One December afternoon more than four and a half decades after the sprints at the Stadio Olimpico, Temple, now eighty-four, sat at Swett’s restaurant in North Nashville, not far from Tennessee State, and thought back on the unlikely rise of the Tigerbelles. It was at this same restaurant that Wilma Rudolph made her last appearance in public, one week before she died from brain cancer at the early age of fifty-four on November 12, 1994. “We came in, and David Swett [the proprietor] was here, and he carried her tray, and we sat right over there,” the old coach said, pointing to a table in the corner. “And this was the last place…” His voice trailed off. In the hours before they shared a last meal that day, he and his star runner met one final time at their old college. They walked slowly around the track and talked about her days as a high school basketball player at Burt High in Clarksville, and how she buzzed around like a skeeter and had that loping stride and unstoppable hook shot. They remembered Temple’s unforgiving summer track camps, and how much she hated them at first; and how they had no money, no scholarships, no office, no bus, not even a regulation track; and those exhausting overnight car rides to Tuskegee and Alabama State, when the Tigerbelles, with no safe place to stop, would eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from brown paper bags. They talked about her family and the fullness of life, her four children and seven grandchildren; and all the generations of girls and women who found encouragement from her story—and about how she twisted her ankle in that hole on a grassy practice field but recovered in time for those few days of magic and history at the Olympic Games in Rome.
APPENDIX
I. HOST CITIES OF OLYMPIC GAMES
II. AWARD OF MEDALS AT 1960 OLYMPIC GAMES AT ROME
Selected 1960 Olympic Results
III. MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD MEDALISTS
IV. WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD MEDALISTS
V. BASKETBALL
USA versus Soviet Union, September 3, 1960 USA 81, USSR 57
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IN A FAMILY of siblings fluent in foreign languages, I emerged grievously lacking that useful gene, so I feel obliged to start by thanking the interpreters and translators without whom this book would not have been possible. Knesia Boitsova and Anastazie Harris helped me with Russian interviews and documents. Nancy Hart and Kathryn Wallace, expats in Rome from the U.S. and Great Britain, were delightful and invaluable as my guides, interpreters, and translators in the Eternal City. Kim Vergeront accompanied my wife and me to Lausanne and translated Olympic documents written in French with the perfection of the great teacher that she is. Petra Krischok in Berlin did amazing work tracking down German documents, newspapers, and interview subjects, and rendering them all understandable to me. David Edminster helped with German translations and Jean Alexander, my sister, with Russian.
For the third time, I felt great joy enlisting my son, Andrew Maraniss, to participate in the project when he could from Nashville, the home track of Coach Temple and the Tigerbelles. David Baumgarten, one of my ace students during a teaching stint at Princeton University, spent a few months helping me track down people and documents in Washington and at the Eisenhower Library in Kansas before heading off to Harvard Law. Francis Harris came to my aid in London. Madonna Lebling, a crack researcher at the Washington Post, once again worked her magic ferreting out addresses and telephone numbers. Brian Brown of NBC Olympics knows how grateful I am for his help, as does Joe Gesue.
