Tommie Smith Is Auctioning Off His Gold Medal

Colleges and Universities A-Z Oberlin College
1

<p>Wow. That's a piece of Olympic history.</p>

<p>And, yes, there is a connection to Oberlin: The</a> Smart Set: The Oberlin Experiment - December 14, 2007</p>

2

<p>Fascinating reading about an interesting time period at Oberlin. Thank you.</p>

3

<p>And if anyone needs proof that we have entered into a harmonic convergence of space and time, look no further than the fact that today is the anniversary of their '68 medal ceremony protest:</p>

<p>[BBC</a> ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1968: Black athletes make silent protest](<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm]BBC”>BBC ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1968: Black athletes make silent protest)</p>

4

<p>Wow. I remember that protest. I was young so I didn’t quite understand what was going on or why some people thought the raised black-gloved fist was a big deal, but what a surprise to learn Smith had an Oberlin connection and wanted to live in the town the rest of his life. I wonder what happened to the local gal he was in love with? Did she go with him after he was forced to leave Oberlin? Did they get married?</p>

5

<p>This video clip of a Howard Cosell visit to Oberlin’s campus is referred to in the article that I linked to above:</p>

<p>[Howard</a> Cosell interview with Cass Jackson at Oberlin - YouTube](<a href=“Howard Cosell interview with Cass Jackson at Oberlin - YouTube”>Howard Cosell interview with Cass Jackson at Oberlin - YouTube)</p>

<p>It’s an interesting piece of 20th century Oberlin history. I’m amazed at the things that Cosell (and presumably most Americans at the time) found to be startling. Cosell is sympathetic to Oberlin yet I wonder how many universities he visited to ask the decision makers if they went into a hiring process with an intention of coming out with a white guy tapped for the job.</p>

<p>Not everything here is alien fare plucked from a time capsule. Sadly, the concept of an African-American head football coach still makes heads explode across Division I and the NFL…but it’s starting to catch on and Oberlin can claim that as another of its many progressive “firsts” in American higher education history.</p>

<p>EDIT: Incidentally, for anyone interested in the '68 Olympics, Tommie Smith’s teammate, the bronze medalist John Carlos, is releasing a book telling his viewpoint of what he did and the blowback from it (co-authored by Dave Zirin, as close to a Cosell-like figure as you’ll get in this day and age). <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/John-Carlos-Story-Sports-Changed/dp/1608461270/[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/John-Carlos-Story-Sports-Changed/dp/1608461270/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>EDIT: To answer your question, Plainsman, they were married before Oberlin denied tenure to Smith.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>Thank you, D’yer Maker, for the info on Tommy Smith and John Carlos. I agree about Oberlin. My opinion regarding the African-American head football coaches at predominately white, Division I schools, is that the problem resides primarily in the South. Yes, there is still prejudice toward black coaches in other regions of the country, but the South is a bigger problem than any other region, no doubt because of historical racial challenges in that part of the country. The other challenge, of course, is the alumni-donor population. So-called boosters. Deep-pocket boosters practically dictate who gets hired at a lot of college football programs. Combine deep-pocketed boosters with “tradition” and “comfort level” and you’ve got a recipe for prejudice.</p>