as well as an annual meet called the Spec Towns Invitational.