Jimmy Carnes

[1] Carnes graduated from Mercer in 1956, and accepted his first job as a physical education teacher and assistant coach for the football, basketball and track teams at Druid Hills High School in DeKalb County, Georgia.

[2] In 1962, Carnes became the head cross country and track and field coach at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

He was named the head coach of the U.S. men's track and field team that was forced to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow as a result of the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.

[7] In 1973, Carnes and Liquori co-founded Athletic Attic, one of the nation's first sports equipment chain stores, with an emphasis on running shoes for training and competition.

[8] At the peak of the running craze, Athletic Attic had over 165 stores in the United States, Canada, Japan and New Zealand with over $40 million in annual revenue.

[8] As chairman of the Governor's Council on Sports and Physical Fitness, Carnes was the founder of the Sunshine State Games, Florida's annual Olympic-style multi-sport festival.

[17][18] The Gainesville Sports Commission has sponsored an annual championship called the Jimmy Carnes Indoor Track and Field Meet since 2008.