Is Ralph Boston still alive? Where is Ralph Boston now?

Legendary U.S. Olympic track and field athlete Ralph Boston died Sunday April 30, 2023 at the age of 83 following complications from a recent stroke.

Boston rose from a large family in segregated Mississippi to become a world record holder and Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalist in track and field.

He won the National Collegiate Athletic Association long jump title in 1960 while attending Tennessee State University. At the Mt. SAC Relays in August of the same year, he broke Jesse Owens’ 25-year-old world record in the event.

Already the world record holder, he broke it by jumping 27′ 1/2″ at the Modesto Relays on May 27, 1961.

Boston qualified for the Summer Olympics in Rome, where he won gold in the long jump, setting an Olympic record of 8.12 m (26 ft 7+12 in) and narrowly defeating American teammate Bo Roberson by a centimeter.

In addition to his Olympic success, Boston won the NCAA long jump championship while at TSU, where he also excelled in the high jump, triple jump, and hurdles.

From 1961 to 1966, Boston won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championship in the long jump six times in a row. In 1963, he also had the longest triple jump for an American.

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 at the Modesto Relays in 1965. Ter-Ovanesyan tied it at altitude in 1967. He lost the national title to Jerry Proctor in 1967.

Boston’s post-track and field career includes seven years as a University of Tennessee administrator and stints as a CBS and ESPN commentator.

In 1974, Boston was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame, and in 1985, he was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.