Olympics’ Tommie Smith Still Delivering a Message

It was 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in a muggy gymnasium in South-Central Los Angeles. Three hundred youngsters were twisting, turning and talking in the bleachers, and it was driving Tommie Smith mad.

The former Olympic sprinter who helped place black Americans’ struggle for equality under an international spotlight during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics was trying to tell them about the importance of education.

But the restless youths were not listening. So a stern-looking Smith waited for them to settle down.

It had been different 23 years ago. Back then, on a victory stand in Mexico City, Smith did not have to say a word--but the whole world snapped to attention.

Instead of saluting the Stars and Stripes, Smith and fellow medalist John Carlos thrust clenched fists skyward in a black power salute--a shocking act of protest that earned them the scorn of fellow Americans and expulsion from the Games.

On Tuesday, Smith was still making a stand--but before a far smaller forum in a far different era.

He had been invited, along with other black Olympic medalists, to speak before a group of inner-city students at the Challengers Boys and Girls Club. It was the last in a series of eight events designed to drum up interest among African-Americans in the U.S. Olympic Festival, which begins July 12 at Dodger Stadium and will feature competition in 37 sports by more than 3,000 American amateurs.

Smith, 47, the women’s track coach at Santa Monica College, has spoken at almost all of the pre-festival programs targeting the black community. He has done so, he says, not primarily because he wants to promote the Olympics or the festival. That fateful day in 1968 still stirs painful memories.

“Did I say anything much about the Games in there?” he asked later outside the youth club, just a trace of bitterness in his voice.

After Mexico City, Smith never ran another race. He had trouble finding work.

Finally, in the early 1970s, Smith was hired as a track coach at Oberlin College.

Zabrina Horton, organizer of the pre-festival programs, introduced Smith by displaying the famous 1968 photo--the one showing the athlete with head bowed and black-gloved fist raised defiantly in the air. She asked the youngsters, who ranged in age from 9 to 17, if they recognized the picture.

Few raised their hands. One boy, squinting at the photo from yards away, said later that it looked as though Smith was holding up the Olympic torch. None seemed to know about Smith’s controversial gesture.

Their lack of awareness didn’t bother Smith. He came to give them a message, short and to the point. If they want to get ahead in society, it will take five things: Commitment. Dedication. Self-confidence. Teamwork. Education.

Each time, he urged the youngsters to repeat the word after him, and they did. But then their attention wandered and they began to squirm. But Smith wasn’t about to let them slip away.

“You young Americans, you young black Americans, when someone is trying to say something positive, you ought--and I repeat that--you ought to have the courtesy to either listen or leave. I expect a little respect.”

Later, he defended his harsh tone.

“Not everything in life is peaches and cream, and they went a little sour on me,” he said.

At least one youngster was listening. Melvin Young, 11, said he wants to be either an electronics engineer or an athlete when he grows up, if only he can fend off the neighborhood gangs.

Of the message imparted by Smith and the others, Melvin said, “I heard them say let nobody get in your way . . . never quit. I will strive for my goal.”