1. Ralph Harold Boston was an American track athlete who received three Olympic medals and became the first person to break the 27 feet barrier in the long jump.
10 Facts About Ralph Boston
1. 2.
Ralph Boston won the Amateur Athletic Union national championship in the long jump six times in a row from 1961 to 1966.
3.
Ralph Boston had the longest triple jump for an American in 1963.
4.
Ralph Boston returned to the Tokyo Olympics as the world record holder after losing the record to Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, then regaining the record a couple of months before the games, first in Kingston, Jamaica and improving it at the 1964 Olympic Trials.
5.
When rival Bob Beamon was suspended from the University of Texas at El Paso, for refusing to compete against Brigham Young University, alleging it had racist policies, Ralph Boston began to coach him unofficially.
6.
Ralph Boston won a bronze medal behind Beamon and Klaus Beer and retired from competitions shortly thereafter.
7.
Ralph Boston moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and worked for the University of Tennessee as Coordinator of Minority Affairs and Assistant Dean of Students from 1968 to 1975.
8.
Ralph Boston was the field event reporter for the CBS Sports Spectacular coverage of domestic track and field events.
9.
Ralph Boston participated in the raising of the Olympic flag for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and by 1997, Ralph Boston had moved into Peachtree City, Georgia.
10.
Ralph Boston died of complications from a stroke at his home in Peachtree City on April 30,2023, at the age of 83.