U.S. Olympic track and field Ralph Boston was married to Geneva Jackson Spencer. They pair tied the knot in 1962 but divorced in 1971, after 9 years of marriage.
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Boston did not remarry.
Born on May 9, 1939, in Laurel, Miss., Boston rose to fame during an Olympic tune-up meet in August 1960 where he set the long jump world record with a leap of 26 feet and 11.25 inches, besting the mark set by the legendary Jesse Owens 25 years prior by three inches.
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.
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From 1961 to 1966, Boston won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national long jump championship six years in a row.
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.
After his track career ended, Boston worked as a television sports commentator, a University of Tennessee administrator, and a business executive in Georgia.
Boston died Sunday April 30, 2023 at the age of 83 from complications from a recent stroke.
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