Background
Minor grew up in Paris, Texas and his first international success came in 1991 when he won the 400 m title at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.
Minor grew up in Paris, Texas and his first international success came in 1991 when he won the 400 m title at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships.
He chose to attend Baylor University in 1992 on an athletic scholarship in the knowledge of the athletic programs strength in the 400 m under coach Clyde Hart.
He twice shared in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 4×400-meter relay title with his Baylor teammates, winning indoors in 1992 and outdoors in 1995. He set a personal record of 44.75 seconds in Austin, Texas in June 1992 and went on to take the world junior title in Seoul later that year, winning the 400 m at the 1992 World Junior Championships in Athletics. After graduating in 1995, he continued to focus on track and aimed to qualify for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
However, at the United States Olympic Trials he was eliminated in the semi-finals.
He finished in the top three at the 1997 United States of America Indoor Track and Field Championships and was selected for the 1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He came fourth in his 400 m semi-final at the worlds, being eliminated before the final, but anchored the United States men"s relay team (with Jason Rouser, Mark Everett, and Sean Maye) to the gold medal in a time of 3:04.93 minutes.
He came third at the 1999 national indoor championships behind Angelo Taylor and Milton Campbell, again earning qualification to the global championships. At the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships, he was again eliminated in the 400 m semi-finals.
The American relay team (Andre Morris, Dameon Johnson, Minor and Campbell) repeated their gold medal of two years earlier but this time set a world record for the relay, taking the victory in a time of 3:02.83 minutes.
Minor competed at the United States of America Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the summer and took sixth place in the 400 m final. In his final year at the top level of track and field, he ran at the 2000 Olympic Track Trials, but he finished sixth in the heats stage. His world record relay mark was beaten in 2006 by a team of Kerron Clement, Wallace Spearmon, Darold Williamson and Jeremy Wariner.
However, their mark of 3:01.96 minutes was never ratified as an official world record as no post-race EPO test was conducted, meaning that Minor"s time remained the official world record.
He won two consecutive gold medals in the relay at the IAAF World Indoor Championships from 1997 to 1999, setting a world record mark of 3:02.83 minutes in the latter competition. During his time at the college he earned 14 All-American honours and won four National Collegiate Athletic Association titles. He was the 400 m National Collegiate Athletic Association Indoor champion in 1992 and 1995.
