Black History Month Spotlight: Alice Coachman
02/08/2023
Alice Coachman made history at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, becoming the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal.
Original article posted on Women We Admire
ORLANDO, Fla. (February 8, 2023) -- Track and field star and AAU alum Alice Coachman made history at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, becoming the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal. On her first attempt in the high jump finals, she leaped 1.68m (5 feet 6⅛ inches), setting a record for the time.
Coachman was born on November 9, 1923, in Albany, Georgia, the fifth of ten children. Growing up in the segregated south as a woman and a person of color, she was denied access to fitness facilities and organized sports teams. Uninterested in the more “ladylike” sports that included tennis and swimming, she instead chose to play softball and baseball with the boys. She trained by running barefoot along the dirt roads near her home and used homemade equipment to practice her jumping skills.
While attending Madison High School, Coachman caught the eye of the boys' track coach, Harry E. Lash, who recognized and nurtured her talent. Within a year, she was on the radar of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, which offered the 16 year old a scholarship in 1939. She went on to graduate with a degree in dressmaking in 1946 and continued her studies at Albany State College, receiving a degree in home economics with a minor in science in 1949. She then became a teacher and track-and-field instructor.
Before Tuskegee Preparatory School, Coachman competed in the AAU Women's National Championships and broke the college and national high jump records while competing barefoot. By 1946, the same year she enrolled at Albany State College, she was the national champion in the 50- and 100-meter races, 400-meter relay, and high jump. Between 1939 and 1948, she won ten national championships in a row. She also won three conference championships playing as a guard on the Tuskegee women's basketball team. These years were bittersweet for Coachman, however, as World War II forced the cancellation of the Olympic Games in both 1940 and 1944 while she was in peak athletic form.
"Had she competed in those canceled Olympics, we would probably be talking about her as the No. 1 female athlete of all time,” said sportswriter Eric Williams.
In 1948, Coachman attended the U.S. Olympic trials and, although competing with a back injury, obliterated the country’s existing high jump record. After her successful turn in the Olympics, in which she was the only American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, she returned from London to the United States a celebrity.
She ended her athletic career at age 24 and dedicated the rest of her life to education and to the Job Corps. She was inducted into nine halls of fame, including the National Track & Field Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame.
Alice Coachman after winning the high jump in the 1948 Games. Credit: Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. (February 8, 2023) -- Track and field star and AAU alum Alice Coachman made history at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, becoming the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal. On her first attempt in the high jump finals, she leaped 1.68m (5 feet 6⅛ inches), setting a record for the time.
Coachman was born on November 9, 1923, in Albany, Georgia, the fifth of ten children. Growing up in the segregated south as a woman and a person of color, she was denied access to fitness facilities and organized sports teams. Uninterested in the more “ladylike” sports that included tennis and swimming, she instead chose to play softball and baseball with the boys. She trained by running barefoot along the dirt roads near her home and used homemade equipment to practice her jumping skills.
While attending Madison High School, Coachman caught the eye of the boys' track coach, Harry E. Lash, who recognized and nurtured her talent. Within a year, she was on the radar of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, which offered the 16 year old a scholarship in 1939. She went on to graduate with a degree in dressmaking in 1946 and continued her studies at Albany State College, receiving a degree in home economics with a minor in science in 1949. She then became a teacher and track-and-field instructor.
Before Tuskegee Preparatory School, Coachman competed in the AAU Women's National Championships and broke the college and national high jump records while competing barefoot. By 1946, the same year she enrolled at Albany State College, she was the national champion in the 50- and 100-meter races, 400-meter relay, and high jump. Between 1939 and 1948, she won ten national championships in a row. She also won three conference championships playing as a guard on the Tuskegee women's basketball team. These years were bittersweet for Coachman, however, as World War II forced the cancellation of the Olympic Games in both 1940 and 1944 while she was in peak athletic form.
"Had she competed in those canceled Olympics, we would probably be talking about her as the No. 1 female athlete of all time,” said sportswriter Eric Williams.
In 1948, Coachman attended the U.S. Olympic trials and, although competing with a back injury, obliterated the country’s existing high jump record. After her successful turn in the Olympics, in which she was the only American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, she returned from London to the United States a celebrity.
She ended her athletic career at age 24 and dedicated the rest of her life to education and to the Job Corps. She was inducted into nine halls of fame, including the National Track & Field Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame.
Alice Coachman after winning the high jump in the 1948 Games. Credit: Associated Press
