Lemoore athlete Gold Medal winner authors graphic novel
Smith, whose iconic image is emblazed on a monument in Lemoore High School’s Tiger Stadium, was also a Lemoore High School Hall of Fame inaugural inductee. Now 77 years old, he won a gold medal in the 200-meter spring at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.
He was an exceptional athlete and student while attending Lemoore High School.
Of course, by now, most Americans are aware that after the race, Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raised their gloved fists to protest racial injustice during the medal ceremony.
The two athletes were suspected from the U.S. team and forced to leave the Olympics.
Smith had received many honors during his lifetime, including recently when the U.S. Olympic organization’s bestowed its highest honor when it inducted him into the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2019.
“I got a call from the president of the United States Olympic Committee,” he said in a previous interview with The Leader. “It’s a whole new generation. I think right now, the Olympic Committee has grown to a place where it recognizes the athlete more.”
Both He and Carlos were moth regarded as “iconic activists” and accomplished athletes.” In 2016 they visited President Obama in the White House and that year’s U.S. Summer Olympics team.
