- Willye White
Willye White (
January 1 1939 –February 6 2007 ) was an American athlete who competed mainly in thelong jump and100 metres .She competed for the United States in five
Olympic Games : the1956 Summer Olympics , the1960 Summer Olympics , the1964 Summer Olympics , the1968 Summer Olympics and the 1972 Olympics.She was a 16-year-old sophomore in high school when she won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1956 games in
Melbourne ,Australia . It marked the first time an American woman ever won a medal in that event. She won her second silver medal in 1964 as a member of the 400-meter relay team inTokyo ,Japan (along withWyomia Tyus ,Marilyn White andEdith McGuire ).In all, White was a member of more than 30 international track and field teams and won a dozen Amateur Athletic Union long jump titles in her career, according to
USA Track & Field , which inducted her into its hall of fame in 1981 — one of her 11 sports hall of fame inductions. In 1999,Sports Illustrated for Women named her one of the 100 greatest women athletes in the 20th century.Born in
Money, Mississippi and raised by her grandparents, she pickedcotton to help her family earn money, while at the same time competing in sports. A longtimeChicago -area resident, she credited her experience as an athlete with allowing her to see beyond theracism and hatred that surrounded her as a child.White died of
pancreatic cancer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to Sarah Armantrout, a longtime friend who was with White when she died.References
* [http://www.internationalmedalist.org/willye_white_passes.htm Obituary]
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