Ralph Boston, a U.S. Olympic track and field legend, died Sunday, April 30 at the age of 83 from complications from a recent stroke. Boston held three Olympic medals and was the first person to break the 27 feet (8.2 m) barrier in the long jump.
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He won the National Collegiate Athletic Association long jump title in 1960 while attending Tennessee State University.
In August of the same year, he broke Jesse Owens’ 25-year-old world record in the event at the Mt. SAC Relays. On May 27, 1961, he broke the world record by jumping 27′ 1/2″ at the Modesto Relays.
Boston qualified for the Summer Olympics in Rome, where he won gold in the long jump with an Olympic record of 8.12 m (26 ft 7+12 in) and a centimeter victory over American teammate Bo Roberson.
From 1961 to 1966, Boston won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national long jump championship six years in a row.
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He also had the longest triple jump for an American in 1963. He returned to the Tokyo Olympics as the world record holder after losing it to Igor Ter-Ovanesyan and then regaining it a few months before the games, first in Kingston, Jamaica, and then improving it at the 1964 Olympic Trials.
Boston’s final record improvement to 8.35m came in 1965 at the Modesto Relays. Ter-Ovanesyan set the record at altitude in 1967. In 1967, he lost the national championship to Jerry Proctor.
Boston worked as the University of Tennessee’s Coordinator of Minority Affairs and Assistant Dean of Students in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 1968 to 1975.
He also worked as a field event reporter for the domestic track and field coverage on CBS Sports Spectacular.
Boston was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1985.
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