[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 25 (Friday, February 9, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING WILLYE WHITE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, February 9, 2007

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize 
an African American pioneer, athlete Willye White.
  Willye B. White was born on December 31, 1939, in Money, Mississippi. 
She was raised by her grandparents in Greenville, Mississippi. White 
used athletics as her escape from working in the cotton fields for her 
grandparents. In high school, she spent summers training with famed 
track and field coach Ed Temple at Tennessee State University.
  By age 16, Willye White was on the 1956 U.S. Olympic Team competing 
in Melbourne, Australia, where she won a silver medal in the long jump. 
She was the first American woman to win a medal in that event. She won 
a second silver medal in 1964 as a member of the 4x100 meter relay team 
in Tokyo. Willye White competed on five U.S. Olympic teams 
consecutively from 1956-1972.
  White, a longtime Chicago-area resident, credited her experience as 
an athlete with allowing her to see beyond the racism and hatred that 
surrounded her as a child. She grew up before the civil rights 
movement, so before the Olympics, she thought that the whole world 
consisted of cross burnings and lynching. She reported to Sports 
illustrated magazine that, ``The Olympic movement taught me not to 
judge a person by the color of their skin but by the contents of their 
hearts,'' and that ``I am who I am because of my participation in 
sports.''
  She was a member of more than 30 international track and field teams 
and won a dozen Amateur Athletic Union long jump titles in her career, 
according to USA Track & Field, which inducted her into its Hall of 
Fame in 1981. White was inducted into 11 sports halls of fame, 
including the Black Sports Hall of Fame, the National Sports Track and 
Field Hall of Fame, and the Women's Sports Foundation International 
Hall of Fame. In 1999, Sports Illustrated for Women named her one of 
the 100 greatest women athletes in the 20th century.
  After retiring from competitions, she dedicated her life to helping 
the underprivileged and less fortunate. She became a nurse and earned a 
degree in public health administration from Chicago State University. 
White coached, lectured and served as president of the Midwest chapter 
of the U.S. Olympians for 12 years. In 1991, she established the Willye 
White Foundation to help youth develop self-esteem and become 
productive citizens within the community. She also received her 
honorary Doctor of Humanity Degree from Springfield College in 1999.
  Willye White died on February 6, 2007, of pancreatic cancer at 
Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
  Willye White was a pioneer for African Americans and women, by 
becoming the first American woman to win a gold medal in the long jump. 
She was a Philanthropist, who used her life experiences to help improve 
other's lives.

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