MO-lympics

Happy Olympics, everyone! We’re a year late (ugh...COVID), and things definitely look different this time around, but here we are—the Summer Olympics! While I was musing over which sports I might try to watch (probably gymnastics—how do they move like that?!), it occurred to me that I had no idea if Missouri (or our neighbors, Kansas and Illinois) had any particularly famous former Olympians. So, I hit up the Library’s resources and found some really cool people! 

• Leon Spinks – Yes, the guy who beat Muhammad Ali (and then lost to him later). He’s from St. Louis, and before he was in the ring with Ali, he brought home gold in the ’76 Summer Olympics as a light heavyweight along with his brother.  
• Helen Stephens – Dubbed the “Fulton Flash,” Stephens never lost a race in her career! She brought home two golds in the 1936 Olympic Games, refused a “date” with Hitler, and went on to play professional baseball and softball. Also, she was the first woman to own and manage a semi-pro basketball team! 
• Maurice Greene – From KCK, Greene competed in the Olympics twice, bringing home four medals. Before his retirement from sprinting, he’d set numerous world records and won several medals in other major events. 
• Jo Jo White – One of the early kings of the court, White started at the ’68 Olympics right out of college on a team assumed to flop, but instead they went undefeated. The St. Louis native brought home gold and then went on to play for the Celtics for 10 years, winning two championships.  
• The Joyner family—seriously! – Three athletes rocking the Joyner name have been decorated Olympians. Jackie Joyner-Kersee (from East St. Louis) is one of the greatest athletes of all time; she is the proud owner of six Olympic medals. Her brother, Al Joyner, was a gold medalist for the triple jump and married Florence Griffith, commonly known as Flo Jo.  
• Larry Young – The Independence native is the only U.S. athlete to have won an Olympic medal (bronze) for racewalking. And he did it twice (along with a pair of golds at the Pan American games)! He’s also an accomplished sculptor.  
• Bud Houser – He is the last person (of two) to win both the shot put and discus throw at the Olympics! From the unincorporated village of Winigan, Houser competed in two Olympic games, winning gold at both, and later became a dentist to the stars in Los Angeles.  
• Catherine Fox – One of the most decorated swimmers from the KC area, the Roeland Park native swam her way to two golds in the ’94 Olympics and earned several medals in the Pan American games, Pan Pacific games, and world championships.  

 And one more thing—did you know the 1904 Olympic Games were held in St. Louis? Now you do! 

 Want to learn more about Missouri Olympians? The Library has a ton of resources that can help you out. Find out the news about some past Olympians from NewsBank Retrospective. You can find out more about the Olympics in general from amazing resources like Academic Search Elite, Academic OneFile, and Business Insights: Global. You can also read all kinds of eBooks from OverDrive! 

Paige L.
Consumer Technology Specialist