Mel Pender

Personal information
Born	October 31, 1937 (1937-10-31) (age 88) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Medal record Men'sathletics Representingthe United States Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City 4 × 100 m relay

Mel Pender
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch	U.S. Army
Years of service	1955–1976
Rank	Captain
Unit	82nd Airborne Division 9th Infantry Division
Battles / wars	Cold War,Vietnam War
Awards	Bronze Star

Melvin Pender Jr. (born October 31, 1937, inAtlanta, Georgia) competed as a runner in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics, winning an Olympic gold medal in the4 × 100 mrelay at the1968 Summer Olympics. He had been a member of the Philadelphia Pioneer Track Club where he was coached by Alex Woodley, who had coached several other athletes who went on to participate in Olympic events.^[1]

Pender enlisted in theU.S. Army at age 17. In 1960 he was assigned to the82nd Airborne Division onOkinawa. Following the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he returned to military service, graduating fromOfficer Candidate School in 1965. He was subsequently deployed toSouth Vietnam where he served with the9th Infantry Division in theMekong Delta. Subsequently he was ordered to return to the U.S. to train for1968 Olympics inMexico City.^[2]

After the 1968 Olympics, Pender returned to South Vietnam where he earned aBronze Star Medal. Returning to the U.S. in August 1970, he then worked as assistant track and field coach and then as head track coach at theUnited States Military Academy atWest Point.^[2] He later earned a bachelor's degree fromAdelphi University. He retired from the Army in 1976 with the rank ofCaptain.

While serving in the U.S. Army his incredible speed was noticed in camp football games. He was selected to the1964 Olympic Team, but was hampered by injury and finished seventh in the100 meters atTokyo.^[2]

Nearing age 31, Pender again made it to the100 m final, where his explosive start and exceptional acceleration brought him to the lead midway through the race, but he faded slightly and finished sixth. In the relay, he was chosen to run the second leg. The American team won the gold medal in a newworld record of38.24 seconds. He also set world records in the 50 yds at 5.0, 60 yds at 5.8, 70 yds at 6.8 and 100 meters at 9.9 seconds.^[2]

• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen;Mallon, Bill; et al."Mel Pender".Olympics at Sports-Reference.com.Sports Reference LLC. Archived fromthe original on 2020-04-18.

• Runners Gazette – Soldier-Athlete Mel Pender, Olympic Gold Medalist
• Adelphi University – Mel Pender ’76, ’97 (Hon.), continues to go for the gold

• 1937 births
• Living people
• Track and field athletes from Atlanta
• American men sprinters
• African-American track and field athletes
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics
• Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field
• Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
• United States Army officers
• United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War
• Adelphi University alumni
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• Australian Athletics Championships winners
• 21st-century American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata