Jim Pugh - Nyack 1974
Jim “Butch” Pugh upheld the grand Nyack sprinting tradition and bridged the period between the Don Clancy era in the 1960s and the late-1970s teams of Shulton Whitley, Otto Pearson, Jerry Blow and others. Although only 5-foot-7 and a wispy 135 pounds in his sprinting prime, Jim’s elongated stride more than neutralized his lack of height and carried him to a succession of blue-ribbon performances in championship meets in 1973 and 1974.
Under the coaching tutelage of fellow inductee Joe McDowell, Jim blazed to four Rockland
County and four Section 9 titles in the 100- and 220-yard dashes and 880 relay, and three State Qualifier victories. He finished third in the 100 and 220 at the 1974 New York State Intersectional championships, third at the 1974 Eastern States and Loucks Games 100, and fourth in the State 100 in 1973. One of Jim’s most memorable doubles came at the 1974 State Qualifier at Nanuet, where he set a school record in the 100 at 9.6 and established the County and Section 9 records for the 220 on a curve in a smoking 21.6. His 100-yard time still shares the No. 2 ranking on the all-time Rockland list, behind Jim Ashcroft’s 9.5, and he remains No. 6 in Rockland annals on the 200 meters/220 yards list.
Since Nyack did not field a winter track program until the late 1970s, Jim and his mates were always playing catch-up in the early spring. “Coach McDowell suggested we run cross country in the fall, but we weren’t feeling the cross-country thing,” Jim says. “Still, we had to do something to minimize the disadvantage of having no indoor program.” So, during the winter of his senior year, Jim and some teammates – Jim Barnes, Mark Stewart, Lonnie Smith, Ken Bradley, Dennis Lynch and others – held informal practices, running the roads
even in snowy conditions to build a fitness base and close the conditioning gap between themselves and the County foes running fast times indoors.
Jim was raised in the downtown Nyack area, on Depew and First avenues, and attended Liberty Street Elementary School. When he entered seventh grade at Nyack Junior High, he debated whether to sign up for track but eventually took the plunge and instantly found success in his specialty, the 60-yard dash. Under Coach Bob Hommel, Jim lost only one race in two years and he and his team went undefeated in winning the County junior high championship when he was an eighth-grader.
Naturally when they reached the high school, Jim and classmates Jim Barnes (220) and Hugh Roach (100) were eager to compete for the tradition-laden track program. “There
was already a lot of talent, maturity and experience when we walked in the door,” he says, citing teammates like Tommy Sanders, Jerry Whitley, Thomas Washington, Shelton Hudson, Bill Cozart, Jerry Jackson and Denault Dickerson. “Coach McDowell knew what each one of us could do, and he juggled us around to cover all the events. He was fair and related well with the athletes to bring out the best in us.”
Don Clancy had set the standard for Nyack sprinters to emulate, posting County records in the 100 (9.7) and 220 (22.0) in 1963. Jim and his sprinting teammates aspired to break those school records, but knew they wouldn’t topple easily. “Don Clancy was a respected and revered figure to us,” says Jim, who regularly saw Clancy, by then a Nyack police officer, on the streets of Nyack while growing up. “He could still run you down if he had to. He was still fast!”
Jim eventually took ownership of those school records, but not without some struggles early in his career. The most important lesson he learned: Don’t skip the warmup. That message was driven home painfully when he sustained a strained hamstring on a cold, windy day in the first meet of his sophomore year. Although his season was compromised, he nursed the injury through to the County meet, where he lost the 100 in a blanket finish to Clarkstown North’s Stu Helfgott. The flu then knocked him out of the Section 9 and State Qualifier, ending his season and stoking his motivation for the following spring.
Rockland County track followers caught a glimpse of the real Butch Pugh in that 1973 campaign. Fully healthy (after a brief bout with shin splints), mentally primed and brimming with confidence, Jim rocketed through the season without a loss in the 100 until the State meet. He conquered archrivals Helfgott and Al Blackwell of North Rockland in the County and Section 9 meets and, with Secretariat capturing horse racing’s Triple Crown that year, Jim achieved his own “triple crown” of County, Section 9 and State Qualifier triumphs. He went on to place fourth in the State meet 100 in 10.0 and culminated his junior year by earning the outstanding athlete trophy at the prestigious Nyack Jaycees Invitational, winning the high school division of the 60, 100, 220 and 440 relay. Even with all that individual success, his chief thrill that season was contributing to Nyack’s Section 9 Class A team title: “Being part of a championship team was the biggest thing for me.”
