Olympic track star Willye White passes away

Willye White, five-time US Olympian and two-time Olympic silver medallist, died on Tuesday. In 1999, Sports Illustrated for Women named her one of the 100 greatest women athletes in the 20th century.

"Before my first Olympics, I thought the whole world consisted of cross burnings and lynching," White was quoted as saying by Sports Illustrated for Women.
"The Olympic movement taught me not to judge a person by the color of their skin but by the contents of their hearts," she said. "I am who I am because of my participation in sports.” White, a longtime Chicago-area resident acknowledged her athletic experience for opening the doors to a world beyond the racism and hatred that surrounded her as a child. As fellow athlete and friend Donna DeVarona, an Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer justly put it "She (White) grew up before the civil rights movement and overcame all the hurdles she had as an African-American woman," 

Born in Money, Mississippi and raised by her grandparents, White picked cotton to help her family earn money while taking part in sports competitions. She won a silver medal in the long jump in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia. While just a 16-year-old sophomore in high school. It marked the first time an American woman ever won a medal in that event. She won her second silver medal in 1964 as a member of the 400-meter relay team in Tokyo. White went on to take part in five consecutive Olympic games between 1956 and 1972 and is credited by the US Olympic Committee to be the only American to have competed on five Olympic track and field teams and won a dozen Amateur Athletic Union long jump titles in her career.

After her athletic career ended, White coached, lectured and served as president of the Midwest chapter of the US Olympians for 12 years. The 67-year-old White was also engaged in philanthropic activities by raising money for the underprivileged, especially children, through the Willye White Foundation in Chicago.