Edward James Hart is a former American track and field sprinter, winner of the gold medal in 4 x 100 m relay race at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Born in Martinez, California, Eddie Hart won the NCAA championships in 100 yd in 1970 as a University of California student. At the US Olympic Trials in 1972, both Hart and Rey Robinson repeated the world record, running the 100 m in 9.9 seconds, and were favored to win the race at the Olympic Games. But at M�nchen, they both were eliminated in the 100 m race because their coach, Stan Wright, unknowingly using an outdated Olympic schedule to determine the starting time of their quarterfinal heat, failed to deliver them to the track on time. This failure due to disorganization created much controversy. Hart also ran the anchoring leg in the American 4 x 100 m relay team, which won a gold medal and equalled the United States' own world record of 38.19. Hart continued to run and in 1989 set the Masters world record in the 100 m that lasted for 14 years. [More at Wikipedia]

April 24th, 1949 in Martinez (Age 74)