The Arthur Ashe Courage Award (sometimes called the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage or Arthur Ashe for Courage Award) is an award that is part of the ESPY Awards. Although it is a sport-oriented award, it is not limited to sports-related people or actions.

List of recipients[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Enumeration of past winners from HickokSports.com
• ESPY.TV
• 2007 announcement

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Arthur Ashe

President Reagan greets Arthur Ashe (left) in 1982
Country	United States
Residence	Richmond, Virginia
Born	July 10, 1943 Richmond, Virginia, USA
Died	February 6, 1993(1993-02-06) (aged 49) New York City, New York, USA
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	160 lb (73 kg; 11 st)
Turned pro	1969
Retired	1980
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$1,584,909 (according to the ATP)
Int. Tennis HOF	1985 (member page)
Singles
Career record	818–260 (at Grand Prix tour, WCT tour, and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	33
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1969)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1970)
French Open	QF (1970, 1971)
Wimbledon	W (1975)
US Open	W (1968)
Doubles
Career record	323–176 (at Grand Prix tour, WCT tour, and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	18 (14 according to the ATP)
Highest ranking	No. 15 (August 30, 1977)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1977)
French Open	W (1971)
Wimbledon	F (1971)
US Open	F (1968)

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was a former World No. 1 professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States. Ashe, an African American, was the first black player ever selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man to ever win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, or Australian Open. He is also remembered for his efforts to further social causes.

Early life and tennis career[link]

Born in Gum Spring, Virginia, to parents Arthur Ashe Sr. and Mattie Cordell Cunningham Ashe, Arthur and his younger brother, Johnnie, suffered a tragic loss when their mother died suddenly from heart related complications during routine surgery. Arthur Ashe first attended Maggie L. Walker High School, being coached by Ronald Charity, and later coached by Robert Walter Johnson. Tired of having to travel great distances to play Caucasian youths in segregated Richmond, Ashe accepted an offer from a St. Louis tennis official to move there and attend Sumner High School.^[1] Young Ashe was recognized by Sports Illustrated for his playing.^[2]

Ashe was awarded a tennis scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1963. That same year, Ashe became the first black player ever selected to the United States Davis Cup team.

In 1965, Ashe won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) singles title and contributed to UCLA's winning the team NCAA tennis championship. While at UCLA, Ashe was initiated as a member of the Upsilon chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Ashe was also a member of the UCLA Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after completing camp at Fort Lewis, Washington in the summer of 1966.^{[citation needed]}

The Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center, on the campus of UCLA

In 1968, Ashe won the United States Amateur Championships against Davis Cup Teammate Bob Lutz, and the inaugural US Open and aided the U.S Davis Cup team to victory. He is the only player to have won both of these amateur and open national championships in the same year.^[3] Concerned that tennis professionals were not receiving winnings commensurate with the sport's growing popularity, Ashe supported formation of the Association of Tennis Professionals. That year would prove even more momentous for Ashe when he was denied a visa by the South African government, thereby keeping him out of the South African Open. Ashe used this denial to publicize South Africa's apartheid policies. In the media, Ashe called for South Africa to be expelled from the professional tennis circuit.

In 1969, Ashe turned professional. In 1970, Ashe won his second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open.

In 1975, Ashe won Wimbledon, defeating Jimmy Connors in the final. He also won the season ending championship WCT Finals. Arthur played for a few more years, but after being slowed by heart surgery in 1979, he retired in 1980.

Ashe remains the only black man to ever win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, or Australian Open. He is one of only two men of black African ancestry to win a Grand Slam singles title, the other being France's metis Yannick Noah, who won the French Open in 1983.

