DyeStat Founder John Dye Changed The Landscape Of The Sport When He Put It On The Web

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

When John Dye, at age 63, began poking around the high school scene in Maryland in the late 1990s seeking meet results and season's best lists, he met resistance. 

Dye had a son and daughter in high school and on the track team and he wanted to produce some county rankings, to start with, to see how they measured up against their peers. 

In the early days of the internet, just 25 years ago, that information was unavailable for widespread viewing.

"He was calling coaches digging, and then begging, for information," Dye's wife, Donna, said. "Coaches back then didn't want their results to be seen, some of them kept them close to the vest. They were not necessarily shared."

Dye, who worked for the Small Business Administration, had interests in technology and sports. And those two things, woven together with a father's interest in where his kids ranked, regionally and nationally in the high jump, led to the creation of DyeStat.com. 

Dye wore down the local coaches until they began to see the benefit of sharing information. What he built, first with an emailed newsletter and then a web site, connected the high school track and field and cross country worlds like never before. 

His innovation led to track and field message boards, first-of-its-kind on-site media coverage of national events, and a national audience to indoor meets at The Armory in New York, outdoor meets such as the Arcadia Invitational, and many others. 

John and Donna Dye, through the decade of 2000-2010 became the de facto grandparents of elite high school track and field. John orchestrated coverage and upated the web site. Donna eventually joined John and meets and began taking photos of athletes with their parents and coaches.

Together, and with a dedicated crew of helpers along the way, DyeStat helped create the modern high school track and cross county landscape. Milesplit, Flotrack, Lets Run and Athletic.net all came later to expand and document different components of the sport. 

"When I got out there (for the first time) and saw what was happening, I was overwhelmed by what John had done," Donna said. 

Eventually the platform was bought by ESPN, which seemed like a big achievement at the time. But the large corporation stripped the soul out of the site and eventually shuttered it. 

In 2012, the Dyes retired from the daily operations of the web site. John sold what was left of it to RunnerSpace, interested in perserving both the archives and the brand. 

For nearly 10 years, John and Donna enjoyed vacation cruises, casinos, live performances and UNLV sports while residing near Las Vegas. They also volunteered at their local library. 

John had endured a stroke before, when he was younger. He suffered another one on his patio in late September and Donna drove him to the hospital. He died soon after, on Sept. 30. He was 86. 

John was an avid lifelong sports fan whose career involved accounting and data, working mostly for the government.  

While working for the U.S. Department of Interior, the Dyes moved to Micronesia for five years and lived on the tropical islands of Saipan and Pohnpei. John was a government auditor for the U.S. territories. 

The Dyes had met and were married in Chicago. After their island adventure, they moved to Virginia, to Tennessee, and to Maryland. 

"We were nomads," Donna said. 

With DyeStat, he found a hobby that became a business and he brought the internet age to track and field. 

"He had a vision of what he wanted to do," Donna said. "He wanted to tell the people, the kids in the track community, what was going on."

Until Natalie and Derek started jumping in high school, Dye had little to no interest in track. He had run in high school, back in the 1950s, in Plymouth, Ind. (He attended the famous 1954 state championship basketball game between Milan and Muncie that was later featured in the movie 'Hoosiers.')

He didn't follow Olympic track and field or the NCAA level. 

"When our children got involved, that was the catalyst," Donna said. "He was an accountant. He could do all kinds of things mathematically."

High school track proved to be fertile gound for a numbers-cruncher. He went to work developing DyeStat TFX ranking system.

He treasured his time at the forefront of the sport and the athletes he was fortunate to meet and cover. One of his favorites was Allyson Felix, who retired in 2022 after a long and illustrious career that began a LA Baptist High School. 

Felix and Dye were both inaugural members of the National High School Track and Field Hall of Fame, inducted in 2018 by a panel of experts. 

"We enjoyed every bit of it," Donna said of their foray into track and field. "The emotion and feeling you put into something like (DyeStat), the connections you make with people, are incredibly motivating."

