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Lee Evans [[Image]] Lee Evans was born in Madera, California, February 25th, 1947. Growing up in the California wine country, Lee worked in the vineyards. By the time Evans became a student at San Jose State University, he had carved for himself a niche as a fantastic trackman. His triumphs in college prepared him for competition in the Olympic Games at Mexico City in 1968. He won a gold medal on the 1800-meter relay team. In the 400-meter dash that year, Evans shattered the world record with a 43.8 second performance. Today, Evans is the National Track and Field coach for Nigeria. RALPH BOSTON [[Image]] Ralph Boston was born in Laurei, Mississippi, in 1939. He attended Tennessee A&I University where he showed himself to be a gifted athlete and a champion jumper. Prior to the Olympic games, he had demonstrated his remarkable ability to jump with an incredible leap of 26 feet, 11 1/4 inches. Already he held the world record for the long jump. Boston was a member of the United States Olympic teams which competed in Rome in 1960, in Tokyo in 1964, and in Mexico City in 1968. The high point in Boston's participation in Rome came when he broke the quarter-century world record set by Jesse Owens for the long jump. The new record was 26 feet, 7 3/4 inches. Four years later, Boston won the silver medal for the long jump in Tokyo. In Mexico City, Boston's third Olympiad, he earned the bronze medal, again for long jumping. Ralph Boston is now a successful Sales Representative for Integon Life Insurance Corporation in Knoxville, Tennessee. EDWIN MOSES [[Image]] Edwin Moses graduated with honors in physics and chemical engineering from noted Morehouse College in Atlanta. In addition to his excellence in academics, Moses excelled in track & field. His stride pattern was right, and his knowledge in hurdling was keen. These factors came together at Morehouse where Moses was prepared for the Olympic competition in Montreal in 1976. In Montreal, everyone was amazed when the gifted runner surpassed the record set by Ugandan John Akii-Bua (Munich, 1972) and ran the 400-meter race in 47.64 seconds, thus winning the gold medal and establishing a new world record. In setting his new record Edwin Moses became the cutting edge of a tradition of consistently high performance by black men and women in Olympic Track & Field events. Currently, Moses holds the world record for the 400-meter hurdles (47.45 seconds). He is looking forward to competing in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He currently resides in California. HARRISON DILLARD [[Image]] Harrison Dilliard was greatly inspired by his hometown Olympic hero, Jesse Owens. He wanted to be a sprinter, but even more than that, to be a hurdler. Having achieved an enviable record in sports at Baldwin-Wallace College (a record of 82 consecutive wins in hurdles). Dilliard tried out for the United States Olympic Team. He faltered in hurdles during the Olympic Trials and therefore went to London in 1948 as a sprinter. Running with grace and beauty, Dilliard surprised observers when he set a record of 10.3 seconds for the 100-meter dash. It was not until four years later, at the Helsinki Olympics, that Dilliard was able to compete in the hurdle events. 1952 witnessed his victory in the hurdles, where his record-breaking times was 13.7 seconds. He thus became the first person in Olympic history to win Olympic gold medals in both sprinting and hurdles. Presently Dilliard is the Director of Purchasing for the Cleveland Board of Education. He is active in community service as Special Events Chairman for the Northern Ohio Lung Association. 175
