Ralph Boston was a man who broke many records in the world of track and field. African Americans hold him as one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen. Many people, especially track athletes, look up to him as a role model. His main event was the long jump, where he broke his own record several times.
Ralph Boston was born May, 9, 1939 in Laurel and loved to run track. Boston was a student at Tennessee A & I, a school which will later be known as Tennessee State. There, he ran track and broke many records in the long jump. He concentrated on his strongest event which was the long jump so he could make the Olympic track team. He made the team and succeeded well in his events. He was ranked 4th in the country in the high jump. In the 1960 Olympics, in Rome, he won the gold medal for his 20 feet 7 and a quarter inch long jump. In winning he broke the record set by Jesse Owens. In May of 1961, Boston broke his own record with a jump of 27 feet, ½ inch, becoming the first to leap more than 27 feet. He extended his record to 27 feet, 2 inches that year later. Boston also won the silver in the long jump at 1964 games in Mexico City.
He is in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, inducted in 1976. On September 29, 1995, he was inducted into the National Black College Hall of Fame in Atlanta, GA.
In conclusion, Ralph Boston was an important person from Laurel, MS where he stayed a good kid who just wanted to run track and accomplish plenty of goals. After he retired early in 1969, Boston did commentary on televised track meets and served as an administrator at the University of Tennessee.