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What follows is an incomplete list of people in the track and field community who died in 2022. All of them, many others, deserve a moment of reflection. We at DyeStat extend our condolences to the friends and families of these exceptional individuals. Special thanks to Walt Murphy and his daily This Day In Track for being a primary source of this list.

Dave Bailey - The first Canadian to break the four-minute barrier in the mile, as well as the first to do it on home soil, he was part of nine national teams, including the 1968 Olympics team. He died in August and was 77.

Kirk Baptiste - The 1984 Olympic Games silver medalist in the 200 meters, Baptiste was part of an exceptional sprint program at the University of Houston. He died in March and was 59. 

Bill Bergan - A two-time national championship winner in cross country, he helmed the men's track and field and cross country programs at Iowa State from 1971-95. He died in November at age 80.  

Barry Binkley - A legendary high school track and cross country coach in Northern Kentucky and Ohio for 55 years, he passed away in August at 80. 

Dave Bolen - The remarkable life of Dave Bolen ended last month at age 98. Bolen was the first Olympian from the University of Colorado and was fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in London in 1948. He later served in the U.S. State Department, and was President Carter's U.S. Ambassador to East Germany. He worked to bring down the Berlin Wall and also to free Nelson Mandela in South Africa. 

Peter Brewer - The long time coach at Castro Valley High in California, followed by stints at Northgate and Alhambra, died of a heart attack last February. 

Rex Cawley - The 1964 Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles and a former world record holder, Cawley died last January at age 81. 

Mark Conover - The 1988 Olympic Trials marathon champion and coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo endured several bouts with cancer and died in April at age 61. 

Eli Cramer - The Milligan University (Tenn.) student-athlete was struck and killed by an impaired drive while preparing for a race in Virginia in April. He was 20. 

John Crawford - He was the meet director of the Pasco Invitational in Washington for 46 years and managed the state cross country championships for 30 years. He died in November at age 81. 

Wayne Dannehl -  The longtime athletic director at UW-Parkside in Wisconsin developed  and designed the Parkside National Cross Country Course. He died in June at age 85.

Lydia De Vega - Once hailed as the 'Queen of Asian sprinting' in the 1980s, she was an athletic pioneer and role model for athletes in The Philippines. She died from cancer in August at age 57. 

Jim Freeman - An outstanding coach at Mt. Baker High in Washington state, Freeman coached cross country, track and field and girls basketball for many years. He was also a standout distance runner at Western Washington. He died at age 81 in November. 

Dr. Ken Gibson - A coaching legend who led Kentucky State to the NCAA D2 track and field championship in 1971 and later coached at Ole Miss, died last summer at age 88. 

Charlie Greene - One of the central figures in the famed 'Night of Speed' in 1968, he tied the world record in the 100-meter record twice at the AAU Championships. At Nebraska, he was a three-time NCAA Champion. He won a gold medal on the U.S. 4x100 relay team. He died last March at age 76. 

Murray Halberg - A revered figured in New Zealand athletics, Halberg won the Olympic 5,000 meters in 1960 in Rome. He died Nov. 30 at age 89. 

Shavez Hart - The former sprinter for The Bahamas and Texas A&M was died from a gunshot wound on Sept. 3, while trying to break up a fight. He was 29. Hart was part of the World Indoor silver medal winning 4x400 relay team in Portland. 

Dean Hayes - The longtime track and field coach at Middle Tennesee State died last January at the age of 84. 

Barbara Jacket - One of the pioneers of women's collegiate track in her days at Tuskegee Institute in the mid-1950s, she served on numerous Team USA coaching staffs and was the women's Olympic coach in 1992. She died in January at age 87. 

Trey Jones - The head track and field coach at Nickerson High in Kansas was tragically killed when he was hit by car driven by an impaired driver in July, while walking with his family on the campus at Louisville. He was 42. Her daughter, Ava, also hurt in the accident, plays basketball at Iowa. 

