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Clarence Goodnight Sr. | 1915-1917 | Lubbock High School | Track

Clarence Goodnight was the first State Champion in any sport from Lubbock ISD. He distinguished himself as an outstanding track athlete for Lubbock High School from 1916-1917. In 1916, Clarence represented Lubbock High at the state track meet in Austin and brought recognition to himself and to the Westerners by winning the mile and half-mile races. It was at this time that Goodnight earned the nickname the “West Texas Jackrabbit.”

Clarence won a total of five gold medals at the Texas State Track Meets in 1916 and 1917. In his junior year in 1916, he set state records in both the 880-yard run (2:05.0), and the mile run (4:41.2). In 1917, his senior year, he accomplished the rare feat of winning the 440 yard dash, the 880-yard run, and the mile run all in one meet. His performance earned Lubbock High 15 points, placing them just one point shy of the state championship title. He remains the only boy in Texas history to win all three events in a single state meet. In just two years, Goodnight won 5 State Championships, including a two-time State Championship in the mile run and the 880-yard run.

Besides being an outstanding athlete and making history on the track, Clarence was also a leader, as evidenced by the fact that his peers had chosen him to be class president. He grew up on a farm in Lubbock County in the Acuff area and often ran the six miles to and from Lubbock High School. Immediately after graduation from Lubbock High, Clarence joined the army and served in the US. Army Veterinary Corps in Europe from 1918-1919. Even overseas, his running talent did not go unnoticed. Goodnight competed in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) Championship Track Meet in Paris in June of 1919. Both General Pershing and President Woodrow Wilson were in attendance to watch him run.

Clarence was honorably discharged on July 14, 1919, and returned to Lubbock. He married Edith Thomas of Lubbock in 1920, and they were the parents of two children. He farmed and raised hogs, eventually opening the Goodnight Sausage Factory on the north side of Lubbock on the Plainview highway.

His life is an amazing story of being the first and the best. In many ways, he got Lubbock ISD on the path athletically to where we are today. Clarence Goodnight passed away in 1982 at the age of 87.
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