In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Ashe as one of the 21 best players of all time.^[4]

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline[link]

¹The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
A = did not participate in the tournament
SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Activities after retirement from professional tennis[link]

After his retirement, Ashe took on many new tasks, including writing for Time magazine, commentating for ABC Sports, founding the National Junior Tennis League, and serving as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team. In 1983, Ashe underwent a second heart surgery. He was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985. He also founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS.^[5]

In 1988, Ashe published a three-volume book titled A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete,^[6] after working with a team of researchers for nearly six years.^[7]

Personal life[link]

Ashe served in the US Army from 1966–68, reaching the rank of first lieutenant. On February 20, 1977, Ashe married Jeanne Moutoussamy, a photographer he had met four months earlier. Andrew Young, the US ambassador to the UN, performed the ceremony at the UN chapel in New York City. Arthur and Jeanne adopted one child together, a daughter, who was born on December 21, 1986. She was named Camera after her mother's profession. Camera was only six years old when her father died.

In 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack, an event that surprised the public in view of his high level of fitness as an athlete. His condition drew attention to the hereditary aspect of heart disease. Ashe underwent a quadruple bypass operation, performed by Dr. John Hutchinson on December 13, 1979.^[8] A few months after the operation, Ashe was on the verge of making his return to professional tennis. However, during a family trip in Cairo, Egypt, he developed chest pain while running. Ashe stopped running and returned to see physician and close friend Douglas Stein, who had accompanied the family on the trip. Stein urged Ashe to return to New York City so he could be close to his cardiologist and surgeon.^[8]

Ashe promoting heart health after his heart attack.

In 1983, Ashe underwent a second round of heart surgery to correct the bypass surgery he received back in 1979. In 1988, Ashe fell ill and discovered he had contracted HIV during the blood transfusions he had received during his second heart surgery, which ultimately led to his death. He and his wife kept his illness private until April 8, 1992, when reports that the newspaper USA Today was about to publish a story about his health condition because of his increasingly gaunt physical appearance forced him to make a public announcement that he had the disease.^[9] In the last year of his life, Ashe did much to call attention to AIDS sufferers worldwide. Two months before his death, he founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health to help address issues of inadequate health care delivery and was named Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year. He also spent much of the last years of his life writing his memoir Days of Grace, finishing the manuscript less than a week before his death. Ashe died from AIDS-related pneumonia on February 6, 1993.^[10] Ashe is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. His wife continues on with civil rights activism, most recently contributing a video to New Yorkers for marriage equality.

Civil rights leader[link]

Ashe, the first African-American male to win a Grand Slam event, was an active civil rights supporter. He was a member of a delegation of 31 prominent African-Americans who visited South Africa to observe political change in the country as it approached racial integration.

He was arrested on January 11, 1985, for protesting outside the South African embassy in Washington, D.C. during an anti-apartheid rally. He was also arrested again on September 9, 1992, outside the White House for protesting on the recent crackdown on Haitian refugees.

Honors[link]

The Arthur Ashe Stadium at the 2007 US Open

• In 1979, Arthur Ashe was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. In commenting on his induction, the Hall noted that, ”Arthur Ashe was certainly a hero to people of all ages and races, and his legacy continues to touch the lives of many today. For Arthur Ashe, tennis was a means to an end. Although he had a lucrative tennis career, it was always more than personal glory and individual accolades. He used his status as an elite tennis player to speak out against the moral inequalities that existed both in and out of the tennis world. Ashe sincerely wanted to bring about change in the world. What made him stand out was that he became a world champion along the way.”^[11]
• In 1985, Ashe was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
• After his death, Arthur Ashe's body lay in state at the governor's mansion in his home state of Virginia. The last time this was allowed was for Stonewall Jackson of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
• The city of Richmond posthumously honored Ashe's life with a statue on Monument Avenue, a place traditionally reserved for statues of key figures of the Confederacy. This decision led to some controversy in a city that was the capital of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.^[12]
• In 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.
• The main stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, where the US Open is played, is named Arthur Ashe Stadium in his honor. This is also the home of the annual Arthur Ashe Kids' Day.
• In 2002, Ashe's achievement at Wimbledon in 1975 was voted 95th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.
• In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Arthur Ashe on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.^[13]
• In 2005, the United States Postal Service announced the release of an Arthur Ashe commemorative postal stamp, the first stamp ever to feature the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine.
• Also in 2005, TENNIS Magazine put him in 30th place in their list of the 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era.^[14]
• His wife wrote a book, Daddy and Me, a photographic journey told from the perspective of his young daughter. Another book, Arthur Ashe and Me, also gives young readers a chance to learn about his life.
• ESPN's annual sports awards, the ESPY Awards, hands out the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award to a member of the sports world who best exhibits courage in the face of adversity.
• Philadelphia's Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center and Richmond's Arthur Ashe Athletic Center are named for Ashe.
• The Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center at Ashe's alma mater, UCLA, is named for him. The center opened in 1997.
• He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame in 1983.^[15]
• He was mentioned in the 30 rock episode Generalissimo in Season 3 when Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) talks about being offered serious roles and losing his audience, and holds up a screenplay while saying, "Do you really want to see me play Arthur Ashe?!?"

