Ralph Boston and Lee Calhoun: Laurel’s Track and Field GOATs

In the 1950s and 60s, two men changed the way we look at track and field. Born only a few years apart in Laurel, Mississippi, Boston and Calhoun’s lives and successes seemed fated to overlap. 

Ralph Boston: Long Jump Icon

Born in Laurel on May 9, 1939, Ralph “Hawkeye” Boston was the youngest of two children. His family made ends meet, but were far from comfortable. Before school, Boston would work the fields with his father and brothers. After school, he was a star athlete. 

While attending Oak Park High School, Boston’s breakout athletic success was actually in football. Boston eventually joined the track team, where his high school track coach, Joseph Frye, realized early on that Boston was a track and field natural. In both his junior and senior years, Boston was virtually a one-man track team, winning (often setting records as he did so) or placing in hurdling, throwing, sprinting, and jumping events. 

Boston was determined to continue his athletic career in college but was barred from Mississippi’s athletic powerhouses due to segregation. Boston was not a stranger to racist discrimination; when recalling his time in Laurel, he often spoke about the marked differences between his school and community and the white school and community. Frye recommended Boston apply for Tennessee A&I State College (now Tennessee State University), an HBCU with a strong athletics program.

He made the adjustment from small-town Mississippi to college life in Nashville, and continued to excel in nearly every sport he tried. At this point in his career, Boston focused on his best event, the long jump, and continued to perfect his technique, distance, and ability to compete under pressure. 

The 1960 Olympic Games were scheduled for Rome, Italy, and Boston was expected to do well, provided he qualified for the United States Olympic team. During a pre-Olympic competition in Pomona, California, Boston broke the world record in the long jump by leaping a distance of 26 feet, 11 and one quarter inches. 

His effort eclipsed the long-standing record of Olympic track legend Jesse Owens, set in 1935. Boston became a national celebrity literally overnight and the favorite to win the gold medal for the United States in Rome. He won the competition with a jump of 26 feet, seven and three-fourth inches, breaking Owens’ 1936 Olympic record. After he won, Boston dedicated his gold medal to his mother and the memory of his father, who had died on January 1, 1960.

Career highlights:

• In August 1960, Boston broke the 25‑year‑old world record held by Jesse Owens with a jump of 8.21 m (26 ft 11¼ in).
• At the 1960 Rome Olympics Boston won gold in the long jump, setting an Olympic record of 8.12 m.
• Boston became the first man to officially clear 27 feet, and his personal best eventually reached 8.35 m (≈27 ft 4¾ in) by 1965.
• From 1960-67, Boston ranked No. 1 in the world in the long jump.
• His Olympic medal totals: gold (1960), silver (1964 Tokyo), bronze (1968 Mexico City).

Retirement:
After retiring following the 1968 Olympics, Boston transitioned into several roles: he worked in sports administration, served as a commentator, and mentored younger athletes. He was inducted into multiple halls of fame, including the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. He used his platform to advocate for athletics and youth development, and he remained widely respected both in and outside of the athletic community. He passed away in 2023. 

Lee Calhoun: King of Hurdles

Lee Quincy Calhoun, born February 23, 1933, in Laurel, Mississippi, was one of the dominant hurdlers of his era. 

Unlike Boston, Calhoun didn’t stay in Mississippi. His family moved to Gary, Indiana when he was nine. In high school, Lee didn’t start track and field until he was in 11th grade. Though he wanted to compete as a high jumper, his coach discovered and then nurtured Calhoun’s talent as a hurdler. After finishing fifth in the hurdles in the state meet, Dr. LeRoy T. Walker successfully recruited Calhoun to enroll at North Carolina College at Durham.

Calhoun was CIAA champion in the hurdles before his athletic career was interrupted by the Korean War. He was drafted in the Army in 1953-55, serving in Korea at an Army Hospital. Returning to NCC in the fall of 1955, Calhoun lost no time restarting his track career. In 1956, he won the NCAA Division I, NAIA and US National titles (AAU), indoor and outdoor in 1956. After a first place tie in the US Olympic Trials, Calhoun won his first Gold medal in the Melbourne Olympics.

In 1958, he was suspended from amateur athletics for one year for getting married on the television show “Bride and Groom” and accepting $2,500 in wedding gifts as well as a honeymoon to Paris. Despite this setback, Calhoun returned for the 1959 season and won his third AAU Outdoor Championship, also placing as a runner-up in the Pan-American Games. 

In 1960, after winning the US Olympic Trials, Calhoun also tied Germany’s Martin Lauer’s world record of 13.2 in a Switzerland meet. In the same Rome Olympics that brought Boston so much fame, Calhoun won his second Olympic Gold in 1960. He became the first man ever to win successive Gold medals in that event, and he held that record until 1988.

Professional career highlights:

• At the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Calhoun ran 13.5 seconds in the 110‑m hurdles, narrowly defeating teammate Jack Davis in a dramatic shoulder‑lunge finish. 
• He tied the world record at 13.2 seconds before the 1960 Rome Olympics and then won gold again in Rome, beating his teammate Willie May by 0.01 seconds. 
• Calhoun was an AAU outdoor champion in the 110 m hurdles in 1956, 1957, and 1959, and indoor 60‑yd champion in 1956 and 1957. 

Retirement:
Calhoun went on to become a respected coach: he held positions at Grambling State University, Yale University, and finally Western Illinois University. He also served as assistant coach for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team. His influence extended into mentoring young hurdlers and shaping collegiate track programs. His premature death in 1989 (aged 56) cut short what had already been a significant legacy.

Author administrator Corinne Ellington