Hall of Fame
Jack Pierce was born in Cherry Hill, NJ, in 1962. He was raised in Woodbury, NJ, where he honed his track and field talent at Woodbury High School winning a NJ state hurdles championship. Mr. Pierce entered Morgan State University in 1980, and actually began his track and field career as a walk-on, but established himself as one of the all-time Bear greats by the end of his career setting school records in the 110m hurdles (13.20), the 4x100m relay (39.89), 4x200m relay (1:22.40) and the 4x400m relay (3:03.80), all of which he still holds today.
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Starting a serious a track and field career during his junior season at Morgan, Mr. Pierce became the NCAA Division-II 110m hurdles individual champion in 1983. He would repeat this feat again in 1984 during his senior season, one of many high points of that year. In February 1984, he set a meet record of 7.28 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles and anchored the winning shuttle hurdle relay at the 13th Princeton Relays.
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Mr. Pierce then provided one of the best individual performances of the Morgan track & field program’s history at the 1984 Penn Relays, competing in 10 races over two days. He secured wins for Morgan in the shuttle hurdles (the program’s first), the 4x200 relay (the program’s second), won the individual 110m hurdles and anchored the Bears’ second place 4x100 relay and fourth place 4x400 relay teams. Mr. Pierce was selected as the outstanding performer at the Penn Relays for his efforts. He left Morgan as the eighth-ranked hurdler in the country, and became the first Morgan track and field athlete to win an individual Olympic medal since 1956 (Josh Culbreath) when he won bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also medaled in the World Championships, winning silver in 1991 and bronze in 1993.
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Since retiring from professional Track & Field competition in 1998, Mr. Pierce has worked with the same sports management organization in Pittsburgh, PA as a coach/manager. He has earned certifications for youth and college coaching and is currently certified as a Track & Field official in the state of New Jersey. Mr. Pierce was inducted into the inaugural South Jersey Track & Field Hall of Fame and is also a member of the Woodbury High School Hall of Fame in Woodbury, New Jersey. He and his wife of 22 years, Marva, live in Lumberton, NJ, and have two children Sydnee and Sterling.
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