Schools[link]

Grand Slam finals[link]

Singles: 7 finals (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1966	Australian Championships	Grass	Roy Emerson	4–6, 8–6, 2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	1967	Australian Championships	Grass	Roy Emerson	4–6, 1–6, 4–6
Winner	1968	US Open	Grass	Tom Okker	14–12, 5–7, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Winner	1970	Australian Open	Grass	Dick Crealy	6–4, 9–7, 6–2
Runner-up	1971	Australian Open	Grass	Ken Rosewall	1–6, 5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	1972	US Open	Grass	Ilie Năstase	6–3, 3–6, 7–6(5–1), 4–6, 3–6
Winner	1975	Wimbledon	Grass	Jimmy Connors	6–1, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4

Doubles, 5 finals (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)[link]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-Up	1968	US Open	Grass	Andrés Gimeno	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	11–9, 6–1, 7–5
Runner-Up	1970	French Open	Clay	Charlie Pasarell	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	6–2, 6–4, 6–3
Winner	1971	French Open	Clay	Marty Riessen	Tom Gorman Stan Smith	6–8, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 11–9
Runner-Up	1971	Wimbledon	Grass	Dennis Ralston	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	4–6, 9–7, 6–8, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	1977 (Jan)	Australian Open	Grass	Tony Roche	Charlie Pasarell Erik Van Dillen	6–4, 6–4

Grand Slam, Grand Prix and WCT Tour titles (33)[link]

Singles[link]

1.	August 1, 1968	U.S. Amateur Championships, Boston MA, USA	Grass	Robert Lutz	4–6, 6–3, 8–10, 6–0, 6–4
2.	August 29, 1968	US Open, New York City, USA	Grass	Tom Okker	14–12, 5–7, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
3.	January 19, 1970	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Grass	Dick Crealy	6–4, 9–7, 6–2
4.	1970	Berkeley, California
5.	1970	Paris, France
6.	1971	Charlotte, USA
7.	1971	Paris, France
8.	1971	Stockholm, Sweden

• 1972 – Louisville WCT, Montreal WCT, Rome WCT, Rotterdam WCT
• 1973 – Chicago WCT, Washington
• 1974 – Barcelona WCT, Bologna WCT, Stockholm
• 1975 – Barcelona WCT, WCT Finals, Los Angeles, Munich WCT, Rotterdam WCT, San Francisco, Stockholm – WCT, Wimbledon
• 1976 – Columbus WCT, Indianapolis WCT, Richmond WCT, Rome WCT, Rotterdam WCT
• 1978 – Colombus, Los Angeles, San Jose

Video[link]

• Wimbledon 1975 Final: Ashe vs. Connors Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: October 30, 2007, Run Time: 120 minutes, ASIN: B000V02CTQ.

See also[link]

Tennis portal

• Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York, NY
• Arthur Ashe Athletic Center, Richmond, VA
• Arthur Ashe Courage Award
• Arthur Ashe Kids' Day
• Levels of the Game, a 1969 book by John McPhee, exploring the 1968 U.S. Open semifinal match between Clark Graebner and Arthur Ashe

Further reading[link]

Books by Arthur Ashe.

