Tommie Smith

1944-

American track and field athlete

Sprinter Tommie Smith once held eleven world and American records at the same time, but is most noted for his silent civil rights protest at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. Standing on the podium after accepting his gold medal for a world-record performance in the 200 meters, Smith raised one black-gloved fist in a salute to African-American power, inciting both controversy and praise.

A Hard-Working Childhood

Smith was the seventh of twelve children born to Richard and Dora Smith, migrant workers near Clarksville, Texas, a rural town close to the Oklahoma border. His family subsisted on what they could make by picking cotton, hunting, and fishing, but when Smith was six-years-old, his father decided they could make a better life in California, and piled the family into an old truck. Eventually, they made it to California, where, as Smith told John Maher in the Austin-American Statesman, the work was no better, but "there was more of it." Smith worked in the fields with the rest of his family.

Smith also attended school in the town of Lemoore, where during high school he was voted Most Valuable Athlete for three years in a row in basketball, football, and track and field. He particularly loved basketball, and eventually earned a scholarship to San Jose State University. The basketball court was too small for his long legs, though, and he kept crashing into the walls of the school's tiny gym. He eventually switched to track and field, where he starred, breaking thirteen world records.

At college, Smith also became politically active. Filled with an awareness of the huge gap in civil rights between African Americans and white Americans, Smith, like some of the other students, was aware that as a young African American man, he had fewer opportunities than white students. If he was successful, he could use that success to make a point on behalf of African American equality. As he told David Steele in the San Francisco Chronicle, "I had nothing [to lose]. I had God-given ability, but no place in society."

Civil Rights Protests

American society at the time was filled with protest and strife. In 1968, for example, Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King were both assassinated; the Democratic national convention led to riots in the streets; and activists for black power, such as Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton, were in the headlines. In Vietnam, U.S. troops launched the Tet Offensive, sparking violent antiwar protests at home.

Many American athletes were unsure whether the Olympic Games would even be held. Riots in Mexico City, where the Games would be held, led to the deaths of 200 protesters. In addition, some athletes were considering boycotting the Games in a protest against racial discrimination.

By the time Smith graduated from college in 1967, he was the best 200 and 400-meter runner in the world, and was a member of the first mile-relay team to run the distance in under three minutes. In October of 1968, Smith went to the Olympics in Mexico City. In the semifinals of the 200 meters, he injured his thigh, was carried out on a stretcher, and was unsure whether he would be able to run in the finals. When the finals came, however, he took off and beat the field so easily that he raised his arms in triumph ten yards before crossing the finish line. He had run the distance in 19.83 seconds, a world record.

As the American national anthem began, Smith and American teammate John Carlos, who won the bronze medal, stood on the podium at the award ceremony, heads down, and raised black-gloved fists in a silent protest against racism and the lack of civil rights given to African Americans. According to Maher, Smith said at the time, "White America will only give us credit for an Olympic victory. [If I win] they'll say I'm an American, but if I did something bad, they'd say [I'm] a Negro."

According to Mike Cassidy in the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, Smith later said that he expected to be shot dead for this action. "I kept waiting for the gunshot," he said. "I thought we were dead men. And when all was said and done, I knew this is what we'd be remembered for."

Of his action, Smith told Lynn Zinser in the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, "When you have a platform, use it. You're kind of dumb if you don't." And, he said, "What we did, that was something for pride. That wasn't for the money. That was for blood. That was for the dignity."

Kicked off the Olympic Team

As a result of his protest, Smith and Carlos were kicked off the U.S. Olympic team. The International Olympic Committee threw Smith and Carlos out of the Olympic village, and they were suspended from all further Olympic competition.

Responses to the protest were mixed, even among other African Americans. Some resented the fact that after the protest, reporters didn't want to talk about athletic events—they only wanted to know what the athletes thought of the protest. Some athletes made their own statements: long jumper Bob Beamon wore black socks on the victory stand, and the 400-meter relay team raised their fists on the medal stand, but not while the national anthem was playing.

