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WILMA RUDOLPH
Wilma Rudolph
PHOTO: Library of Congress
A native of Montgomery County, Wilma Rudolph is one of the most celebrated
female athletes of all time.
Her story is an inspirational one. She was born prematurely, weighing only 4.5
pounds -- and the doctor doubted she would survive. She developed pneumonia
and polio as a child, rendering her disabled for most of her childhood. For several
years, her mother, brother or sister had to message her legs four times a day, and
then she had to wear a metal brace for several years. Wilma didn't start school (at
all black Cobb High School) until she was eight. Her father was a porter and her
mother was a maid. Like other poor people of that era, Wilma Rudolph's home
had an outhouse.
This statue of Wilma Rudolph is in Clarksville
When she was in the eighth grade, Wilma Rudolph's sister made the track team at
Burt High School, but Wilma didn't. Her father told the track coach that the
Rudolph sisters were a "package deal" -- either both girls made the team, or
neither girls made the team. Wilma thus made the team, and began to develop
her track skills, although basketball was her favorite sport. Her coaches soon gave
her the nickname "Skeeter" because she "buzzed around them" so much during
basketball games, hoping to get put into the game.
A few years later, Wilma participated in a track meet at Tuskegee Institute, where
she lost every single race. But one person who watched her run that
day -- Track Coach Ed Temple of Tennessee State University -- saw her,
thought she had potential, and recruited her to his summer "track
camps" at TSU. Only a year later, at the age of 16, Wilma Rudolph won
a bronze medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
PHOTO: Getty Images
Wilma Rudolph was now a hero in her home town of Clarksville. But she was still
poor, and she still had things to overcome. When she went to her high school
prom, she had to borrow a prom dress. Then, at the age of 17, and still single,
Wilma Rudolph got pregnant. She had the baby and didn't participate in sports
her senior year of high school. For a while it looked like she might never
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participate in track again. But the next year she went to TSU, while her sister (who
was married and living in St. Louis) took care of Wilma's baby girl.
Now a member of the TSU track team, Rudolph devoted herself to running and
made the 1960 Olympic Team (along with three of her TSU teammates). In
September 1960, in Rome, Italy, she won the 100 meter race, the 200 meter race,
and was a member of the team that won the 400 meter women's relay. She thus
became the first woman in history to win three gold medals in track and field at a
single Olympics.
Now one of the most famous athletes in the world, Wilma Rudolph was greeted
at home by a parade that is believed to have been Clarksville's first biracial event.
Wilma Rudolph's grave at the Edgefield Missionary Baptist Church in Clarksville
However, this was before the existence of big-money endorsements for Olympic
stars. In spite of her international fame, Rudolph was still not a wealthy person.
After the excitement of the Olympics passed, she got married and began devoting
most of her time to her family. She chose not to run in the 1964 Olympics, by
which time she was teaching at her former elementary school. Later in her career
she worked for federal youth programs, as a coach, and as a public relations
person. Wilma Rudolph died of brain cancer in 1994.
Many books have been written about Wilma Rudolph and are available at your
public library or for sale on the Internet. Read one!