Wilma Rudolph Biography: Rudolph was born to Blanche Rudolph in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, on June 23, 1940. He was born early and weighed only 4.5 pounds (2.0 kg). Her father had 22 kids from two different marriages. After her birth, her family moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where she went to elementary and high school. Her father was a train porter and did other odd jobs, and her mother was a housekeeper in Clarksville. Ed, her father, died in 1961, and her mother died in 1994. Wilma Rudolph Biography.
Rudolph had a hard time with her health when she was young. She had asthma, scarlet fever, and when she was five, she got polio. Even though she got better from polio, it weakened her left leg and foot. She wore a leg brace and a prosthetic shoe for support for most of her early life, but by the time she was twelve, she had been treated at Meharry Medical College and could walk without them.
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Rudolph was homeschooled at first because she got sick, but when she was seven, she went to Cobb Elementary School in Clarksville. She was very good at basketball and running in high school. Still, she got pregnant with her first kid, Yolanda, during her senior year. Yolanda was born in 1958, just before she started at Tennessee State University in Nashville.
She kept running track in college and got her bachelor’s degree in education in 1963. She paid for it with a work-study scholarship that forced her to work two hours daily on the TSU campus. During college, Rudolph also joined the Delta Sigma Theta club.
100-meter individual, 200-meter individual, 4 x 100-meter relay
Medals Won
Three gold, one bronze
Notable Achievements
Overcame childhood polio, world record holder, first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games.
Impact and Recognition
Role model for black and female athletes, civil rights and women’s rights pioneers, and prominent black women in America and abroad, memorialized in various tributes, including a U.S. postage stamp, documentary films, and a made-for-television movie.
Birth Order
Twentieth of 22 children
Father’s Name
Ed Rudolph
Father’s Profession
Railway porter and odd jobs
Mother’s Name
Blanche Rudolph
Mother’s Profession
Maid
Birthplace
Clarksville, Tennessee
Childhood Illnesses
Pneumonia, scarlet fever, polio
Treatment Location
Meharry Medical College, Nashville
Weekly Travel
50 miles (80 km) from Clarksville
Leg Brace
Worn until the age of twelve
Homeschooling
Due to frequent illnesses
Elementary School
Cobb Elementary School, Clarksville
High School
Burt High School, Clarksville
Pregnancy
During her senior year of high school
First Child
Yolanda
College
Tennessee State University, Nashville
College Major
Education
Sorority Membership
Delta Sigma Theta
Scholarship Program
Work-study
Honors and Awards for Wilma Rudolph: Wilma Rudolph Biography
Year
Honour/Award
1960
United Press International Athlete of the Year
Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year
James E. Sullivan Award
1961
Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year
1962
Babe Didrikson Zaharias Award
1983
U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
1993
National Sports Award
1994
National Women’s Hall of Fame
U.S. National Track and Field Hall of Fame
1996
Women’s Sports Foundation Wilma Rudolph Courage Award
Tennessee State University named its indoor track in Rudolph’s honor
1980
Tennessee State University named its indoor track in Rudolph’s honour
1995
Wilma G. Rudolph Residence Center at Tennessee State University
1994
A portion of U.S. Route 79 was named Wilma Rudolph Boulevard in Clarksville, TN
1995
A black marble marker was placed at Rudolph’s grave Site in Edgefield Missionary Baptist Church
1996
A life-size bronze statue of Rudolph was erected in Clarksville, TN
2012
Wilma Rudolph Event Center built in Clarksville, TN
2000
Wilma Rudolph Oberschule in Berlin, Germany
Rankings
1999
Sports Illustrated ranked Rudolph first on its list of the top fifty most significant sports figures of the twentieth century from Tennessee.
ESPN ranked Rudolph forty-first in its listing of the twentieth century’s most outstanding athletes
Other Honors
1973
Black Sports Hall of Fame
1994
National Black Sports and Entertainment Hall of Fame
1996
Women’s Sports Foundation selected Rudolph as one of the five greatest women athletes in the United States
2001
National Black Sports and Entertainment Hall of Fame
Rudolph had a private meeting with President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office
1997
Governor Don Sundquist proclaimed that June 23 be known as “Wilma Rudolph Day” in Tennessee
2004
U.S. Postal Service issued a 23-cent postage stamp in recognition of her accomplishments
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