• Ashe, Arthur; Clifford George Gewecke (1967). Advantage Ashe. University of Michigan: Coward-McCann. p. 192. http://books.google.com/books?id=UcqBAAAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
• Ashe, Arthur; Neil Amdur (1981). Off the court. New American Library. p. 230. ISBN 0-453-00400-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
• Ashe, Arthur; Rampersad, Arnold (1993). Days of Grace: A Memoir. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-42396-6. 
• Ashe, Arthur (1993). A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete. New York, NY: Amistad. ISBN 1-56743-006-6, 1567430074, 1567430082. http://lccn.loc.gov/93007395. 

Books about Arthur Ashe, by date published.

• Robinson, Louie (1969). Arthur Ashe: tennis champion. Washington Square Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-671-29278-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=LqRPAAAACAAJ&dq=arthur+ashe&ei=kW6oSuXTIIPYNc_P6K4K. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
• Deford, Frank; Ashe, Arthur (1975). Arthur Ashe: Portrait in Motion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-20429-1. 
• Weissberg, Ted; Coretta Scott King (1991). Arthur Ashe—tennis great. Demco Media. p. 109. ISBN 0-7910-1115-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=wi-CNgAACAAJ. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
• Collins, David (1994). Arthur Ashe: against the wind. Dillon Press. p. 128. ISBN 0-87518-647-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=wgeSAAAACAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s. Retrieved September 9, 2009. 
• Towle, Mike (2001). I Remember Arthur Ashe: Memories of a True Tennis Pioneer and Champion of Social Causes by the People Who Knew Him. Cumberland House Publishing. ISBN 1-58182-149-2. 
• Steins, Richard (2005). Arthur Ashe:a biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 103. ISBN 0-313-33299-1. 
• Mantell, Paul (2006). Arthur Ashe: Young Tennis Champion. Simon and Schuster. p. 224. ISBN 0-689-87346-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=TOgIQMjFE8QC&dq=arthur+ashe+school. 
• Henderson Jr., Douglas (2010). Endeavor to Persevere: A Memoir on Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Tennis and Life [Kindle Edition]. Untreed Readsurl=http://www.amazon.com/Endeavor-Persevere-Memoir-Connors-ebook/dp/B004EYTBHG. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Arthur Ashe

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Arthur Ashe

• Arthur Ashe Learning Center (AALC) Website
• Sign Up for Arthur Ashe Learning Center (AALC) Newsletter
• Official Arthur Ashe website
• Arthur Ashe at the Association of Tennis Professionals

• Arthur Ashe at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Sports Illustrated Arthur Ashe tribute website
• Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health
• FBI files—Arthur Ashe is mentioned within six references of records maintained within FBIHQ main files concerning the Black Panther Party, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, the Revolutionary Union and two newspaper articles.
• The Game – My 40 Years in Tennis (1979) — Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9)
• Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Manayunk, PA
• Finn, Robin. "Arthur Ashe, Tennis Star, Is Dead at 49," The New York Times, February 8, 1993.
• UCLA Arthur Ashe Student Health & Wellness Center
• The short film Arthur Claims the Gold (1975) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

Ed Thomas (July 17, 1950 – June 24, 2009) was the high school football coach for Aplington-Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, Iowa. On June 24, 2009, Thomas was shot and killed in the football team's weight room. Ed Thomas's killer is Mark Becker, a 2004 Aplington-Parkersburg graduate and one of Thomas' former players.^[1] Thomas was airlifted to a Waterloo, Iowa hospital where he was pronounced dead.^[2]

Early Life[link]

Ed Thomas was born to Authrine and Roy Thomas in 1950. He was born and raised in What Cheer Iowa.

