American sprinter (1935–2020)
Bobby Morrow
Morrow with wife Jo Ann in 1956
Personal information Born (1935-10-15 ) October 15, 1935Died May 30, 2020(2020-05-30) (aged 84) Resting place Restlawn Memorial ParkLa Feria, Texas Height 186 cm (6 ft 1 in)[ 2] Weight 75 kg (165 lb) Sport Sport Athletics Event
100–400 m Club ACU Wildcats, Abilene[ 2] Achievements and titles Personalbest(s) 100 m – 10.2 (1956) 200 m – 20.75 (1956) 400 m – 47.7 (1959)[ 2] [ 3]
Bobby Joe Morrow (October 15, 1935 – May 30, 2020) was an Americansprinter who won three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics. He has been called "the dominant sprinter of the 1950s" and "the most relaxed sprinter of all time, even more so than his heroJesse Owens ".[ 4]
Morrow was born inHarlingen ,Texas ,[ 2] on October 15, 1935,[ 5] and raised on a cotton and carrot farm on the outskirts ofSan Benito , Texas.[ 6] [ 7] Before becoming asprinter , Morrow playedfootball forSan Benito High School .[ 6] Morrow also was a sprinter atAbilene Christian University ,[ 6] and became a member of the men's club Frater Sodalis in 1955.[ 8]
Morrow won the 1955AAU 100-yard title. His most successful season was in 1956, when he was chosen bySports Illustrated as "Sportsman of the Year ".[ 6] Morrow won the sprint double in the national college championships and defended his AAU title. Morrow then went to the1956 Summer Olympics inMelbourne , where he won three gold medals and was the leader of the American sprint team. First, he was victorious in the100-meter dash . He then led an Americansweep of the medals in the200-meter dash , while equaling theworld record at that distance with a time of 20.6 seconds (unofficially auto-timed at 20.75). He won his third gold by anchoring the4 × 100-meter relay team to a world record time.[ 2] [ 3] [ 9] He was the first sprinter sinceJesse Owens in1936 to win gold medals in those three events.[ 10]
Morrow achieved great fame after winning his three gold medals, and was featured on the covers ofLife andSPORT , as well asSports Illustrated . He appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Show ,To Tell The Truth andArthur Godfrey and His Friends , and addressed a joint session of theTexas legislature .[ 11]
Morrow's success on a national level continued after the Olympics, but he retired in 1958 to become a farmer and a woodworker. He made a short comeback before the1960 Olympic Games , but failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team.[ 8]
In October 2006, San Benito High School named its new 12,000 seat sporting facility inSan Benito , used for football and soccer, Bobby Morrow Stadium.[ 12] Morrow was on hand to help dedicate the new facility. He was inducted into theNational Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1989[ 1] and into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame in 2016.[ 13]
Morrow in a college chemistry lab. in 1956 Morrow was married to Jo Ann Strickland, whom he met in high school,[ 7] in what was described as a "fairy-tale marriage".[ 8] They moved toOdessa , and later toHouston , where he restarted his career in banking that he had put on hold to train for the 1960 Olympics. They divorced around 1968.[ 8] He subsequently moved toOhio , where he met and married Judy.[ 8]
Morrow died of natural causes on May 30, 2020, at his home in Harlingen, Texas, at the age of 84.[ 6] [ 14]
^a b Bobby Morrow Archived June 27, 2020, at theWayback Machine . USATF Hall of Fame^a b c d e Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen;Mallon, Bill ; et al."Bobby Morrow" .Olympics at Sports-Reference.com .Sports Reference LLC . Archived fromthe original on April 17, 2020. ^a b Bobby Morrow . trackfield.brinkster.net^ Sears, Edward Seldon (2001).Running Through the Ages .Jefferson, North Carolina :McFarland & Company . pp. 236– 238.ISBN 9780786409716 . ^ Puente, Nathaniel (May 30, 2020)."Bobby J. Morrow, Olympic medal winner, San Benito native, passes away at 84" .ValleyCentral News . KVEO-TV. RetrievedMay 30, 2020 . ^a b c d e "Bobby Joe Morrow, 3-time winner in 1956 Olympics, dies at 84" .Associated Press News . May 30, 2020. RetrievedMay 30, 2020 .^a b "Bioperse: Bobby Morrow" .Sports Illustrated . Vol. 5 (1 ed.). July 2, 1956. p. 59.Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. RetrievedMay 30, 2020 .^a b c d e Martin, William (August 1984)."The Fastest Nice Christian Boy in the World" .Texas Monthly . RetrievedMay 30, 2020 . ^ Morrow—and a day of medal memories,The Age , (Wednesday, 12 February 1975), p.1. ^ "Bobby Joe Morrow" .Encyclopedia Britannica . Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. October 11, 2019. RetrievedMay 30, 2020 .^ Martin, William (August 1984)."The Fastest Nice Christian Boy in the World: Then Bobby Morrow Lost His Speed and He Began to Have Certain Doubts" .Texas Monthly .Austin, Texas . pp. 114– 201. ^ Bobby Morrow Stadium – San Benito, Texas . Texasbob.com (April 14, 2013). Retrieved on 2017-08-21.^ Inductees – Name, Category, Year Archived January 16, 2017, at theWayback Machine . TX TF Hall of Fame.^ Former ACU track star, Olympic gold medal winner Bobby Joe Morrow dies
