Track official Houston Young was one of 12 people inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Association Sports Hall of Fame Monday night in Montgomery at the Renaissance Hotel.

Young, who has strong ties to Selma, has served as a track and field official since 1968 and was inducted into the hall of fame Monday with over 20 family members, friends, co-workers and former teammates by his side. He said the experience was extremely humbling.

“To be able to share that moment with those people, it’s just beyond words for me,” Young said. “I’m not one that tries to go out and get awards or accolades. I just love the sport of track and field. I just work hard trying to make sure the young athletes have a good time, play by the rules, have a good area to have their track meets in and everything else that comes along is just gravy.”

In nearly five decades of being an official, Young said his passion for the sport is still as strong as it was when he first started. The Uniontown High School graduate ran track at Livingston University, where he still holds the 100-meter dash record, before accepting the job as Selma High School’s track coach in 1971.

He also taught at Wallace Community College Selma for 22 years.

“I’m very passionate about the sport because it actually enabled me to get an education,” Young said. “I probably would not be a college graduate had it not been for the sport. It allowed me to go to school and have financial assistance while I was going to school.”

Young said he remembers telling his wife when he graduated that if he ever got a chance to pay back the sport of track and field in any way that he was going to do it.

He’s done more than his fair share. Young currently serves as the state track meet director for the 4A-7A AHSAA track meet in Gulf Shores, which he said he’s deep in planning for right now.

He was also awarded the National Federation of High Schools National Citation Award in 2010, which recognizes the top track officials in the nation.

Young carried the Olympic torch through Selma in 1996 — a moment he calls the highlight of his career — and has officiated numerous regional and national collegiate track meets.

“The thing I enjoyed the most was to see somebody that had worked in his profession 48 years and really knows that he was doing something good for people,” said longtime friend Elton Reece, who was at the induction ceremony. “That’s his reward. There’s not a lot of money but everybody knows him and all the lives he’s touched.”