Career[link]

Thomas had coached 37 years of Aplington-Parkersburg Falcon football and won two state titles and a total of 292 games. He is credited with having coached four current NFL players, which is the most per capita of any high school in the nation. The current NFL players he coached while coaching at Aplington-Parkersburg include Aaron Kampman (Jacksonville Jaguars), Brad Meester (Jacksonville Jaguars), Jared DeVries (Detroit Lions), and Casey Wiegmann (Kansas City Chiefs). In 2005, Thomas won the prestigious NFL High School Coach of the Year award. Landon Schrage was signed in 2006 as a long snapper for the Baltimore Ravens, making him the 5th player under Coach Thomas to reach the NFL. He is known for his actions due to the tornado that hit his city. He told everyone on his team to toughen up, and they fixed their football stadium before their opening day game. Thomas' won the state championship in 1993 and 2001.

Aftermath[link]

The night of his death, 2,500 mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil. He was featured on the July 6, 2009 cover of Sports Illustrated.^[3] On August 28, 2009, the national cable network ESPN televised Aplington-Parkersburg's first high school football game of the year in honor of Coach Thomas.^[4]

On March 2, 2010, a Butler County jury convicted Becker of first-degree murder in connection with Thomas' death. Following a trial that had started February 12 in Allison, the jury received the case on Wednesday, February 24; the jury had reached two stalemates prior to arriving at their verdict. Testimony in the trial focused on Becker's mental state at the time of the shooting. On April 14, 2010, Becker received the life sentence for his conviction of first-degree murder. ^[5]

Members of Thomas' family have approached the Iowa Legislature to consider legislation requiring hospital personnel to notify law enforcement before releasing a psychiatric patient facing criminal charges.^[6]

The Thomas family was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2010 ESPY Awards.^[7] On August 16, 2011, Zondervan released The Sacred Acre: The Ed Thomas Story, a book authored by the Ed Thomas family and Mark Tabb that tells the story of the Parkersburg, Iowa tornado, Thomas' role in the town's recovery and the details of his murder.^[8]

References[link]

Medal record
Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) showing the Black Power salute in the 1968 Summer Olympics while Silver medalist Peter Norman (left) wears an OPHR badge to show his support for the two Americans. Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) showing the Black Power salute in the 1968 Summer Olympics while Silver medalist Peter Norman (left) wears an OPHR badge to show his support for the two Americans.
Men's Athletics
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold	1968 Mexico City	200 metres
Summer Universiade
Gold	1967 Tokyo	200 metres
Silver	1967 Tokyo	100 metres

Tommie Smith (born June 6, 1944)^[1] is an African American former track & field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith won the 200-meter dash finals in 19.83 seconds – the first time the 20 second barrier was broken. His Black Power salute with John Carlos atop the medal podium caused controversy at the time as it was seen as politicizing the Olympic Games. It remains a symbolic moment in the history of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Early life[link]

While attending Lemoore High School in California, Smith showed great potential, setting most of the school's track records, many of which remain. He won the 440 yard dash in the 1963 CIF California State Meet.^[2] His achievements won him a scholarship to San Jose State.^[3] On May 7, 1966 at San Jose State, Smith set a world best of 19.5 seconds in the 200 metres straight, which he ran on a cinder track.^[4] That "world best" for 200 metres was finally beaten by Tyson Gay on May 16, 2010, just over 44 years later.,^[5] though Smith still holds the best for the slightly longer 220 yard event. Since the IAAF has abandoned ratifying records for the event, Smith will retain the official record for the straightaway 200 metres/220 yards in perpetuity.^[6] Smith won the national collegiate 220-yard (201.17 m) title in 1967 before adding the AAU furlong (201.17m) crown as well. He traveled to Japan for the 1967 Summer Universiade and won the 200 m gold medal. He repeated as AAU 200 m champion in 1968 and made the Olympic team.

Career[link]

In the 1968 Olympic Games at Mexico City, on 16 October, he won the gold medal for the 200 m in a world record time 19.83 s. He and a teammate, John Carlos, who earned the bronze medal, gave a Black Power salute while receiving their medals. Silver medalist Peter Norman, a white Australian, donned a human rights badge on the podium in support of their protest. (See 1968 Olympics Black Power salute.)

