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Athlete Bio#
Age
Died (Aged 54)
1940-1994
Hometown
Clarksville, TN
Education
Burt High School (Clarksville, Tenn.) Tennessee State University
Personal
Daughter of Ed and Blanche Rudolph ...One of 22 children...Survived bouts of polio and scarlet fever as a child...Walked with a metal brace and did physical therapy as a child until she could walk normally...Began playing basketball at age 11...Indoor track and dormitory at Tennessee State University named in her honor...Taught at Cobb University and coached track for her old high school...Founded the Wilma Rudolph Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping underprivileged children...Wrote an autobiography entitled, “Wilma” in 1977 that was later made into a movie...Married her high school sweetheart, Robert Eldridge…Mother of four children: Djuanna, Xurry, Yolanda and Robert Jr.Olympic Experience
- 2-time Olympian; 4-time Olympic medalist (3 gold, 1 bronze)
- Olympic Games Rome 1960, gold (100m - Women, 200m - Women, 4 x 100m Relay - Women)
- Olympic Games Melbourne 1956, bronze (4 x 100m Relay - Women)
Hall Of Fame Bio #
Wilma Rudolph is a former American track and field athlete and the first American woman to win three gold medals at one Olympic Games. Born prematurely in St. Bethlehem, Tennessee, she contracted double pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio. She lost the use of her left leg and was fitted with metal leg braces from ages 6 to 9. She became an all-state high school basketball player and a track and field star at Tennessee State University. At the Olympic Games Rome 1960, she won the 100- and 200-meter races and anchored the victorious 4x100 relay team. Rudolph would later serve as a track coach at DePauw University and as a U.S. Goodwill Ambassador to French West Africa. She passed away from brain cancer on Nov. 12, 1994, in Nashville, Tennessee.
