Mal Whitfield
Whitfield at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Birth name | Malvin Greston Whitfield | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | Marvelous Mal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Bay City, Texas, United States |
October 11, 1924||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Washington, D.C., United States |
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Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 168 lb (76 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 400 metres, 800 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 400 m: 45.9 (1953) 800 m: 1:47.9 (1953) |
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Medal record
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Malvin Greston "Mal" Whitfield (October 11, 1924 – November 19, 2015) was an African-American athlete, goodwill ambassador, and airman. Nicknamed "Marvelous Mal", he was the Olympic champion in the 800 meters at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympics, and a member of the 1948 gold medal team in the 4 × 400 meters relay. Overall, Whitfield was a five-time Olympic medalist (three gold, one silver, one bronze). After his competitive career, he worked for forty-seven years as a coach, goodwill ambassador, and athletic mentor in Africa on behalf of the United States Information Service.[1]
Contents
Early life
Whitfield was born in Bay City, Texas. He moved to the Watts district of Los Angeles when he was four; at that age, his father died, and his mother died when he was 12, after which he was raised by his older sister. He sneaked into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, where he watched Eddie Tolan defeat Ralph Metcalfe in the 100 meter race, an event that spurred his own Olympic goals.[1]
Whitfield joined the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. After World War II, he remained in the military, but also enrolled at Ohio State University. In the early 1950s, he also served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, flying 27 combat missions as a tail gunner.[2] He won the NCAA title while at Ohio State in the 800 m in 1948 and 880 yd in 1949. After leaving the university, he won the AAU title from 1949 to 1951 at 800 m, in 1953 and 1954 at 880 yd and in 1952 at 400 m. He also won the 800 m at the 1951 Pan American Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[3]
Olympic career
At the 1948 Olympics in London, Whitfield won the 800 m and was a member of the winning 4 × 400 m relay team. He also earned a bronze medal in the 400 m. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, he repeated his 800 m victory. He also earned a silver medal as a member of United Statese 4 × 400 m relay team. He set a world record at 880 yd of 1:49.2 in 1950 and dropped it to 1:48.6 in 1952. In 1954, Whitfield became the first black athlete to win the James E. Sullivan Award, given annually by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU) to the outstanding amateur athlete in the country. Whitfield narrowly missed making the 1956 Olympic team while a student at California State University, Los Angeles, and he retired from track competition shortly thereafter.[3]
Sports ambassador
After graduating, he worked for the United States Department of State and the United States Information Service, conducting sports clinics in Africa.[4]
In his 47 years in Africa, Whitfield trained and gave consultation to dozens of athletes who represented their countries as Olympians and All-Africa Games champions. He coached in 20 countries and lived in Kenya, Uganda and Egypt.[1] Whitfield also arranged sports scholarships for over 5,000 African athletes to study in the United States.[5] During his career as a diplomat, he traveled to over 132 countries and played a key role in training and developing African athletes. United States President Ronald Reagan wrote of him: "Whether flying combat missions over Korea, or winning gold medal after gold medal at the Olympics, or serving as an ambassador of goodwill among the young athletes of Africa, you have given your all. This country is proud of you, and grateful to you." Shortly after his retirement from government service in 1989, Whitfield was invited to the Oval Office, where President George H. W. Bush recognized his service to the nation and the world.[6]
Awards
In 1954, Whitfield won the James E. Sullivan Award for amateur athletics.[1] Whitfield was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974, and Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in 1978. Among track and field athletes, only Jesse Owens had been inducted before him.[2][7]
Memoir
Whitfield wrote the book Learning to Run, which was translated into French.[8][4] His memoir was published by his foundation and titled Beyond the Finish Line.[9]
Personal life
He was the father of Nyna Konishi, Lonnie Whitfield, CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield[10] and accomplished high jumper Ed Wright.[11] In 1989 Whitfield founded the Mal Whitfield Foundation for the promotion of sports, academics, and culture. The foundation has distributed 5,000 athletic scholarships.[12]
Whitfield died at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospice center in Washington, D.C. on the night of November 19, 2015, aged 91.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Marvelous" Mal Whitfield Biography – Page 3
- ↑ "Marvelous" Mal Whitfield Biography – Page 2
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Navy SEALs in Afghanistan; Dance fever. July 6, 2005. CNN. Retrieved July 12, 2008
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Further reading
- Walter, John C., and Malina Iida. Better Than the Best: Black Athletes Speak, 1920–2007. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2010. ISBN 9780295990538
External links
- Mal Whitfield's profile at Sports Reference.com
- Whitfield, Fredricka (2015) My dad, Marvelous Mal. CNN.
- 1924 births
- 2015 deaths
- African-American track and field athletes
- American middle-distance runners
- American military personnel of World War II
- American military personnel of the Korean War
- American sprinters
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
- Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- Olympic bronze medalists for the United States
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1951 Pan American Games
- Pan American Games track and field athletes of the United States
- Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States
- California State University, Los Angeles alumni
- Ohio State Buckeyes track and field athletes
- Tuskegee Airmen
- United States Army Air Forces officers
- United States Air Force officers
- James E. Sullivan Award recipients
- Track and field people from California
- People from Matagorda County, Texas