Some people (particularly IOC president Avery Brundage) felt that a political statement had no place in the international forum of the Olympic Games. In an immediate response to their actions, Smith and Carlos were suspended from the U.S. team by Brundage and voluntarily moved from the Olympic Village. Brundage, who was president of the United States Olympic Committee in 1936, had made no objections against Nazi salutes during the Berlin Olympics.^[7] The Nazi salute, being a national salute at the time, was accepted in a competition of nations, while the athletes' salute was not of a nation and so was considered unacceptable.^[7] People who opposed the protest said the actions disgraced all Americans. Supporters, on the other hand, praised the men for their bravery. The men's gesture had lingering effects for all three athletes, the most serious of which were death threats against Smith, Carlos and their families.

During his career, Smith set seven individual world records and also was a member of several world-record relay teams at San Jose State, where he was coached by Lloyd (Bud) Winter. With personal records of 10.1 for 100 meters, 19.83 for 200 and 44.5 for the 400, Smith still ranks high on the world all-time lists. After graduating, Smith played professional football with the Cincinnati Bengals for three years.

After his track career, he became a member of the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1978. In 1996, Smith was inducted into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame, and in 1999 he received that organization's Sportsman of the Millennium Award. In 2000 - 2001 the County of Los Angeles and the State of Texas presented Smith with Commendation, Recognition and Proclamation Awards.

He later became a track coach at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he also taught sociology and until recently was a faculty member at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California.

With author David Steele, Smith wrote his autobiography, entitled Silent Gesture, published in February 2007 by Temple University Press.

In August 2008, Tommie Smith gave 2008 Olympic triple gold winner Usain Bolt of Jamaica one of his shoes from the 1968 Olympics as a birthday gift.^[8]

In 2010, Smith announced that he would sell the gold medal he won at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. He put his gold medal for the 200 meters and spikes up for auction. The bid starts at $250,000, and the sale is scheduled to close November 4, 2010.^[9]

Recognition[link]

For his life-long commitment to athletics, education, and human rights following his silent gesture of protest at the '68 Olympics in Mexico City, Smith received the Courage of Conscience Award from The Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.^[10]

In 2005, a statue showing Smith and Carlos on the medal stand (but not Norman, whose silver medal position is vacant) was constructed by political artist Rigo 23 and dedicated on the campus of San Jose State University.^[11]

A mural of the photo taken with Smith on the podium at the 1968 Olympics with Carlos and Norman was painted on the brick wall of a residence in Newtown, New South Wales, Australia, titled "Three Proud People, Mexico, 1968". The mural faces the train tracks linking Sydney city to the Western and Southern Suburbs, and is no longer visible by thousands of commuters every day. Smith, along with Carlos, was a pallbearer at Norman's funeral in Melbourne in 2006.^[12]

On July 16, 2008, John Carlos and Tommie Smith accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for their salute at the 2008 ESPY Awards held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, California.

See also[link]

• 1968 Olympics Black Power salute
• Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
• Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
• Other American Football League players
• Men's 200 metres world record progression

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Tommie Smith website
• Interview with Tommie Smith
• Tommie Smith entry at Databaseolympics.com
• 1968 Olympic 200 Meters

Articles[link]

• Barra, Allan. "Fists Raised, but Not in Anger" The New York Times, August 22, 2008
• Thomas, Katie. "For Australian Athletes, a Voice From the Grave" The New York Times May 23, 2008
• "In-flight film will urge Olympians to protest", The Daily Telegraph, May 24, 2008
• "Norman loses his spot in history", Sporting Life, October 17, 2005
• "Norman dies after heart attack", Fox Sports, October 3, 2006
• "Peter Norman, man on podium for Black Power salute, dies", USA Today, October 3, 2006
• Reed, Ron. "Norman to receive a final salute", The Herald Sun, October 6, 2006
• Hoy, Greg. "Fellow athletes pay tribute to Peter Norman", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 10, 2006
• Blackistone, Kevin B. "'68 protest more than a memory", The Dallas Morning News, August 23, 2008 (Archived original)
• "Peter Norman dies after heart attack", The Age, October 3, 2006
• "Bitter price of Olympics' iconic image", Sydney Morning Herald, October 17, 2003
• Wise, Mike. "Clenched Fists, Helping Hand", The Washington Post, October 5, 2006
• "Norman Remembered as an Unflinching Champion", The Australian, October 9, 2006
• "Carlos, Smith act as pallbearers at funeral of podium mate from 1968 Olympics", MSNBC, October 9, 2006 (Archived original)
• Rees, Margaret "Australian athlete supported American civil rights struggle", World Socialist Web Site, October 23, 2006

