Jim Gardiner was a championship coach in cross country and a pole vault expert who inspired and coached from his wheelchair.
He was hurt in a celebratory diving accident after breaking par in a golf round at Silver Lake Country Club. He was attending Grand Rapids Junior College (now Community College) at the time. It was after he was graduated from Catholic Central where he was an All-City quarterback in football (1961), guard in basketball and hurdler in track.
He didn’t let his wheelchair define him. He started coaching football, basketball and track at Immaculate Heart of Mary School and eventually ended up working with the Catholic Central track and cross country teams.
He was the head coach of the boys’ cross teams at Catholic Central that won Class B state championships in 1982 and ’84, and also headed the girls’ team to a state championship in 1987. His boys’ teams of 1981 and ’83 were state runners-up.
Pole vault was the track and field event where he gained guru status while serving primarily as an assistant coach. He helped Catholic Central vaulters and other athletes and coaches around the state. Eventually he started a track and field equipment business out of the garage at his family home.
A track and field invitational presented annually by the Catholic Schools is named in his honor, and at Catholic Central the Jim Gardiner Award is given to a male and female senior athlete who consistently demonstrates courage, selfless determination, continual drive to succeed, initiative and Christ-centered values in achieving personal and team goals.