Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

Famous People Column – An open Column for all writers

August 30, 2007

Never Give Up

 Wilma Rudolph's life is a story of achieving against the odds. Her first accomplishments were to stay alive and get well! 

Life requires commitment. When I think of commitment, I think of a young, crippled black child by the name of Wilma. -  Wilma Glodean Rudolph.   She was born - BIRTHDATE: June 23, 1940    premature with polio at only four and one half pounds on a ghetto farm in the backwoods of Clarksville,Tennessee.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Wilma Rudolph was born into a large family -- she was the 20th of 22 children! Her parents, Ed and Blanche Rudolph, were honest, hardworking people, but were very poor. Mr. Rudolph worked as a railroad porter and handyman. Mrs. Rudolph did cooking, laundry and housecleaning for wealthy white families. 

In 1940 millions of Americans were poor -- our of work and homeless because of the Great Depression. The Rudolphs managed to make ends meet by doing things like making the girls' dresses out of flour sacks. 

Wilma was born prematurely and weighed only 4.5 pounds. Again, because of racial segregation, she and her mother were not permitted to be cared for at the local hospital. It was for whites only. There was only one black doctor in Clarksville, and the Rudolph's budget was tight, so Wilma's mother spent the next several years nursing Wilma through one illness after another: measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox and double pneumonia. But, she had to be taken to the doctor when it was discovered that her left leg and foot were becoming weak and deformed. She was told she had polio, a crippling disease that had no cure. The doctor told Mrs. Rudolph that Wilma would never walk. But Mrs. Rudolph would not give up on Wilma.  Her mom's only response was a line from a favourite hymn, "Wilma can climb her highest mountain if she'll do it one step at a time."  She found out that she could be treated at Meharry Hospital, the black medical college of Fisk University in Nashville. Even though it was 50 miles away, Wilma's mother took her there twice a week for two years, until she was able to walk with the aid of a metal leg brace. Then the doctors taught Mrs. Rudolph how to do the physical therapy exercises at home. All of her brothers and sisters helped too, and they did everything to encourage her to be strong and work hard at getting well.  Her first step was a very painfully massaged step. They had to teach her to walk with a steel brace. After five torturous years, Wilma was able to take a step without the brace. The next five years were spent developing that step into a smooth, rhythmic stride.  Finally, by age 12, she could walk normally, without the crutches, brace, or corrective shoes. It was then that she decided to become an athlete.

On her 13th birthday, Wilma joined the track team. They called her "limpy Wilma," because she came in last in every single race. She would shout above the laughter of her team-mates, "I'll never give up… I promise you, I'll never give up!"

One day she came in next to last in a race and on another occasion she finished second from last. One day she was second from first and one day she won herself a race. Finally, she won every single race she entered in the entire meet and that day, she won herself a new nickname, "lightening Wilma."

EDUCATION: At first, Wilma was tutored at home by her family because she was crippled. She first began school at the age of seven. In 1947, the schools of the Southern states were segregated -- black students and white students had to attend separate schools. Even though blacks had to pay the same taxes as whites, the schools for black students were usually poorly funded, so they were less likely to have adequate books, teachers, classrooms, or equipment. 

In junior high, Wilma followed her older sister Yolanda's example and joined the basketball team. The coach, Clinton Gray, didn't put her in a single game for three years. Finally, in her sophomore year, she became the starting guard.   In high school, she became a basketball star first, who set state records for scoring and led her team to a state championship. During the state basketball tournament, she was spotted by the coach for the famous Tigerbells, the women's track team at Tennessee State University.   Because Burt High School didn't have the funding for a track team, coach Temple invited Wilma to Tennessee State for a summer sports camp.

"Lightening" came to the attention of Coach Ed Temple at Tennessee State University. He said, "Wilma, come with me, I'll coach you." Wilma said, "if running will get me an education, not only will I come to your school but I'll run harder and faster than I've ever run in my life- I promise you, I'll never give up!"    Then she became a track star,  at the age of 16.  Now away at school, Wilma would have to draw her motivation from within. Her inspiration, her mother, died. But Wilma did have the ability to motivate herself, because in 1960, Coach Ed Temple picked her to represent the USA in the Olympics in Rome.  

Those who were in the stadium that year thought that Wilma looked a little bit lonely. She was an unknown black athlete. She walked with a noticeable limp. Many were asking the question aloud, "What's she doing here?" It took exactly 11 seconds to get the answer because when the starting pistol cracked, she tore up the cinder path in a world record 11 seconds to capture her first Gold Medal in the 100 meter dash.  

Her second race was the 200 meter dash and everyone knew that Germany's Yetta Hynie would win this race. She held the World Record and was heavily favoured Everyone but Wilma thought that.

Again, the starting pistol cracked. Wilma and Yetta jumped to the lead and turned the race into a fighting duel. With a burst of speed on the backstretch, Wilma pushed out the lead, snapped the tape and captured her second Gold Medal.