Librarians and archivists, unsung heroes to every nonfiction writer, made my work easier around the world. They included Wayne Wilson at the LA84 Foundation in Los Angeles; Ruth Beck-Perrenoud and Patricia Eckert at the Olympic Studies Centre in Lausanne; Donatella Minelli, Paolo Pedinelli, and Barbara Monteduro at the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) in Rome; Dwight Strandberg at the Eisenhower Presidential Library; Rodney A. Ross at the National Archives in Washington; Tim Nenninger at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland; Sara Velez at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; and Chris Prom and Linda Stahnke at the Avery Brundage collection at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Donald E. Graham, chairman of the Washington Post Company, shared with me his memories of spending part of his fifteenth summer in Rome as an assistant to the legendary sportswriter Shirley Povich, and for that and a thousand other favors, I thank this most generous man. The Post has been my working family for more than thirty years and sustains me even when I’m not there, with its high standards and embracing atmosphere. Thanks to Bo Jones, Leonard Downie, Phil Bennett, Bill Hamilton, R. B. Brenner, Michel du Cille, Bob Kaiser, Ellen Nakashima, Zachary Goldfarb, Dana Priest, and my great friend and CD-burning music supplier Anne Hull for making my forays into the newspaper so comforting and productive. John Feinstein, though late for pancakes, was helpful as usual with contacts in the sporting world. Thanks also to Jim Warren (always one of my first and best readers) and Cornelia Grumman, Neil Henry, Mike (Stormin’) and Beth Norman, Jane and Rick (Scribbler) Atkinson, Andy Cohn and Kim Vergeront, Michael Weiden and Peggy Vergeront, Peter and Carrie Ritz, Ben and Judy Sidran, Joanne and Bob Skloot, Rick and Sue Corley, Eric Simonson, the terrific The Only Thing cast and crew, Sam Schwartz, Dave Foster, Dave Marshall, Rebekah and Michael (Mordecai) Weisskopf, Chip (Struc) Brown and Kate Betts, Blaine Harden and Jessica Kowal, Suey Kong Wong, Karl Harter, John Roach (fellow new hipster), Dr. Rogerson and his great staff, Dr. Olson and the nurses at Meriter and Associated Physicians, Dan Siebens and Linda Krumholz, Frank and Kathy Roloff, Dick and Mary Anne Porter, Trip and Heddy Reid, Bob Woodward and Elsa Walsh, Jim Wooten and Patience O’Connor, Robert Caro, Doug and Cathy Williams, Pat and Ritchey Porter, Carol and Ty Garner, Jean and Michael Alexander, Jim Maraniss and Gigi Kaeser, George Raine, Elizabeth Johnson, and the entire wonderful block of Knickerbocker neighbors.
I feel blessed that Simon & Schuster has published all of my books. Thanks to the people who have been supportive all the way, Carolyn Reidy and David Rosenthal, Victoria Meyer and Rebecca Davis, the amazing Roger Labrie and Karen Thompson and the inimitable Alice Mayhew, whose friendship, energy, wisdom, and passion keep me going as an author. Thanks also to first-class copy editors Phil Bashe and Kathleen Rizzo and the legal eye of Elisa Rivlin. Rafe Sagalyn, my agent, who claims some mystical bond with Rafer Johnson, was greatly supportive, as were his assistants Bridget Wagner and Shannon O’Neill.
Everything I do is in honor of my late parents, Elliott and Mary Maraniss, and my sister Wendy, and now my big Uncle Joe, all gone and irreplaceable but never forgotten. Along with loss there is also renewal, and in our family it came this year with the joyous addition of another Maraniss, Alison, who married our son Andrew. There are long periods of loneliness in the writing of any book, but my mood always brightened at the thought of the two redheads out in New Jersey, our daughter Sarah and bubbly granddaughter Heidi, along with Sarah’s husband Tom Vander Schaaff. It was exactly eleven years ago that I turned to my wife Linda and uttered the immortal loving words, “How would you like to move to Green Bay for the winter?” Her first response was “Brrrrr,” but she quickly agreed, and that is when research on my biography of Vince Lombardi began. It goes without saying that it was easier to ask her whether she would like to spend time in Rome and Lausanne to research Rome 1960. Linda, the quirky saint, is my first editor, my photographer, my eyes and nose, my constant companion, my rock, and my salvation.
Washington, DC
March 22, 2008
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abebe, Tsige. Triumph and Tragedy: A History of Abebe Bikila and His Marathon Career. Printed in Ethiopia by Tsige Abebe, 1996.
Abrahams, Harold, editor. XVII Olympiad, Rome 1960. Cassell & Co. Ltd., London, 1960.
Allen, Neil. Olympic Diary: Rome 1960. Nicholas Kaye Limited, London, 1960.
Arnold, Peter. The Olympic Games. Optimum Books, London, 1983.
Biracree, Tom. Wilma Rudolph: Champion Athlete. Chelsea House, New York, 1988.
Brasher, Chris, editor. The Road to Rome. William Kimb
er and Co., London, 1960.
Carlson, Lewis H., and John J. Fogarty. Tales of Gold: An Oral History of the Summer Olympic Games. Contemporary Books, New York, 1987.
Cuthbert, Betty, and Jim Webster. Golden Girl: The Autobiography of Betty Cuthbert. Pelham Books, London, 1966.
