Tommie Smith gets treat — posing with sprint great Stan Whitley
M65 sprint star Stan Whitley of SoCal had a cool experience Sunday — meeting some legends of our sport at the California Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Besides Tommie Smith, his generation’s top long sprinter, he had photos taken with the likes of Wyomia Tyus, John Carlos and Ron Freeman. He also met NBA star Rick Barry and NFL greats Rosie Grier and Eric Dickerson.
Olympic legend meets masters legend: Tommie Smith (left) and Stan Whitley.
Here’s the original photo I posted:
Eric Dickerson (right) was probably as excited to be with Stan as vice versa.
7 Responses
Come on’ now — that’s not Tommie Smith! Stan is standing next to E.D!
Stan,
What a thrill. Those folks are real track legends. You deserve to be in a picture with them. Tommy is one of my heroes.
I competed in a Track meet in 1964 and Jessie Owens presented my awards in the 100 and 200. I was absolutely over the top excited.
Way to go Stan.
You’re right Richard..Eric Dickerson on the right.
Oops! Sorry. I’ve corrected caption. I’ve written Stan to get the right Tommie Smith shot. Thanks for pointing out Eric!
Eric Dickerson is best known for his football talents, but he also performed very well on the track as a prep. Per the links below, at 6’3″ tall, the long-strider was the 1978 Texas 2A State Champion in the 100yds (9.8h) & 200m (21.5h).
http://www.uil100.org/archives/athletics/track-field-event-time.php?event==100+Yard+Dash&boys_girls=Boys
http://www.uil100.org/archives/athletics/track-field-event-time.php?event==200+Meter+Dash&boys_girls=Boys
Way to go, Stan! What an amazing honor.
I had Stan Whitley,(Mr Whitley) as my PE teacher in 1974 & 1975 at Ramona Jr High school.
I remember he used to be able to do pull ups using his fingertips grasping the ceiling beam from underneath! He could do pull ups where most people could not even suspend themselves under a beam using their fingertips, let alone fire off 10 pull ups vigorously! He was an amazing teacher athlete and man.
There was 4 PE teachers,Mr Whitley was the only one who did not whip us,he deserved respect naturally, it was not from fear of being hit.
I can still see him riding up on his Honda 400 Super Sport motorcycle, I loved that bike, he has remained an amazing athlete his entire life and has made meaningful impressions on thousands of students lives during a notorious difficult age, Jr High.
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