Ralph Boston
Event: Long Jump
Inducted to Hall of Fame: 1975
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Ralph Boston Event: Long Jump Inducted to Hall of Fame: 1975 |
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Profile
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Mt. SAC
Relays Highlights
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Career
Highlights
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It's a pretty impressive set of bookends on a career to say that you were the person who broke Jesse Owens' long jump world record (which had stood for 25 years), and Bob Beamon was the person who broke your world record with his prodigious jump in Mexico City (a record which stood for 23 years). Only Ralph Boston can claim this distinction. After winning the NCAA championship in 1960, Ralph set the first of his six world records (26-11 1/4) on the Mt. SAC track just two weeks before the Olympics. In Rome, he edged teammate Bo Roberson by one centimeter to win the gold medal. Finishing third in Rome was Igor Ter-Ovanesya of the Soviet Union. Ralph and Igor would engage in a game of leapfrog the next seven years, repeatedly beating or tying each other's world record. Fittingly, they retired with identical PRs of 27-4 3/4 (8.35m), although Igor's was set at altitude in Mexico City. In 1961, Ralph began a run of six consecutive national championships. He also captured three consecutive Mt. SAC Relays' titles. At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, he won a silver medal. And Ralph got an up-close view of Beamon's record-breaking jump at the 1968 Olympics, as he was on hand to win a bronze medal. (It's interesting to note that Beamon's world record leap was the only jump in his career which exceeded Boston's previous world record.) Born: 1939 College: Tennessee State University |
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