CSU family mourns death of Jim Settle

Charleston Southern University is saddened to announce the death of retired Coach James “Jim” C. Settle, age 88, on Tuesday, April 14.

Settle was one of the first 16 faculty members hired by the then Baptist College at Charleston for its first academic year, 1965-1966, teaching kinesiology. Classes for the 1965-1966 academic year were held at the First Baptist Church of North Charleston. Students were housed at the St. John Hotel (now the Mills House) in downtown Charleston, and Settle and his wife, Betty, served as the house parents for the students living in the hotel that first year.

Settle came to Baptist College as assistant cross country and assistant track coach in 1965, quickly developing the program into one of the finest in the Southeast. He worked with Coach Howard Bagwell as an assistant and then later as the head coach, coaching several All-Americans, including 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist Charlie Simpkins. 

After four years out of coaching, Settle returned as head coach in 1985 and promptly led the men’s track team to an outstanding 29-0 record. The 1986 team followed up with a 31-4 record. All total, the Baptist College/Charleston Southern men’s track program posted 313 victories against only 62 defeats from 1966-92. This included five undefeated seasons. 

Settle was inducted into the Charleston Southern Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990, the Big South Conference Hall of Fame in 2005, and was named Big South Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. In 2001, Charleston Southern co-named the university track facility in his honor.

He was named professor emeritus of kinesiology in 2009 and in recent years was a member of the CSU emeriti prayer group.