JESSE OWENS: Fastest Man Alive
by Carole Boston Weatherford, 2007
Jesse Owens was a record-setting track and field athlete who transcended sports and triumphed over discrimination. In 1936 Owens participated in the Berlin Olympics, which took place during Hitler’s Nazi regime. There, Owens captivated the world’s attention, demonstrably rebuking Hitler’s ideology by winning no less than four gold medals at the Olympic games. In the process, Owens shattered racial stereotypes in a hostile environment and showcased the capabilities of black athletes on a global stage.
Owens also set world records in various track and field events during his career. Owens established three world records and tied another in the span of 45 minutes at the Big Ten Championships in 1935.
Jesse Owens’ achievements far exceeded mere athletic accomplishments, world records or Olympic gold medals: he symbolized what was possible, he broke down barriers, and he contributed to civil rights issues and the right for equality throughout the world.
While he died on March 31, 1980, Jesse Owens’ courage, accomplishments, and legacy live on forever.
WENDELL SCOTT: The Story of Wendell Scott, Stock Car Racing's African-American Champion
by Carole Boston Weatherford, 2009
Wendell Scott was an American stock car racing driver and the first Black NASCAR driver. Wendell was also the first Black driver to win a race in NASCAR’s Grand National Series. He participated in almost 500 races in the top division of NASCAR between 1961 and 1973. He finished races in the top 10 147 times.
As the first Black NASCAR racer, Wendell Scott broke through barriers and paved the way for future racers. He first drove in a NASCAR race in March 1961 at Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, South Carolina. That season he made 23 starts. On December 1, 1963, Wendell raced at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, and became the first Black driver to win a NASCAR Grand National race.
“Once I found out what it was like, racing was all I wanted to do as long as I could make a decent living out of it,” Scott said.
Despite his wins, Wendell faced prejudice and racism throughout his career. But he wouldn’t let that stop him from racing. He retired in 1973 after sustaining injuries during a race at Talladega, Alabama.
Wendell Scott was a NASCAR racer for 13 years. During this time he made 495 starts, had 20 finishes in the top 5, and 147 finishes in the top 10. Though his racing career wasn’t fully celebrated until after his death, he was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015. Wendell’s career was the inspiration for the 1977 movie, Greased Lightning. It tells the story of his rise as the first Black NASCAR racer. His memory as a NASCAR racer and pioneer in racing history is celebrated by The Wendell Scott Foundation, which provides educational development opportunities for at-risk youth.
TOUCH THE SKY: Alice Coachman, Olympic High Jumper
by Ann Malaspina, 2012
Alice Coachman was the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal. Growing up in the segregated South, she overcame discrimination and unequal access to inspire generations of other black athletes to reach for their athletic goals.
Coachman took up sports from a young age, eventually going on to join the track and field team for the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. While there, she won four national championships for sprinting and high jumping, and soon became one of the best track-and-field competitors in the country. She won national titles in the 50m, 100m, and 400m relay, and from 1939 to 1948 she won the American national title annually. When she tried out for the Olympics in 1948, though she competed with a back injury, she still broke the existing US high jump record.
At Wembley Stadium in London in August 1948, Coachman competed for her Olympic gold in the high jump. She won it on her first attempt, setting a new Olympic record in the process. She was the only American woman to win a gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Games.
Though Coachman’s career ended after the 1948 Olympics at the age of 24, her legacy lives on.
She was inducted into nine halls of fame including the National Track-and-Field Hall of Fame (1975) and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame (2004). In 1994, she started the Alice Coachman Track and Field Foundation to aid young athletes and former competitors in financial need. She was an inspiration to many, reminding them that “when the going gets tough and you feel like throwing your hands in the air, listen to that voice that tell you ‘Keep going. Hang in there.’...Guts and determination will pull you through.” Alice Coachman died on July 14, 2014 at the age of 90.
CHAMPION: The Story of Muhammad Ali
by Jim Haskins, 2018
Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. in 1942, and grew up in racially segregated Louisville, Kentucky. Within a few years after picking up boxing, he’d won a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics and shook the world when he upset the world heavyweight champion. Clay went on undefeated through his first 31 professional fights.
His career grew along with the fight for Civil Rights, where he became a cultural icon. A generation watched a young Black man declare his own beauty and greatness and inspired others to do the same. He announced his conversion to Islam and was given a name reflecting his faith — Muhammad Ali. His outspoken confidence, poetic self-expression, and resolute adherence to his values made him one of the most famous people of his time.
His conscientious objection to the Vietnam War was a polarizing moment in American society. Stripped of the championship and banned from boxing and his ability to earn a living for three years, Ali fought for reinstatement and would reclaim the heavyweight title two more times.
His accomplishments in the ring were the stuff of legend. But there was always far more to Muhammad than what took place in a boxing ring.
To continue his legacy, Lonnie and Muhammad Ali founded the Muhammad Ali Center in their hometown of Louisville in 2005 as a place of inspiration and reflection. In later years, Muhammad lived with Parkinson’s disease and raised awareness of the need for research and a cure. When Ali passed away on June 3, 2016, his memorial drew hundreds of thousands of mourners from around the world to Louisville.