Tommie Smith

Infobox Pro Football player


Color=Black
fontcolor=Orange
DateOfBirth=Birth date and age|1944|6|5|mf=y
Birthplace=Clarksville, TX
DateOfDeath=
Position=Wide receiver
College=San Jose State
Jersey=
CommonDraftedYear=1969
CommonDraftedRound=
Stats=y
Career Highlights=
DatabaseFootball=SMITHTOM01
PFR=
AFLAllStar
Honors=
Awards=
Records=
years=1969
teams=AFL Cincinnati Bengals
HOF=:"For others with a similar name, see Tommy Smith".Tommie Smith (born June 5, 1944) is an African American former track & field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. Smith was the winner of the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Biography

While a student at San Jose State, Smith won the national collegiate 220-yard (201.17 m) title in 1967 before adding the AAU furlong (201.17m) crown as well. He repeated as AAU 200 m champion in 1968 and made the Olympic team. In the 1968 Olympic Games at Mexico City, 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 ["The Olympic Story", editor James E. Churchill, Jr., published 1983 by Grolier Enterprises Inc.] . Those 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 Carlos, Smith, and their families.

Even while attending Lemoore High School, Smith showed major potential, setting most of the school's track records, many of which remain. After graduating, Smith played professional football with the Cincinnati Bengals for three years. 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.

During his career, Smith set seven individual world records and also was a member of several world-record relay teams at San Jose State. With world records of 10.1 for 100 meters, 19.83 for 200 and 44.5 for the 400, Smith still ranks high on the all-time lists. After his track career, he played professional football for one season, 1969, as a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the American Football League.

He became a member of the 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.

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. [Citation
url=http://www.peaceabbey.org/awards/cocrecipientlist.html
title=The Couage of Conscience Award
publisher=The Peace Abbey
accessdate=2008-08-22]

In 2005, a statue showing Smith and Carlos on the medal stand was constructed by political artist Rigo 23 and dedicated on the campus of San Jose State University. [Citation
url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/10/18/SPGJTF9THS1.DTL
title=OLYMPIC PROTEST: Smith and Carlos Statue captures sprinters' moment
author=John Crumpacker
publisher=San Francisco Chronicle
date=October 18, 2005
accessdate=2008-08-22]

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

In July 2008, John Carlos and Tommie Smith accepted the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for their black-gloved fist salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The 2008 ESPY Awards were held at NOKIA Theatre L.A. on July 16, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

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. [ Citation
url=http://www.pumarunning.com/#EN/running/content/main/chasingBOLT
title=Time To Dance: Usain v Asafa
author=puma
publisher=Puma
date=August 25, 2008
accessdate=2008-08-25]

ee also

*1968 Olympics Black Power Salute
*Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
*Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame
*Other American Football League players

Articles

*Citation
title=Fists Raised, but Not in Anger
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/opinion/23barra.html?ref=opinion
author=Allan Barra
publisher=New York Times
date= August 22, 2008
*Citation
url=http://olympics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/for-australian-athletes-a-voice-from-the-grave/
title=For Australian Athletes, a Voice From the Grave
author=Katie Thomas
publisher=New York Times
date=May 23, 2008
*Citation
url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23747461-2,00.html
title=In-flight film will urge Olympians to protest
publisher=news.com.au (article from Daily Telegraph)
date=May 24, 2008
*Citation
url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/film/the-white-guy-becomes-a-hero-on-film/2008/05
title='The white guy' becomes a hero on film/07/1210131072250.html
publisher=Sydney Morning Herald
date=May 8, 2008
*Citation
url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/05/12/1210444335427.html
title=Well hung painting causes a stir
author=Elicia Murray and Garry Maddox
publisher=Sydney Morning Herald, May 13, 2008
date=May 13, 2008
*Citation
url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/geoff-mcclure/sporting-life/2005/10/16/1129401146439.html
title=Norman loses his spot in history
publisher=Sporting Life
date=October 17, 2005
*Citation
url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20517518-23218,00.html
title=Norman dies after heart attack
date=October 03, 2006
publisher=Fox Sports
*Citation
url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2006-10-03-norman-obit_x.htm
title=Peter Norman, man on podium for Black Power salute, dies
date=October 3, 2006
publisher=USA Today
*Citation
url=http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,20541398-10389,00.html
title=Peter Norman's Olympic statement
author=Mike Hurst
date=October 8, 2006
publisher=The Courier Mail
*Citation
url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20531202-2862,00.html
title=Norman to receive a final salute
author=Ron Reed
date=October 6, 2006
publisher=The Herald Sun
*Citation
url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/10/03/1159641325056.html
title=He didn't raise his fist - but he did lend a hand
author=Philip Derriman and Len Johnson
date=October 4, 2006
publisher=Sydney Morning Herald
* [http://www.wisewords.com.au/staging/news/newsApr04.html Wise Words] citation broken|date=August 2008
*Citation
url=http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2006/s1760175.htm
title=Fellow athletes pay tribute to Peter Norman
author=Greg Hoy
date=October 10, 2006
publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation
*Citation
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010701060753/www.dallasnews.com/sports_day/olympics/180747_29olyblackistone.html
title='68 protest more than a memory
author=Kevin B. Blackistone
date=August 23, 2008
publisher=The Dallas Morning News (archived from [http://www.dallasnews.com/sports_day/olympics/180747_29olyblackistone.html the original] on 2001-07-01)
*Citation
url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/Peter-Norman-dies-after-heart-attack/2006/10/03/1159641313355.html
title=Peter Norman dies after heart attack
publisher=The Age (Australia)
date=October 3, 2006
*Citation
url=http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/articles/2004/06/18/1089484304254.html
title=Bitter price of Olympics' iconic image
date=October 17, 2003
publisher=Sydney morning Herald
*Citation
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401753.html
title=Clenched Fists, Helping Hand
author=Mike Wise
publisher=Washington Post
date=October 5, 2006
*Citation
url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20550419-2722,00.html
title=Norman Remembered as an Unflinching Champion
date=October 9, 2006
publisher=The Australian
*Citation
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070311020314/http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusspt/ap10-09-061941.asp?spt=oly&vts=10920060724
title=Carlos, Smith act as pallbearers at funeral of podium mate from 1968 Olympics
date=October 9, 2006
publisher=MSNBC (archived from [http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusspt/ap10-09-061941.asp?spt=oly&vts=10920060724 the original] on 2007-03-11)
*Citation
url=http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/norm-o23.shtml
title=Australian athlete supported American civil rights struggle
author=Margaret Rees
date=October 23, 2006
publisher=World Socialist Web Site

External links

* [http://www.tommiesmith.com/ Official Tommie Smith website]
* [http://www.hossli.com/articles/2008/08/08/that-was-my-decision/ Interview with Tommie Smith]
* [http://www.salutethemovie.com/ SALUTE - The Movie webpage (directed by Peter Norman's nephew Matt Norman)]
* [http://databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=SMITHTOM01 Tommie Smith entry at Databaseolympics.com]

References