Willye B. White was
born to run. Born on December 31,
1939, in Money,
Mississippi, and raised by her grandparents, White
discovered her talent for running and jumping at age
ten. At sixteen, she competed in the 1956 Melbourne
Olympic Games and became the first American woman to
ever medal in the long jump, earning a silver medal.
She participated in the next four Olympiads as well
and is the first American to compete on five Olympic
track and field teams. She won another silver medal
in the 1964 Tokyo Games in the 4-by-100-meter relay.
White has competed in more than 150 nations as a
member of thirty-nine different international track
and field teams.
In 1959, White graduated from Broad Street High
School in Greenwood,
Mississippi, the same year she set an American
record for the long jump, which stood for sixteen
years. She moved to Chicago in 1960, where she still
resides. She began working as a nurse in 1963,
first at Chicago's Cook County Hospital, then at the
Greenwood Medical Center. In 1965,
she became a public health administrator at the
Chicago Health Department. She graduated with a B.A.
in public health administration from Chicago State
University in 1976.
White
remained active in the field of sports. She
represented track and field on the U.S. Olympic
Committee, coached athletes in the National Sports
Festival in 1979 and 1981, coached and managed at
the 1981 World Cup Track and Field Championship
Games in Brussels and Rome, and served as head coach
for the 1994 Olympic Sports Festival.
In 1990, White founded WBW Hang on Productions, a
sports and fitness consultancy. A year later, she
founded the Willye White Foundation, helping
children to develop self-esteem and become
productive citizens through such initiatives as the
Robert Taylor Girls Athletic Program. This program
teaches sports and teamwork to children living in
the nation's largest housing project – which is in
the process of being torn down – and includes an
after-school program, a summer day camp and
healthcare in the form of immunizations and dental
and medical checkups.
White
was the first American to win the world's highest
sportsmanship award, the UNESCO Pierre de Coubetin
International Fair Play Trophy. She is a member of
eleven sport halls of fame, including those of the
National Association of Sport and Physical
Education, Black Sports, Women Sports Foundation,
and National Track and Field. She was chosen by
Sports Illustrated for Women in 1999 as one of
the 100 greatest athletes of the century and by
Ebony in 2002
as one of the ten greatest black female athletes.
White resided in Diamondhead, Mississippi.
(bio from thehistorymakers.com)
The cause of her death was pancreatic cancer.
Click here to read her speech before the
pancreatic cancer symposium.
The
Memorial Service for Willye White will be on
Saturday, February 10, 2007 from 10:00 a.m - 12:00
p.m. (CST) at the:
Mississippi, the same year she set an American
record for the long jump, which stood for sixteen
years. She moved to Chicago in 1960, where she still
resides. She began working as a nurse in 1963,
first at Chicago's Cook County Hospital, then at the
Greenwood Medical Center. In 1965,
she became a public health administrator at the
Chicago Health Department. She graduated with a B.A.
in public health administration from Chicago State
University in 1976.
White
remained active in the field of sports. She
represented track and field on the U.S. Olympic
Committee, coached athletes in the National Sports
Festival in 1979 and 1981, coached and managed at
the 1981 World Cup Track and Field Championship
Games in Brussels and Rome, and served as head coach
for the 1994 Olympic Sports Festival. 
White
was the first American to win the world's highest
sportsmanship award, the UNESCO Pierre de Coubetin
International Fair Play Trophy. She is a member of
eleven sport halls of fame, including those of the
National Association of Sport and Physical
Education, Black Sports, Women Sports Foundation,
and National Track and Field. She was chosen by
Sports Illustrated for Women in 1999 as one of
the 100 greatest athletes of the century and by
Ebony in 2002
as one of the ten greatest black female athletes.