What made her most happy was the 4x100 relay. Our Tennessee State girls hadn’t won much individually. But they were the relay team. Wilma wanted the gold for them. She said, “Get me the baton.” Then she bungled the hand-off. She was third by the time she got her hand right and got the baton. She caught everyone in the first 75 yards. It was so awesome. She was determined. Wilma was the most sharing person I ever coached.
When she went back to Clarksville [Tenn.], where she was born, she told them there’d be no banquet unless it was black and white. Integrated. It had never happened before. But the parade and the banquet, they were black and white. Wilma had a smile and personality that won over queens and common folk. She toured the continent, and everybody wanted to see her, including the Queen of England. At the White House, Jack Kennedy was so taken that he almost missed his rocking chair when he tried to sit down in the Oval Office. I saw that. He almost fell down.
