James Jackson (Alameda HS)
9.4 100y National Record Equalling Effort and State Championship 1954 - half a century ago!! - from Jim Grigg (Alameda HS Boosters - Thanks!)

Alameda Team with James Jackson circled

James' Senior Picture

The 9.4 effort!! - Into the Record Books at Edwards Stadium - EQUALS JESSE OWENS' RECORD - James Jackson, Alameda High School sprinter, made athletic history on Saturday during the North Coast Section CIF meet at Edwards Stadium, He ran the 100 yards in :09.4 to equal the national high school record set 21-years ago by the famous Jesse Owens when he was a student at East Technical High School in Columbus.

BELOW STORY AFTER THE 9.4 IN SECTION MEET BEFORE STATE MEET

...Alameda Sprinter Rates with Greatest Prep Runners...
Alameda Times Star
Monday, May 24, 1954

Just where James Jackson, the fleet-footed Alameda High School speedster, who equaled Jesse Owens' 21-year-old mark of :09.4 fits into the list of all-time great prep sprinters cannot be determined until after the California state meet next Saturday.
But a scanning of the record books and a comparison of results of the recent college relays will serve as a temporary yardstick to measure his greatness. Here is how Jackson rates today, and he still has one more big chance to reach his high school potential.
1. Back in 1933, Jesse Owens, as a young athlete representing East Technical High School of Columbus, Ohio, showed the first signs of greatness he later achieved by winning three Olympic championships in 1936 to gain track and field immortality by running the 100 in :09.4. That was 21-years ago. Every year since, great high school sprinters from all 48 states have tried to better that mark but it remained for Jackson to equal it Saturday.
2. Back in 1932, Bob Kiesel, running for the University of California, set the record for Edwards stadium by clicking off the 100 in :09.5. The mark has withstood the onslaughts of several generations of university sprinters, not only from California but all the leading colleges in the country, as Edwards Stadium has been the scene of Pacific Coast Conference, Big Ten, National AAU and NCAA sprinters.
3. If any further yardstick is needed to measure the speed of Jackson it might be wise to place it against the times clocked for the recent college relays across the country. These relays usually attracted all the top college sprinters just as they are rounding into their best form. Here's the times for the 100 - Drake, :09.7; Kansas, :09.6; Texas, :09.6; Penn, :09.8; Fresno, :09.6; Los Angeles Coliseum, :09.6; and Modesto, :09.7.
Jackson's mark would have brought him down to the tape ahead of the top college runners in all of these relays.
However, lest one gather the impression that Jackson should breeze to victory on Saturday, it should be pointed out that Delano's Leamon King who beat Jackson by a foot in the Fresno relays, and Santa Ana's Bill Swisshelm, who has been burning up the cinderpaths in Southern California, will also toe the starting blocks in the State meet.
(NOTE: I checked, Jackson won the State meet with a 9.6, Leamon was
second with a 9.7 and Swisshelm took 3rd with a 9.9.)
Alameda's successful defense of its NCS championship with an impressive 49 points was almost lost on the shuffle of reporting the great individual performances of the day.
Besides his 100, Jackson broke Herb Turner's 220 NCS mark in 21.0 and ran the anchor lap on the Alameda relay team including Hosea Harper, Willie Davis and Bob Thompson when it ran 1:28.4 to set another mark.
Richard Cobb of Alameda leaped to second place in the broad jump to get the Hornets some surprise points. Harper chased Richmond's X.L. Emerson in the 48.9 quarter mile. Davis, the basketball player, placed second in the 100 and 220. Joe Griffin broke the 120 high hurdles mark in the morning (but just barely qualified when a shin splint cramped his style) and Thompson placed in the high hurdles.

It was report that Jackson ran a year in Community College, then joined the Air Force and ended his running career.

Link to Story on 1954 California State Meet