Senior year brought more prosperity for the little man with the big stride. At the State Qualifier, Coach Dave Hanson of host Nanuet walked directly up to him and declared: “The track is fast.” “If Coach Hanson tells you the track is fast,” Jim recounted, “who am I to question him?” Jim proceeded to blast a 9.7 in his first-round heat, equaling Don Clancy’s school record, and topped that with a 9.6 in the final. (One timer even had him in 9.5.) He later came back in the 220 and clocked a 21.7 in his preliminary heat, followed by his crackling 21.6 in the final for a school, County and Section 9 record.
New York State abounded with quality sprinters in 1974, including Golden West champion Willie Smith of Uniondale, Jerry Russell of Lafayette in Brooklyn, defending State champ Neil Green of Millbrook, Manny Rosenberg of Valley Stream and Robert Gregory of Hempstead, all but one of whom ran legal (non-wind-assisted) times of 9.6 or faster that year. Jim held his own against New York’s finest, finishing third in the 100 at three major meets: the Loucks Games, clocking 9.8 behind Smith (9.6) and Russell (9.8); the Eastern States, timed in 9.6 behind New Jersey state champ John Chambers of Neptune (9.4) and
Rhode Island state champ Phil Hazard of East Providence (9.6), despite several false starts including one by Jim that had him “sitting in the blocks” in the re-start; and the State Intersectionals in 10.0, behind Smith and Green.
Jim also finished third in the State 220 in 21.7, behind Smith (21.4) and Rosenberg
(21.7). He defeated all of his New York-based opponents except Smith at least once that season and wound up third-team All-New York State. “It felt good to be part of that elite group,” says Jim, who won his trial and semifinal heats in the State 220 and Eastern States 100. He also made Track & Field News’ national rankings in the 100 in 1974, another career
highlight.
The conclusion of Jim’s senior year also marked the end of his competitive track career. He moved to South Carolina, the state of his father’s birth, right after high school and settled in Dalzell, a small town in Sumter County. He and his father, James Sr., owned and operated a maintenance company for 25 years, with contracts primarily in South Carolina but also North Carolina and Georgia. For the past 13 years Jim has worked as a truck driver for American Tire Distributors out of its Florence, S.C., warehouse. He also has served for many years as a minister and elder in the local congregation for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jim is the youngest of five children. He acquired his nickname, Butch, from his sisters when he was an infant and has carried the moniker with him “all of my days,” he says with a chuckle. “From kindergarten on, all the kids at school called me Butch. They call me that to this day.” Jim, who is 58, and his wife, Sarah, have been married 28 years and have two children: Lisa, 27, and Michael, who turned 18 on May 13.
Under the coaching tutelage of fellow inductee Joe McDowell, Jim blazed to four Rockland
County and four Section 9 titles in the 100- and 220-yard dashes and 880 relay, and three State Qualifier victories. He finished third in the 100 and 220 at the 1974 New York State Intersectional championships, third at the 1974 Eastern States and Loucks Games 100, and fourth in the State 100 in 1973. One of Jim’s most memorable doubles came at the 1974 State Qualifier at Nanuet, where he set a school record in the 100 at 9.6 and established the County and Section 9 records for the 220 on a curve in a smoking 21.6. His 100-yard time still shares the No. 2 ranking on the all-time Rockland list, behind Jim Ashcroft’s 9.5, and he remains No. 6 in Rockland annals on the 200 meters/220 yards list.
Since Nyack did not field a winter track program until the late 1970s, Jim and his mates were always playing catch-up in the early spring. “Coach McDowell suggested we run cross country in the fall, but we weren’t feeling the cross-country thing,” Jim says. “Still, we had to do something to minimize the disadvantage of having no indoor program.” So, during the winter of his senior year, Jim and some teammates – Jim Barnes, Mark Stewart, Lonnie Smith, Ken Bradley, Dennis Lynch and others – held informal practices, running the roads
even in snowy conditions to build a fitness base and close the conditioning gap between themselves and the County foes running fast times indoors.
Jim was raised in the downtown Nyack area, on Depew and First avenues, and attended Liberty Street Elementary School. When he entered seventh grade at Nyack Junior High, he debated whether to sign up for track but eventually took the plunge and instantly found success in his specialty, the 60-yard dash. Under Coach Bob Hommel, Jim lost only one race in two years and he and his team went undefeated in winning the County junior high championship when he was an eighth-grader.
Naturally when they reached the high school, Jim and classmates Jim Barnes (220) and Hugh Roach (100) were eager to compete for the tradition-laden track program. “There
was already a lot of talent, maturity and experience when we walked in the door,” he says, citing teammates like Tommy Sanders, Jerry Whitley, Thomas Washington, Shelton Hudson, Bill Cozart, Jerry Jackson and Denault Dickerson. “Coach McDowell knew what each one of us could do, and he juggled us around to cover all the events. He was fair and related well with the athletes to bring out the best in us.”
