The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2023
An Austin native and Austin High School graduate, James Means, Jr., was a pioneer and trailblazer in Texas Athletics. A three-year letterwinner from 1966-68 and scorer on two Southwest Conference Championship Track & Field squads, Means enrolled at UT in the fall of 1963 and began his collegiate career competing as a walk-on with the Longhorns’ freshman track & field squad during the 1963-64 academic year (freshmen were not yet eligible for the varsity at that time), becoming the first African American student-athlete to participate in athletics at The University of Texas Athletics. On February 29, 1964, in the Fort Worth Recreation Meet at Amon Carter Stadium, Means competed in the 100 and 220-yard dashes, as well as the first leg of the freshman 440-yard relay, establishing himself as the first-ever African American competitor in any sport in Southwest Conference history. He went on to run legs on the second-place 440 relay (41.3) and fourth-place mile relay (3:20.3), as well as finishing fifth in the 220 (22.4) at the SWC Freshman Meet later that year. Means took the 1965 season off before returning as UT’s first African American student-athlete to earn a scholarship in the 1965-66 academic year. He would go on to earn a varsity letter in the spring of 1966, becoming Texas’ first African American letterwinner. As a sophomore that year, he helped the Longhorns snap a four-year conference title drought, providing points as the lead leg on the fifth-place 440 relay that aided UT’s efforts in edging Rice, 58-55, for the SWC Championship. The 5-10, 150-pound sprinter steadily improved his 100 time from 10.2-seconds to a blistering 9.5 in his final season of competition in 1968. His 9.5 clocking in the 100 finals at the 1968 SWC Championships was good for second place, where he was just edged at the tape by Jimmy Jasper of Baylor who also ran 9.5. His 100 dash runner-up finish in addition to running the opening leg on the fifth-place 440 relay provided key points in Texas winning its second SWC team title in three years that year. He won the 100 (9.7) and ran the opening leg on the victorious 440 relay at the Texas Triangular meet with Baylor and Texas Tech earlier in his senior season. As a junior in 1967, his 9.6-second 100 was tops on the team, while his 220 best that year (22.3) ranked second. A member of the Longhorns’ 440 and 880-yard relays throughout his career, he ran the opening leg on the 440 relay that finished fifth at the 1967 SWC Championship. As a sophomore, he posted a season-best time of 9.8 in the 100 and career-best 22.2 in the 220, making the finals of the 100 at the prestigious Drake Relays. Means’ parents were impactful figures in the city of Austin and pioneers themselves. The Means family acquired and operated a prominent taxi company, Austin Cab (Harlem Cab), for decades with James, Jr., his mother, and brother Ron managing daily operations. Bertha Sadler Means, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 100, was well known for her work as a businesswoman, educator, and civil rights activist. She was a 1945 graduate of Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University) and earned a master’s degree in education (educational psychology) from UT. She held several positions with Austin Independent School District over the course of her career in both elementary and secondary education, and she was a pioneer in reading education. She taught for 10 years at Prairie View A&M College and at UT (spring and summers, 1972-73), as well as delivering workshops in teacher education at Huston Tillotson. The Bertha Sadler Means Young Women's Leadership Academy, formerly Pearce Middle School, was renamed in her honor in 2014, while The Bertha Sadler Means African American Resource Center at Huston-Tillotson was named in her honor in 2012. His father, James H. Means, Sr., who passed away in 2008 at the age of 98, was an educator, business leader and active part of the Austin community, as well. He spent many years as a distinguished professor of mathematics at what is now Huston-Tillotson. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Arkansas A&M (now Arkansas at Pine Bluff) in 1933 and earned a degree in mathematics from the University of Iowa in 1937. In 1958, he was awarded a doctorate of education in mathematics by Oklahoma State University. Before Samuel Huston College and Tillotson College merged, Means, Sr., coached football, basketball, and track. He was elected president of the Gulf States Athletic Conference and vice president of the Big States Athletic Conference. In 1991, Means was inducted into Huston-Tillotson University's Hall of Fame. He became the first African American precinct chairman in Travis County in 1946, chairing precinct 125. Huston-Tillotson's Alumni Association honored him for Outstanding Achievements in Mathematics in 1998. In the fall of 2006, the College of Education at Oklahoma State honored Means, Sr., with the Distinguished Alumnus Award as one of the first African Americans to earn a doctorate there. Means, Jr.’s wife, Carol Adams-Means, earned her master’s and Ph.D. in journalism from UT, and has a post-doctorate in business from the University of Florida. Before entering education, she worked in broadcasting. A retired educator, she began her teaching career in 1981 at Prairie View A&M in communication. In 2009, she was recruited by Huston-Tillotson as an associate professor to reestablish and coordinate their communication degree program. In 2023, she was selected as an honorary board member of the Austin History Center Association and works with various historic preservation projects. James and Carol are the proud parents of Alyssa Anne and James III. They currently reside in Austin.