Several days later, Wilma would be competing against a revenge-seeking Yetta Hynie. The race was the 400-meter relay and once again, everyone knew the German foursome would capture this event. They held the World Record and no one would dare challenge them, no one except the Americans.

Again, the starting pistol cracked. The Germans and the Americans both jumped out to a commanding lead. The first runners handed the batons to the second, the second to the third. When the third runners handed their batons to Wilma and Yetta, they were in a dead heat, side by side. However, Wilma dropped her baton, and the great German Yetta Hynie raced all alone for what appeared to be a sure victory.

No one knows what happened in that next instant. Wilma was hopelessly behind. With less than ten seconds to go, she reached down and picked up the baton and in what Olympic historians have come to call a miracle today, she pulled up beside the great German Yetta Hynie. The two raced neck-and-neck, stride-for-stride to the finish line. One hundred thousand screaming fans were yelling "Go Wilma! Go!"

The rest is Olympic history. Slowly Wilma pushed out to the lead, snapped the tape and captured her third Gold Medal- the first American woman in the history of the Olympics ever to have done so.

On September 7th, 1960, in Rome, Wilma became the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in the Olympics. She won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and ran the anchor on the 400-meter relay team. 

After graduating from high school, Wilma received a full scholarship to Tennessee State. Because of all the celebrity she received from her track career, she took a year off from her studies to make appearances and compete in international track events. She returned and received a Bachelor's degree in education, graduating in 1963.  

In 1963, Wilma married her high school sweetheart, Robert Eldridge, with whom she had four children: Yolanda (1958), Djuanna (1964), Robert Jr. (1965), and Xurry (1971). They later divorced. 

This achievement led her to become one of the most celebrated female athletes of all time. In addition, her celebrity caused gender barriers to be broken in previously all-male track and field events. 

AWARDS 

• United Press Athlete of the Year 1960
• Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year 1960
• James E. Sullivan Award for Good Sportsmanship 1961 *
• The Babe Zaharias Award 1962
• European Sportswriters' Sportsman of the Year *
• Christopher Columbus Award for Most Outstanding International Sports Personality 1960*
• The Penn Relays 1961 *
• New York Athletic Club Track Meet *
• The Millrose Games *
• Black Sports Hall of Fame 1980
• U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame 1983
• Vitalis Cup for Sports Excellence 1983
• Women's Sports Foundation Award 1984

* indicates first woman to receive the award/invitation 

There were other honors as well. In 1963 she was selected to represent the U. S. State Department as a Goodwill Ambassador at the Games of Friendship in Dakar, Senegal. Later that year she was invited by Dr. Billy Graham to join the Baptist Christian Athletes in Japan. 

There was one "first" accomplishment that was more special than any of the others, however. For Wilma, the fact that she insisted that her homecoming parade in Clarksville, Tennessee be open to everyone and not a segregated event as was the usual custom. Her victory parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in the town. And that night, the banquet the townspeople held in her honor, was the first time in Clarksville's history that blacks and whites had ever gathered together for the same event. She went on to participate in protests in the city until the segregation laws were struck down. 

After retiring from track competition, Wilma returned to Clarksville to live. She taught at her old school, Cobb Elementary, and was the track coach at her alma mater, Burt High School. She replaced her old coach, Clinton Gray, who, tragically, had been killed in an auto accident. But small town life proved to be too conservative after all her worldly experiences. She moved on to coaching positions, first in Maine, and then, Indiana. She was invited to be the guest speaker at dozens of schools and universities. She also went into broadcasting and became a sports commentator on national television and the co-host of a network radio show. 

In 1967 Vice-President Hubert Humphrey invited Wilma to participate in "Operation Champ," an athletic outreach program for underprivileged youth in the ghettoes of 16 major cities. She started her own non-profit organization, The Wilma Rudolph Foundation, to continue this kind of work. The foundation provided free coaching in a variety of sports, and academic assistance and support as well. 

In 1977 she wrote her autobiography, simply titled, "Wilma." It was adapted as a television movie; Wilma worked on it as a consultant. 

In 1997, Governor Don Sundquist proclaimed June 23 as Wilma Rudolph Day in Tennessee. 

DATE OF DEATH: Saturday, November 12, 1994, at the age of 54. 

PLACE OF DEATH: Wilma died in her home in Nashville, Tennessee. She had been in and out of hospitals for several months after brain cancer was diagnosed. Leroy Walker, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said, "All of us recognize that this is obviously a tremendous loss. Wilma was still very much involved with a number of Olympic programs. It's a tragic loss. She was struck with an illness that, unfortunately, we can't do very much about." 

The message I leave with my  e-mail friends is to never give up. When I think of this, I can't help but think of Wilma- Wilma Rudolph!

Hartson S. Dowd                                                                                                                                                 hsdowd@telus.net