Herb Douglas

thumb|Herb Douglas in 2018 Herbert Paul Douglas Jr. (March 9, 1922 – April 22, 2023) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. He was the oldest living U.S. Olympic medalist prior to his death at the age of 101. Quotes My mother would send me to the store, three to four times some days, one time another day. And I kept going up the hill, down the hill. And they used say 'The Jogging Douglases. Dad taught me how to analyze, organize, initiate, and follow through. Because he couldn't have made it for 51 more years. Always try to be right, and perform. Performance. We have to perform, what, better than anything to be even. You better medal or don't come back." They all did, including Douglas' bronze medal in the long jump. When you stand on a podium and they're playing the national anthem, you could only feel good, 'cause you don't have any other place. The United States is really the greatest country. During my time, I couldn't contact any white account, only Black accounts. We built that up. Herb Douglas, Jr. inspires both as an Olympian and a businessman, February 25 2022 I have never seen the world shut down like this today where there's no communication with other people. We have to stay 6 or more feet away from people. This is unprecedented, even for someone who has lived almost a century. Back in 1944 we were not quarantined, we were not confined. There was a war, and we couldn't go [to the Olympics] because countries were siding against one another and fighting. We were patriotic with our country, and we listened to what our administration said. We could still train and prepare ourselves and look forward to the next Olympics. When you finish an event, you'd grab one another and hug one another. Back then during that time, there wouldn't have been the contagiousness between people. But [coronavirus] is a condition that we don't know when it's going to get over because we don't have a vaccine. We don't have anything to combat the virus. This is not just about athletes now, this is people -- working people, people in business, people around the world. When the Olympics were canceled in 1944, those of us who had a strong desire to make the team handled it in different ways. Some athletes would lay back and wait until they heard something when the Olympics would be held. I was a little different. I continued training -- harder than I ever trained, twice a day. You have to adjust yourself to the conditions if you wanted to make the Olympic team, stand on the podium and win an Olympic medal. You adjust yourself to train harder. I had been praying every night that I make the Olympic team and score a medal for the United States. In 1948 when we got to compete at last, it was huge. It was individually huge, because those of us of color, we wanted to go over there and show the world what we could do. It enabled us to get better conditions in the next Olympics, so we could go over there and show the world that African Americans could compete like anybody else in the world. We could run, jump and throw as well as anybody, not just in the United States, but in the world. Harrison Dillard won the 100 meters, Willie Steele won my event, long jump -- it was indescribable satisfaction that we could prove to the world that we could compete. If I were one of the Olympic hopefuls today, I'd keep training. This will give me ample time to get in better shape. You can always get better by training, by concentrating on what you did right and what you did wrong, because we have the technology today. I have the video help and I can say, "Oh boy, I should have done this," or "I should have gone higher there," or "I should have gotten my arms a certain way to propel me up in the air," because now I can see my mistakes, because of technology. And who knows with all the training now, I could have done a 29-footer [in the long jump], too. I don't think it will ever be back to the way it was before. I believe this is created by the supreme being to bring people closer together and understanding one another and this is God's mission to bring us closer together where we can relate to being apart and why we have to become closer together to survive this. I get a prayer every morning from a friend of mine. And this person shared, "How can I believe in God when I can't see him?" And they responded, "How can you believe in the virus when you can't see it?" So it works both ways, and I feel this is going to bring the world closer together after it subsides. Just as the Olympics brings people closer together. There is no place I know that I could go where someone doesn't recognize me. That's what the Olympics is about -- it enhances togetherness. And for the world, that's perhaps what we need, more togetherness. "Herb Douglas, the oldest-living African American Olympic medalist, on this year's postponement", ESPN (April 15 2020) External links Category:1922 births Category:1923 deaths Category:Track and field athletes Category:Sportspeople from the United States Category:Centenarians