Nebraska men’s gymnastics assistant coach and Olympic Gold Medalist Jim Hartung was named to the College Gymnastics Association’s inaugural hall of fame class, the CGA announced Wednesday.
For Hartung, this is the fifth hall-of-fame selection of his distinguished career. He was inducted into the World Acrobatic Society in 2022, along with the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2006, while Hartung is also a member of the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame and the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame.
A longtime Nebraska assistant coach under Francis Allen and now Chuck Chmelka, his prep and collegiate teammate, Hartung helped lead Nebraska to four consecutive national team gymnastics championships in 1979-80-81-82. Among the 22 members in Nebraska Athletics’ inaugural Hall of Fame class, Hartung is the only one to be a part of four national title teams.
Hartung won seven individual NCAA titles and captured 22 All-America accolades in his Husker career, both of which are school records. He also helped lead Nebraska to four-straight NCAA team championships from 1979 to 1982. Hartung’s seven individual titles are tied for the most in NCAA history and include all-around titles in 1980 and 1981. He was a three-time NCAA champion on the still rings and a two-time national champion on the parallel bars. Hartung won two individual titles at the 1980 NCAA Championships, three at the 1981 event and two at the 1982 NCAA Championships.
In 1982, Hartung won Nebraska’s first Nissen-Emery Award, described as the “Heisman Trophy” of men’s gymnastics. In addition to his 11 combined NCAA championships, Hartung was a 22-time All-American. He captured at least five All-America honors every season of his career, including earning All-America recognition in every event at both the 1981 and 1982 NCAA Championships.
An 11-time individual conference champion, Hartung also represented the United States as a two-time Olympian. Although he did not compete in the 1980 Olympics due to a U.S. boycott, Hartung was a member of the 1984 squad that won the first and only men’s gymnastics team gold medal in U.S. Olympic history.
Hartung was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2006, and he is also enshrined in the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Hartung earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Nebraska in 1983. He returned to Nebraska as an assistant coach in 2006 and is in his 19th season as an assistant.