Medal record
Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) showing the Black Power salute in the 1968 Summer Olympics while Silver medalist Peter Norman (left) wears an OPHR badge to show his support for the two Americans. Tommie Smith (center) and John Carlos (right) showing the Black Power salute in the 1968 Summer Olympics while Silver medalist Peter Norman (left) wears an OPHR badge to show his support for the two Americans.
Men's Athletics
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Bronze	1968 Mexico City	200 metres
Pan American Games
Gold	1967 Winnipeg	200 metres

John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945 in Harlem, New York) is a former track and field athlete and professional football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics and his Black Power salute on the podium with Tommie Smith caused much political controversy. He went on to tie the world record in the 100 yard dash and beat the 200 meters world record (although the latter achievement was never ratified). After his track career, he enjoyed brief stints in the National Football League and Canadian Football League but retired due to injury.

He became involved with the United States Olympic Committee and helped to organize the 1984 Summer Olympics. Following this he became a track coach at Palm Springs High School. He was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2003.

He is the author, with sportswriter Dave Zirin, of The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World, published in 2011 by Haymarket Books.

Early life[link]

Born in Harlem, New York, of Cuban^[1] descent, John Carlos was a gifted high school athlete and outstanding student who went on to study at East Texas State University on a full track-and-field scholarship. His victories in the 100 and 200-meter dash and as a member of the 4x400-meter relay helped lead ETSU to the 1967 Lone Star Conference Championship. After his first year, Carlos matriculated to San Jose State University where he was trained by future National Track & Field Hall of Fame coach, Lloyd (Bud) Winter.

Career[link]

Carlos became a founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR), initially created to organize a boycott of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. At the 1968 Olympic Trials, Carlos stunned the track world when he won the 200-meter dash in 19.92 seconds, beating world-record holder Tommie Smith and surpassing his record by 0.3 seconds. Though the record was never ratified because the spike formation on Carlos' shoes ("brush spikes") was not accepted at the time, the race reinforced his status as a world-class sprinter.

Following his third-place finish behind fellow American Smith and Australian Peter Norman in the 200 at the Mexico Olympics, Carlos and Smith made headlines around the world by raising their black-gloved fists at the medal award ceremony. Both athletes wore black socks and no shoes on the podium to represent African-American poverty in the United States. In support, Peter Norman, the silver medalist who was a white athlete from Australia, participated in the protest by wearing an OPHR badge.

IOC president Avery Brundage deemed a political statement unfit for the apolitical, international forum the Olympic Games was supposed to be. In an immediate response to their actions, he ordered Smith and Carlos suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village. Many supporters, however, praised the men for their bravery. The men's gesture had lingering effects for all three athletes, the most serious of which were death threats against Carlos, Smith, and their families. Although it has been reported that Carlos and Smith were stripped of their medals, Carlos has indicated this is not true and his medal is with his mother.^[2]

Carlos had his greatest year in track and field in 1969, equaling the world 100-yard record of 9.1, winning the AAU 220-yard run, and leading San Jose State to its first NCAA championship with victories in the 100 and 220 and as a member of the 4x110-yard relay. He was also the gold medalist at 200 meters at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and set indoor world bests in the 60-yard dash (5.9) and 220-yard dash (20.2).

Following his track career, Carlos tried professional football, a 15th round selection in the 1970 NFL Draft, but a knee injury curtailed his one-year stint with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. He then went on to the Canadian Football League where he played one season each for the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts. Following his retirement from football, Carlos worked for Puma, the United States Olympic Committee, the Organising Committee of the 1984 Summer Olympics and the City of Los Angeles.