Tommie Smith
Tommie Smith
Tommie Smith is an American former track & field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith won the 200-meter dash finals and gold medal in 19.83 seconds – the first time the 20-second barrier was broken legally. His Black Power salute with John Carlos atop the medal podium caused controversy at the time as it was seen as politicizing the Olympic Games. It remains a symbolic moment in the history of the African-American...
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth6 June 1944
CityClarksville, TX
In those days reputation was a big thing. If you could win a game before you went out, win it. That could mean winning it in the papers by saying certain things or by not saying certain things. You got very crafty at the game.
It wasn't done for a malignant reason. It was only done to bring attention to the atrocities of which we were experiencing in a country that was supposed to represent us.
Sadly, football in England has declined since we won the World Cup in 1966. Suddenly we had coaches appearing out of drainpipes and we've got players now who are nowhere near as good as players were in the 1960s and '70s. They're possibly fitter, but that's all.