The Life of Wilma Rudolph - Term Paper Example

The Life of Wilma Rudolph Wilma Rudolf was born on June 23, 1940 in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee. She was born prematurely at seven months, weighing only four and a half pounds upon delivery. Wilma was the twentieth child of the twenty two children of Ed and Blanche Rudolf. She describes her family as impoverished but was able to cope with the situation due to love for each other (Smith 1). Wilma’s father was a railroad porter and tradesman, while her mother was a domestic worker for White families in the local community.

Both parents had not completed elementary school, yet, it was only her mother who knew how to read and write. The annual income of the Rudolf family averaged $2,500, and Wilma recalls that her dresses were made from old flour sacks (Smith 1). The Rudolf family reflected the poverty present among black nations during that time. As noted, they did not have adequate finances for clothing; lived in a wooden frame house; had no electricity, necessitating the use of kerosene lamps and candles; and resorted to using an outhouse.

Since Wilma was a premature baby, she experienced many childhood illnesses including measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken fox, and double pneumonia. She even developed polio that crippled her and made her unable to run. Dr. Coleman was the Black doctor who gave hope, motivation, and treatment to Wilma during the time when Blacks were segregated from the Whites. In 1952, Wilma who had contracted poliomyelitis eventually recovered from the debilitating virus. Poliomyelitis was subsequently eliminated from the United States when Dr.

Jonas Salk created the polio vaccine in 1955 (Smith 2). Wilma started wearing steel brace on her left leg when she was five. She felt psychologically devastated wearing the brace. At age six, her mother noticed that home exercises were not improving her mobility; thus, she took Wilma to Meharry Hospital, the Black medical college of Fisk University in Nashville. In Meharry Hospital, Wilma received heat, water, and massage treatments, supplemented by an exercise routine at home. Two years later, with the help of a metal leg brace, Wilma was able to walk again.

Remarkably by age 12, Wilma no longer needed the aid of crutches, brace, or any corrective shoes in walking. The childhood illnesses made it impossible for Wilma to study. Therefore, her mother tutored her at home with basic academic fundamentals. However, she felt the need to conquer physical restrictions and enrolled in the local, segregated Burt High School. It was there she discovered her athletic abilities, following the example of her older sister who was a member of the basketball team.

Edward Temple, a renowned track coach of Tennessee State University, noticed Wilma and asked her to attend the university’s summer sports camp. Without hesitation, she accepted the offer and Wilma started to make her mark on the basketball court and the track (Smith 13). Wilma practiced with the Tennessee State University team and attended Temple’s daily college practices while still a student at Burt. Eventually, she entered Tennessee State University as a full-time scholarship student.

During the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Wilma, who was only 16 then, received her first bronze medal as a member of the 4 X 100 relay team. In 1960 Olympics, in Rome, she won in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash and together with her team; they beat the Germans in the 4 X 100 relay. Consequently, she became the first American woman to be a recipient of three gold medals in the international meeting (Smith 55). The 1960 Olympic Games were the first to be televised and Wilma’s victories and inspirational story of overcoming the physical and societal barriers inspired and encourage a lot of people, particularly women who exhibited increasing interests in the track and field event (Smith 55).

The election winner across a segregationist platform, Buford Ellington, planned a welcome celebration for Wilma when she returned. However, Wilma refused to attend any segregated event and insisted on having one or none at all. Thus, the program organizers opened the event to all, and the homecoming of Wilma Rudolf and the Tiger Belles was the first integrated public event in Clarksville (Smith 67). Wilma took her last competitive race in 1962 and returned at Tennessee State University to complete her bachelor’s degree in education in 1963.

During the same year, she married a high school friend named Robert Eldridge. The couple had four children, namely: Yolanda, Djuana, Robert Jr. and Xurry, before they got divorced in 1976. A subsequent marriage to Willard Ward, unfortunately, also led to divorce in 1962. After retiring from track, Wilma taught at Cobb Elementary in Clarksville and coached the track teams at Burt High School, Maine, and DePauw University in Indiana. She advocated and continued to speak nationally about women and athletics.

She served as a role model for succeeding track-and-field stars and a sports commentator on national television. In 1981, she created her greatest accomplishment, the Wilma Rudolf Foundation. It was a non-profit, community-based amateur sports program (Smith 85). Wilma was diagnosed with brain cancer after fainting during a speech. She died of brain and breast cancer on November 12, 1994 in Brentwood at the age of fifty-four. Wilma Rudolf was nominated to the Hall of Fame at the National Women’s Athletic Association in recognition of her remarkable contribution to sports and influence, in the area of track and field.

Work Cited Smith, M. Wilma Rudolf: A Biography. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. 1-85. Print.