AL HICKS : HALL OF FAME CLASS 2027
Updated: 2 days ago
Published 10/12/2026
The Trenton Central boys track program has always excelled in the quarter and half-mile runs. Ever since the early beginnings of county track and field and all the way up to the modern era, the Trenton program has traditionally produced athletes who dominated NJ in those 2 events. Of them all, the greatest double threat may have been Alfonza Hicks (TCHS Class of 1968).
Despite so many Tornados being capable of doubling in the quarter-mile (440 Yards) and half-mile (880 Yards) there was only 1 Trenton cinderman who excelled enough to win state titles in both races over the first 50 years of NJSIAA boys track. That athlete was Bill Fischer (TCHS Class of 1946). Fischer won the state 880 championship as a junior in 1945, and the state 440 championship as a senior in 1946.
Then... 22 years later came Al Hicks.
Not only did Hicks win state titles in both, he did it in the same year.
During his senior campaign of 1968, he won the INDOOR 440 Yd Group 4 title and the OUTDOOR 880 Yd Group 4 title.
Hick's times were epic.
During his 440 win at the indoor state championships-- held in the Jersey City Armory on February 24 1968--Hicks tied the Group 4 meet record with a time of 51.0. His winning time in the 880 at the outdoor state championships--held at Rutgers on June 1st 1968-- was a 1:54.0.
The latter victory was accomplished in spectacular fashion. An account of Hick's tactical come-from-behind win was described by sportswriter George Kotch of the Trenton Times the next day:
But as fast as Hicks ran in state meets, those races were not his fastest on the track. In the 440 he had an outdoor personal best of 50.0. In the 880 his outdoor best was a 1:52.4.
The 880 PB occurred during a win on May 29th 1968. The occasion was a multi-state championship meet held at Philadelphia's Franklin Field verses the best runners from NJ, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Hick's mark that day not only demolished the meet record by over 3 seconds, it also broke the NJ all-time state record set by North Plainfield's Cliff Christenson the previous year, and it ranked him top 6 in the country for high schoolers that spring.
The fastest that Hicks covered the half mile under any conditions was 1:48.6 on a straightaway. He ran it while competing for the Shore Athletic Club in the summer following his junior year. The race took place in Cape May NJ on June 24, 1967. Track veteran Elliott Denman-- the co-founder and manager at Shore AC--remembers that race. "It was down near the beach on asphalt" Denman says, "I brought him there. The only guy who beat him that day was a college runner."
When compared to times outside of his era, Hicks easily stands out. Unlike today's track runners who compete in meters, Hicks ran in yards. The 880 Yards, or half-mile, is 15 feet farther (4.67m farther) than the 800 meters, That means Hick's races were over a distance of 804.67 meters in total, or roughly 2 1/2 steps more than 800 meters. So during Hick's PB of 1:52.4 he would have had to cross the 800 meter point in under 1:52 while enroute to 880 yards. But those numbers don't tell the whole story, because Hicks didn't run on the rubber surface tracks of today. He routinely ran his times on cinder tracks which were much slower.
How much faster would he have been on modern track surfaces? He actually did get at least one opportunity. That previously mentioned 1:52.4 at Franklin Field over the 880 yard distance was run on one of the first synthetic rubber tracks in the country. In that race not only did he drop 1.6 seconds from his best on cinders, but even with the extra 15 feet included, his time was fast enough to have won the 800m at this past season's 2026 Group 4 state meet.
Individually Hicks won a slew of other big meets. He was a 3-time Mercer County Champion in the 880, winning the indoor title once in '67 and the outdoor title back-to-back in 67' & '68. He was also a 2-time outdoor sectional champ in the 880, taking gold at both the1967 and '68 SJ Championships. So versatile was Hicks that he ran a leg on a sprint relay as a junior in 1967 when Trenton won the Mercer County 4x220 Relay title.
Hick's state-ranked relevance didn't end with the quarter and half mile runs. He had a high school personal best in the 1-Mile Run of 4:17 which was one of the top times in the state. In his senior season he won the Mile at the '68 Indoor Mercer County Championships--breaking the meet record. His overall scoring prowess in county competitions helped lead the TCHS team to 3 consecutive indoor county track championships from 1966-1968.
Hicks was the archetypal year-round competitor too. He ran long distance in the fall season and he was a member of Trenton's 1965, '66 & '67 cross country teams that 3 won Mercer County Championships in a row. In addition to his ability as an individual racer, his fast legs led TCHS's team to record breaking relays.
There was one NJ meet Hicks didn't win--The Meet of Champions. Not because he failed in the attempt to win it, but rather, because it didn't exist yet. The inaugural M.O.C. wouldn't be established until a year after he graduated in 1969. Had it started 1 season earlier, Hicks would have surely been a favorite to win it.
Hicks concluded his '68 campaign in the summer season. On July 16 in Clifton NJ he took first with a 1:54.6 run in the 880 at the NJ Men's AAU Championships. Then on August 17 he took runner-up at the National Junior Jaycee Championships held in Eugene Oregon. In the final he amazingly ran a 1:52.6 while injured.
After his senior championship season Hicks moved on to attend college at Murray State University in Kentucky.
The great Alfonza Hicks along with 17 other inductees will be honored at the Mercer County Track and Field Hall of Fame awards banquet on May 16, 2027 at Mercer Oaks.
RSVP is required. Info on doing so can be found ON OUR BANQUET PAGE HERE.
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