Durant, John. Highlights of the Olympics. Hastings House Publishers, New York, 1965.
Eatwell, Roger. Fascism: A History. Pimlico, London, 1995.
Fair, John D. Muscletown USA. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA, 1999.
Findling, John E., and Kimberly D. Pelle. Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1996.
Fleischer, Nat. 50 Years at Ringside. Corgi Books, London, 1960.
Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali. Khrushchev’s Cold War. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 2006.
Giamoni, Romolo; Marcello Garroni; Enrico Vignolini; Elena Baggio (translation, Edwin Byatt). The Games of the XVII Olympiad, Rome 1960, The Official Report of the Organizing Committee, volumes 1 and 2. Organizing Committee of the Games of the XVII Olympiad, Rome, 1960.
Gilmour, Garth. Arthur Lydiard, Master Coach. Exisle Publishing, Auckland, 2004.
Guttman, Allen. The Games Must Go On. Columbia University Press, New York, 1983.
Hoberman, John M. Testosterone Dreams. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 2005.
———. Sport and Political Ideology. University of Texas Press, Austin, 1984.
Italian State Tourist Department. Olympiad 1960: Games of the XVII Olympiad. Rome, 1960.
Johnson, Rafer. The Best That I Can Be. Doubleday, New York, 1998.
Kieran, John, and Arthur Daley. The Story of the Olympic Games. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York, revised edition, 1961.
Kindred, David. Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship. Free Press, New York, 2006.
Lebedev, Lev. USSR-USA Sports Encounters. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977.
Lechenperg, Harald, editor. Olympic Games 1960: Squaw Valley, Rome. A. S. Barnes and Co., New York, 1960.
Le Masurier, John. Track Speed. Stanley Paul, London, 1972.
Lentz, Arthur G., editor. United States 1960 Olympic Book: Quadrennial Report of the United States Olympic Committee. Walker-Rackliff Co., New Haven, CT, 1961.
Mangan, J. A., editor. Shaping the Superman: Fascist Body as Political Icon. Frank Cass Publishers, London, 1999.
Masson, Georgina. The Companion Guide to Rome. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1965.
McKay, Jim. The Real McKay: My Wide World of Sports. Plume, New York, 1999.
Monoco, Franco. XVII Olympiad: Olympic Guide Book, Rome 1960. Banco Nazionale del Lavoro, Rome, 1960.
Moore, Kenny. Bowerman and the Men of Oregon. Rodale, New York, 2006.
Paul, C. Robert, and Jack Orr. The Olympic Games: From Ancient Greece to Mexico City. The Lion Press, New York, 1968.
Phillips, Dennis H. Australian Women at the Olympic Games. Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1992.
Piley, Phil, editor. Official Report of the Olympic Games 1960, The British Olympic Association. World Sports, London, 1960.
Powell, John T. Origins and Aspects of Olympism. Stipes Publishing Company, Champaign, IL, 1994.
Remnick, David. King of the World. Vintage Books, New York, 1999.
Roghi, Bruno, supervisor. Games of the XVII Olympiad. Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) production, Rome, 1960.
Schoebel, Heinz. The Four Dimensions of Avery Brundage. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig, German Democratic Republic, 1968.
Sims, Graem. Why Die? The Extraordinary Percy Cerutty. Lothiam Books, South Melbourne, 2003.
Smit, Barbara. Pitch Invasion: Adidas, Puma and the Making of Modern Sport. Allen Lane, London, 2006.
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Tanner, J. M. The Physique of the Olympic Athlete: A Study of 137 Track and Field Athletes at the XVII Olympic Games, Rome 1960. George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1964.
Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 2003.
Teske, Knut. Sprinter of the Century: The Breathtaking Career of Armin Hary. Goettingen, Berlin, 2007.
Tipping, E. W. The Tipping Olympics. Melbourne 1956-Rome 1960. Peter Isaacson Pty. Limited, Australia, 1972.
Wallechinsky, David. The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics: Athens 2004 Edition. SportClassic Books, New York, 2004.