Chronology

Awards and Achievements

After the Olympics, Smith played football with the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for three years, and then became an assistant professor of physical education at Oberlin College. He was then hired to coach track and teach physical education at Santa Monica College in California, where he has remained for over twenty-five years. At the college, Smith told Steele, he doesn't discuss what he views as trivial matters with students: how fast they are, what their relationships are like, how they dress or do their hair. Instead, he said, "I ask them what their goal is, what their future is, what they plan to do in life when they are through with athletics, do they have a plan…. Sometimes they walk right out…. I'm not there just to praise them and how they play. I make kids mad." Smith also told Steele that he is often annoyed by the shallowness of students' concerns, their emphasis on money and fame, and their lack of appreciation for the sacrifices made by those who came before them.

In recent years, Smith has been honored by those who see him as a civil rights hero. He was inducted into the California Black Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 1999, he was honored as the California Black Sports Hall of Fame Sportsman of the Millennium. In that same year, he was also inducted into the Bay Area Hall of Fame, the Lemoore Union High School Hall of Fame, and the San Jose University Sports Hall of Fame. At the 2000 Olympic track and field trials, Smith was chosen to give the medals to the winners in the 200 meters. In 2000-2001, Smith was presented with Commendation, Recognition, and Proclamation Awards by the County of Los Angeles and the State of Texas.

Smith's Legacy

Smith and Carlos' act of rebellion made millions of television viewers aware of civil rights issues. Smith told Maher that his protest helped pave the way for other civil rights and social changes, including Title IX, a groundbreaking federal law that mandated that female athletes be given opportunity and funding equal to that given to males.

As Zinser noted, although racism is still present in American society, many African American athletes take the money they are offered and do not take the risk of making potentially controversial political or social statements. For example she wrote that golfer Tiger Woods "tolerates discriminatory country clubs." Basketball player Michael Jordan , who "had the biggest stage of any athlete ever … used it to advance nothing other than his legend and his bank account." Few athletes now take the risk of losing money, in favor of political or social action. Although Smith was reviled at the time for his action, now he is widely recognized for his integrity. As Zinser wrote, he and Carlos "took the risk because of what they believed. It took unimaginable courage."

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: c/o Santa Monica College Athletic and Physical Education, 1900 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405-1628. Phone: (310) 434-4310. Online: www.tommiesmith.com.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Periodicals

Cassidy, Mike. "Auction of Tommie Smith's Medal Raises Questions." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service (April 18, 2001): K7982.

Harris, Beth. "'68 Medalist Who Shocked World Joins Torch Relay." Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) (April 28, 1996): N8.

Maher, John. "Two Fists Jarred the World." Austin-American Statesman (July 13, 1996), p. D1.

Meacham, Jody. "U.S. Olympian Tommie Smith to be Honored for Records Overshadowed by Protest in Mexico City." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service (May 26, 1994): 0526K4905.

Moore, Kenny. "The Eye of the Storm." Sports Illustrated (August 12, 1991): 60.

Steele, David. "Smith's Crusade is Still on Track." San Francisco Chronicle (November 12, 1999): E1.

Zinser, Lynn. "Tommie Smith Talks of Higher Goals for Athletes." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service (July 22, 2000): K4945.

Other

"Black-Fist Display Gets Varied Reaction in Olympic Village." Sporting News (October 16, 1968), http://www.sportingnews.com/ (November 18, 2002).

"John Carlos." New York Beacon (August 7, 2002), http://www.newyorkbeacon.com (December 11, 2002).

Sports Stars USA Web site. http://www.sportsstarsusa.com/ (November 8, 2002).

"Tommie Smith." Mt. Sac College Web site. http://vm.mtsac.edu/relays/HallFame/Smith2.htm (November 18, 2002).

Tommie Smith's Web site. http://www.tommiesmith.com/ (November 11, 2002).

Sketch by Kelly Winters