Ron Kamaka - The head coach at Mt. SAC in California died in March from complications with COVID-19. He was 59. 

Wilson Kiprugut - Kenya's first Olympic medalist (1964 800m bronze; 1968 800m silver) died on Nov. 1 at age 84. 

Brian Kivlan - The Manhattan College Hall of Famer became the first New Yorker to break four minutes in the mile in 1968 and was a three-time All-American. He died in April at the age of 74. 

John Landy - The second man to break four minutes in the mile, Landy was a distance running legend in Australia and a former world record holder. He eventually became the Governor of Victoria. He died in February at the age of 91. 

Deon Lendore - The former Texas A&M star and Olympics and World Championships medalist for Trinidad and Tobago died tragically in an auto accident in January last year at the age of 29. 

Ralph Lindeman - The longtime track and field coach at Air Force was in his 33rd season with the prorgram when he died in March at the age of 70. 

Jud Logan - Last January 3, the four-time Olympian in the hammer and the head track and field coach at NCAA Division 2 Ashland University (Ohio) died from complications related to COVID-19 at age 62.

Kenny Moore - The Oregon track legend and two-time Olympic marathoner became one of American's foremost track and field writers, primarily for Sports Illustrated. He paid homage to his former coach with his book 'Bill Bowerman and the Men of Oregon.' He died in May at the age of 78. 

Robert Mosley - The actor who played 'T.C.' on the TV show 'Magnum, P.I.' was also a dedicated track and field coach in the Monrovia Unified School District in Southern California. He died in August at age 83. 

Bill Nieder - A standout thrower at Kansas, where he became the first collegian to throw 60 feet with the 16-pound shot, Nieder won the Olympic silver in the shot put in 1956 and the gold medal in 1960. He died in October at age 89. 

Michael Reid - A prominent and successful track coach in the Sacramento area, including as an assistant at American River JC, Reid died after a prolonged bout of cancer in July. 

Bill Russell - One of the greatest basketball players ever and an American icon, Russell died last summer at the age of 88. He makes this list because he was ranked seventh in the world in the high jump in 1956. The part-time track athlete cleared 6-9.50 to tie for first in the West Coast Relays with Olympic champion Charlie Dumas.

Jim Sackett - The head coach at NCAA Division 2 Cal Poly Pomona for 27 years, and Western Illinois for 11, died last February at the age of 86. 

Viktor Saneyev - The former jumper for the U.S.S.R. won three Olympic gold medals in the triple jump (1968, 1972, 1976) and a silver medal (1980) and broke the world record three times. He died last January at 76.

Sarah Shulze - The former Oak Park CA standout and member of the Wisconsin track and cross country program died in April. 

Joseph Silva - The longtime assistant sprints coach at Sacramento City College died last January at 75. 

Bill Squires - One of the most highly respected distance coaches in the U.S., he rose to prominence in the 1970s with the Greater Boston Track Club, mentoring six Boston Marathon winners, including Bill Rodgers. 

George Syndor - A former two-time world record holder in the indoor 60 meters and a Villanova track legend, he passed away in March at age 86. 

Eric Thomas -  A Texas native and 2000 Olympic Games competitor in the 400-meter hurdles for the U.S., he died on Dec. 30 at the age of 49. He won two Pan Am Games silver medals (1999 and 2003). 

Dr. Tony Waldrop - A former world record holder in the indoor mile (3:55.0 in 1974) for the University of North Carolina, and a 1975 Pan Am Games gold medalist, he pursued  career in academia and became the president of the University of South Alabama in 2014. He died on Dec. 3 at age 70. 

George Young - A four-time Olympian who competed in three different distance running events, he earned a bronze medal in the 1968 Mexico City 3,000-meter steeplechase final after leading on the final lap. The New Mexico native broke numerous American records and was a successful coach at Central Arizona College. He died in November at age 85. 

Ed Zarowin - He led the Hunter College (N.Y.) cross country and track and field programs for 30 years. He died in March at the age of 95.