SOURCES
The narrative branches of this book are rooted in primary sources: thousands of archival documents, along with personal diaries, oral transcripts, and scores of interviews with athletes, coaches, officials, journalists, and observers from around the world who were at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Many subjects were interviewed several times. Among the documents, the vast majority were found in the fourteen archives listed below. In addition to books listed in the bibliography, the forty-four newspaper and magazines named here, the first drafts of history, were also invaluable, and are cited in the text and chapter notes.
PRIMARY ARCHIVAL SOURCES
Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles (LA84 Foundation)
Avery Brundage collection, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library, Tennessee
Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS)
Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (CONI), Rome
Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene, Kansas
Georgetown University Lauinger Library, Special Collections
German National Archives (Bundesarchiv), Berlin
Library of Congress, Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room
Nashville Public Library Special Collections Division, Tennessee
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC
National Broadcasting Company (NBC), The Wonders of Rome archive
Olympic Studies Centre, International Olympic Committee Museum, Lausanne, Switzerland
NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE SOURCES
Amateur Athlete, American Mercury, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, China Daily News, Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, Columbus Post-Dispatch, Die Welt, L’Echo Illustré, L’Équipe, Ethiopian Herald, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, IOC Official Bulletin, Izvestia, Journal of Sport History, Kingsburg Recorder, Life, Los Angeles Times, Louisville Courier-Journal, Il Messaggero, Nashville Banner, Nashville Tennessean, Neues Deutschland, Newsweek, New Yorker, New York Herald Tribune, New York Times, Olympic Review, Pakistan Times, Pravda, la Repubblica, Ring magazine, Rome Daily American, San Francisco Chronicle, Sport, Sports Illustrated, Time, Times of India, Times of London, Track & Field News, Tuttosport, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post.
NOTES
CHAPTER 1: ALL THE WAY TO MOSCOW
Darkness fell slowly: Ints., Dallas Long, Gordon McKenzie, Ed Temple, Rafer Johnson, Rink Babka, David Edstrom, Lucinda Williams; also Amateur Athlete, Sept. 1958. Amateur Athlete was the monthly magazine of the Amateur Athletic Union, at a time when the AAU was the dominant amateur body in the United States, more powerful than the U.S. Olympic Committee and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
As he was preparing to leave: Ints., Ed Temple, Lucinda Williams.
Aside from those two black Southern colleges: Frances Kaszubski correspondence; Ints., Ed Temple, Lucinda Williams; Amateur Athlete, Aug. 1958.
The home and away exchange: Record group 59, box 2127, NARA-College Park. Also on the U.S. negotiating team were Loftus E. Becker and Malcolm Toon; Joseph Turrini, “‘It Was Communism versus the Free World’: The USA-USSR Dual Track Meet Series and the Development of Track and Field in the United States, 1958–1985,” Journal of Sport History, vol. 28, no. 3.
By the time the roster: Int., David Edstrom; also Time, July 7, 1958.
Kaszubski
approached him: Int., Ed Temple; also Kaszubski correspondence.
A National Security Council task force: White House Office, National Security Council staff papers, OCB central file, box 112, Eisenhower Presidential Library.
“Clipper AAU” was painted on the side: Amateur Athlete, Sept. 1958.
This was Rafer Lewis Johnson: Int., Rafer Johnson. In early 2007, when Johnson was interviewed at length at his office at the Special Olympics of Southern California in Culver City, California, he looked like he could win the decathlon still at age seventy-two; also ints., David Edstrom, Dallas Long, Rink Babka, Lucinda Williams; “An Olympian’s Oral History: Craig Dixon,” Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles.
When the Americans landed: Int., Ed Temple; Amateur Athlete, Sept. 1958; Amateur Athlete, June 1958 (“Hailed as Mr. AAU of the District of Columbia, Eddie Rosenblum…was honored Tuesday evening, May 27, at a testimonial civic dinner in the main ballroom of the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC,” began an article under the headline “Eddie Rosenblum Paid Tribute for 40 Years of Service.”
With his heavy-framed glasses: Int., Igor Ter-Ovanesyan; also “Testing Service to the ‘Queen,’” Gavriel Korobkov, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Former Coach of the Soviet Athletic Team, LA84 Foundation library; Stanford Magazine, May/June 2005; Letter to Stanford Magazine from Robert Coe, July/Aug. 2005.
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