Tommie Smith ( )
Tommie Smith is best known as a world-class sprinter and for protesting (along with John Carlos) U.S. racism and human oppression on the winner’s podium at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Smith was born in Clarksville, Texas, and raised in Lemoore, California. His family worked as field laborers. In , Smith became a student-athlete at San Jose State University (SJS) to escape picking cotton and grapes for a living. While there, he emerged as a world-class sprinter and concurrent record holder in eleven track and field events. Smith also became politically active, beginning with a sixty-mile sympathy march from San Jose to San Francisco for the Southern Civil Rights Movement on March 13 and 14,
At SJS, Smith&#;s activism was fueled by racial inequities in housing, employment, campus social life, and the school’s academics. Black student-athletes, for example, were directed away from the sciences and humanities and funneled into the physical education curriculum that kept them eligible to compete in intercollegiate sports. This practice often made their graduation improbable. Tired of this treatment and inspired by SJS Sociology Professor Harry Edward
Tommie
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Hall Of Fame Bio #
Tommie Smith, of Clarksville, Texas, received a scholarship to run track and fieldat San Jose State University where he won the NCAA Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships in and the yard title in He set 13 world records throughout his career, and held 11 simultaneously. At the Olympic Games Mexico City , Smith clinched gold in the meter, setting a world record with a time of seconds. At the award ceremony, he courageously stood up for racial equality on the world’s largest stage during the civil rights movement, with his black-gloved fist raised in the air and removing shoes, alongside teammate, John Carlos. This act established a legacy of championing for equal rights that continues to inspire activists today. Smith received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey for his lifelong commitment to athletics, education and human rights. In , he accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPY Awards for his salute and was recognized at the White House by President Barack Obama in
Spartacus Educational
On Sept. 3 during this year's World Student Games in Tokyo, a Japanese reporter asked Tommie Smith, "In the United States, are the Negroes now equal to the whites in the way they are treated?" His obvious answer was, "No". The American Negro sprinter was then asked, "What about the possibility of (US) Negroes boycotting the Olympics?", a question probably prompted by comedian Dick Gregory's request—made at least partially in deference to the stripping of Muhammad Al's world heavyweight boxing title—that such an act be considered by Olympic prospects. Tommie's reply was, "Depending upon the situation, you cannot rule out the possibility that we (US) Negro athletes might boycott the Olympic Games."
This was the first occasion that Tommie Smith had been asked to reflect upon his thoughts concerning a boycott - either publicly or privately. The only previous publicly circulated statement on the boycott question by any American track and field athlete came from Ralph Boston, who, while he expressed a belief that it would not serve any purpose, did not categorically deny the possibility of such a development.
The
As an all-round sprinter, Tommie Smith was a worthy successor to the great Henry Carr. In , Smith set four world records – m and y straight and turn; in he posted world records at m and y; and he claimed his seventh individual world record when he won the Olympic m title. Smith also won the AAU and NCAA y in and the AAU m in He was also a member of the first team (with Lee Evans and the non-Olympians Robert Frey and Theron Lewis) to run under three minutes for the 4xm relay when the U.S. clocked in an international meet at Los Angeles in
During the victory ceremony in Mexico City, Smith gained much publicity when he and bronze medalist, John Carlos, made a protest for black power and unity and were expelled from the Olympic Village. (It is often written that their medals were removed, but that is incorrect.) After graduating from San Jose State in , Smith turned to professional track, and played pro football for three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. He later became a professor and athletic director at Oberlin College and then a professor at a college near Los Angeles. In Smith and Carlos were inducted into the USOPC Hall of Fame, a measure of retribution and apology for t
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