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Bernie Marcus

Bernie Marcus

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Third Day

Third Day

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A More Perfect Union

The New Georgia Encyclopedia is supported by funding from A More Perfect Union, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Edwin Moses

Edwin Moses

After retiring from his career as a track runner, Edwin Moses began to campaign against steroid use. He also served on the International Olympic Committee and worked in support of the Goodwill Games and the Special Olympics.

Edwin Moses

Edwin Moses

Edwin Moses competes at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. Moses shares the honor of being a two-time Olympic champion of the 400-meter hurdles with only one other man. This distinction is especially remarkable because his two wins occurred eight years apart.

Edith McGuire

Edith McGuire

Georgia native Edith McGuire became the top sprinter of the 1960s, winning six Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships and an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964. McGuire was also the only American woman ever to hold three AAU titles at different times, in the 100 and 200 meters and the long jump.

Image from Wikimedia

Olympics, 1964

Olympics, 1964

Wyomia Tyus (center) of the United States, Edith McGuire (left) of the United States, and Ewa Klobukowska (right) of Poland took first, second, and third place (respectively) in the women's 100 meter at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Photograph from Corbis

Mildred McDaniel

Mildred McDaniel

Mildred McDaniel became interested in track and field by accident. She won an Olympic gold medal and set a world record in the high jump in 1956.

Gwen Torrence

Gwen Torrence

Considered one of the world's fastest women, track star and Decatur native Gwen Torrence is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. She was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Martha Hudson

Martha Hudson

Martha Hudson, a native of Eastman, attended Tennessee State University in Nashville on a track scholarship. During the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy, Hudson and three of her TSU teammates won the gold medal for the 400-meter relay.

Martha Hudson

Martha Hudson

Georgia native Martha Hudson is an Olympic track and field gold medal winner and an Amateur Athletic Union All-American.

Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

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Martha Hudson

Martha Hudson

Martha Hudson, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field, taught at Upson Lee North Elementary School in Thomaston for more than thirty years. She was inducted into the hall of fame at Tennessee State University, her alma mater, in 1983 and into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

Wyomia Tyus

Wyomia Tyus

Wyomia Tyus was the first person to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100-meter dash. She also won silver and gold medals consecutively on 400-meter relay teams in the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games. 

Image from Wikimedia

Alice Coachman

Alice Coachman

Alice Coachman clears the high jump bar with an Olympic record-breaking leap of 5 feet 6 1/8 inches, winning her the gold medal in the high jump at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

Photograph from Corbis