Don Clancy had set the standard for Nyack sprinters to emulate, posting County records in the 100 (9.7) and 220 (22.0) in 1963. Jim and his sprinting teammates aspired to break those school records, but knew they wouldn’t topple easily. “Don Clancy was a respected and revered figure to us,” says Jim, who regularly saw Clancy, by then a Nyack police officer, on the streets of Nyack while growing up. “He could still run you down if he had to. He was still fast!”
Jim eventually took ownership of those school records, but not without some struggles early in his career. The most important lesson he learned: Don’t skip the warmup. That message was driven home painfully when he sustained a strained hamstring on a cold, windy day in the first meet of his sophomore year. Although his season was compromised, he nursed the injury through to the County meet, where he lost the 100 in a blanket finish to Clarkstown North’s Stu Helfgott. The flu then knocked him out of the Section 9 and State Qualifier, ending his season and stoking his motivation for the following spring.
Rockland County track followers caught a glimpse of the real Butch Pugh in that 1973 campaign. Fully healthy (after a brief bout with shin splints), mentally primed and brimming with confidence, Jim rocketed through the season without a loss in the 100 until the State meet. He conquered archrivals Helfgott and Al Blackwell of North Rockland in the County and Section 9 meets and, with Secretariat capturing horse racing’s Triple Crown that year, Jim achieved his own “triple crown” of County, Section 9 and State Qualifier triumphs. He went on to place fourth in the State meet 100 in 10.0 and culminated his junior year by earning the outstanding athlete trophy at the prestigious Nyack Jaycees Invitational, winning the high school division of the 60, 100, 220 and 440 relay. Even with all that individual success, his chief thrill that season was contributing to Nyack’s Section 9 Class A team title: “Being part of a championship team was the biggest thing for me.”
Senior year brought more prosperity for the little man with the big stride. At the State Qualifier, Coach Dave Hanson of host Nanuet walked directly up to him and declared: “The track is fast.” “If Coach Hanson tells you the track is fast,” Jim recounted, “who am I to question him?” Jim proceeded to blast a 9.7 in his first-round heat, equaling Don Clancy’s school record, and topped that with a 9.6 in the final. (One timer even had him in 9.5.) He later came back in the 220 and clocked a 21.7 in his preliminary heat, followed by his crackling 21.6 in the final for a school, County and Section 9 record.
New York State abounded with quality sprinters in 1974, including Golden West champion Willie Smith of Uniondale, Jerry Russell of Lafayette in Brooklyn, defending State champ Neil Green of Millbrook, Manny Rosenberg of Valley Stream and Robert Gregory of Hempstead, all but one of whom ran legal (non-wind-assisted) times of 9.6 or faster that year. Jim held his own against New York’s finest, finishing third in the 100 at three major meets: the Loucks Games, clocking 9.8 behind Smith (9.6) and Russell (9.8); the Eastern States, timed in 9.6 behind New Jersey state champ John Chambers of Neptune (9.4) and
Rhode Island state champ Phil Hazard of East Providence (9.6), despite several false starts including one by Jim that had him “sitting in the blocks” in the re-start; and the State Intersectionals in 10.0, behind Smith and Green.
Jim also finished third in the State 220 in 21.7, behind Smith (21.4) and Rosenberg
(21.7). He defeated all of his New York-based opponents except Smith at least once that season and wound up third-team All-New York State. “It felt good to be part of that elite group,” says Jim, who won his trial and semifinal heats in the State 220 and Eastern States 100. He also made Track & Field News’ national rankings in the 100 in 1974, another career
highlight.
The conclusion of Jim’s senior year also marked the end of his competitive track career. He moved to South Carolina, the state of his father’s birth, right after high school and settled in Dalzell, a small town in Sumter County. He and his father, James Sr., owned and operated a maintenance company for 25 years, with contracts primarily in South Carolina but also North Carolina and Georgia. For the past 13 years Jim has worked as a truck driver for American Tire Distributors out of its Florence, S.C., warehouse. He also has served for many years as a minister and elder in the local congregation for Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Jim is the youngest of five children. He acquired his nickname, Butch, from his sisters when he was an infant and has carried the moniker with him “all of my days,” he says with a chuckle. “From kindergarten on, all the kids at school called me Butch. They call me that to this day.” Jim, who is 58, and his wife, Sarah, have been married 28 years and have two children: Lisa, 27, and Michael, who turned 18 on May 13.