1912 : Jacobs ,Macintosh ,d'Arcy ,Applegarth (GBR ) 1920 : Paddock ,Scholz ,Murchison ,Kirksey (USA ) 1924 : Murchison ,Clarke ,Hussey ,LeConey (USA ) 1928 : Wykoff ,Quinn ,Borah ,Russell (USA ) 1932 : Kiesel ,Toppino ,Dyer ,Wykoff (USA ) 1936 : Owens ,Metcalfe ,Draper ,Wykoff (USA ) 1948 : Ewell ,Wright ,Dillard ,Patton (USA ) 1952 : D. Smith ,Dillard ,Remigino ,Stanfield (USA ) 1956 : Murchison ,King ,Baker ,Morrow (USA ) 1960 : Cullmann ,Hary ,Mahlendorf ,Lauer (EUA ) 1964 : Drayton ,Ashworth ,Stebbins ,Hayes (USA ) 1968 : C. Greene ,Pender ,R. Smith ,Hines (USA ) 1972 : Black ,Taylor ,Tinker ,Hart (USA ) 1976 : Glance ,Jones ,Hampton ,Riddick (USA ) 1980 : Muravyov ,Sidorov ,Aksinin ,Prokofyev (URS ) 1984 : Graddy ,R. Brown ,C. Smith ,C. Lewis (USA ) 1988 : Bryzhin ,Krylov ,Muravyov ,Savin (URS ) 1992 : Marsh ,Burrell ,Mitchell ,C. Lewis ,James Jett (USA ) 1996 : Esmie ,Gilbert ,Surin ,Bailey ,Chambers (CAN ) 2000 : Drummond ,Williams ,B. Lewis ,M. Greene ,Montgomery ,Brokenburr (USA ) 2004 : Gardener ,Campbell ,Devonish ,Lewis-Francis (GBR ) 2008 : Bledman ,Burns ,Callender ,Thompson ,Armstrong (TTO ) 2012 : Carter ,Frater ,Blake ,Bolt ,Bailey-Cole (JAM ) 2016 : Powell ,Blake ,Ashmeade ,Bolt ,Minzie ,Bailey-Cole (JAM ) 2020 : Patta ,Jacobs ,Desalu ,Tortu (ITA ) 2024 : A. Brown ,Blake ,Rodney ,De Grasse (CAN )
1954:Roger Bannister 1955:Johnny Podres 1956:Bobby Morrow 1957:Stan Musial 1958:Rafer Johnson 1959:Ingemar Johansson 1960:Arnold Palmer 1961:Jerry Lucas 1962:Terry Baker 1963:Pete Rozelle 1964:Ken Venturi 1965:Sandy Koufax 1966:Jim Ryun 1967:Carl Yastrzemski 1968:Bill Russell 1969:Tom Seaver 1970:Bobby Orr 1971:Lee Trevino 1972:Billie Jean King &John Wooden 1973:Jackie Stewart 1974:Muhammad Ali 1975:Pete Rose 1976:Chris Evert 1977:Steve Cauthen 1978:Jack Nicklaus 1979:Terry Bradshaw &Willie Stargell 1980:U.S. Olympic Hockey Team 1981:Sugar Ray Leonard 1982:Wayne Gretzky 1983:Mary Decker 1984:Edwin Moses &Mary Lou Retton 1985:Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1986:Joe Paterno 1987:Bob Bourne ,Judi Brown King ,Kipchoge Keino ,Dale Murphy ,Chip Rives ,Patty Sheehan ,Rory Sparrow , &Reggie Williams 1988:Orel Hershiser 1989:Greg LeMond 1990:Joe Montana 1991:Michael Jordan 1992:Arthur Ashe 1993:Don Shula 1994:Bonnie Blair &Johann Olav Koss 1995:Cal Ripken Jr. 1996:Tiger Woods 1997:Dean Smith 1998:Mark McGwire &Sammy Sosa 1999:U.S. Women's Soccer Team 2000:Tiger Woods 2001:Curt Schilling &Randy Johnson 2002:Lance Armstrong 2003:David Robinson &Tim Duncan 2004:Boston Red Sox 2005:Tom Brady 2006:Dwyane Wade 2007:Brett Favre 2008:Michael Phelps 2009:Derek Jeter 2010:Drew Brees 2011:Mike Krzyzewski &Pat Summitt 2012:LeBron James 2013:Peyton Manning 2014:Madison Bumgarner 2015:Serena Williams 2016:LeBron James 2017:Jose Altuve &J. J. Watt 2018:Golden State Warriors 2019:Megan Rapinoe 2020:Laurent Duvernay-Tardif ,LeBron James ,Patrick Mahomes ,Naomi Osaka , &Breanna Stewart 2021:Tom Brady 2022:Stephen Curry 2023:Deion Sanders 2024:Simone Biles
1876–1878New York Athletic Club 1879–1888NAAAA 1888–1979Amateur Athletic Union 1980–1992The Athletics Congress 1993–presentUSA Track & Field Notes Note 1 : In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championshipsOT : The 1920, 1928, 1932, and since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.2020 OT : The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic .Distance : Until 1927 the event was over 100 yards, and again from 1929-31ro : In 1886 the event was won after a run-off* : Penalized one yard for false startG1 : Race was won byDon Quarrie (Jamaica) competing as a guest
1876–1878New York Athletic Club 1879–1888NAAAA 1888–1979Amateur Athletic Union 1980–1992The Athletics Congress 1993–onwardsUSA Track & Field Notes Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships OT: The 1920, 1928, 1932, and since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event. 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic . *USA: Leading American athlete
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