Ralph Boston Death – Ralph Harold Boston, an American track athlete has passed away, he was 83 years old. Boston died on Sunday, April 30, 2023, after suffering a stroke. He was an American track athlete who won three Olympic medals and was the first person to break the barrier of 27 feet (8.20 meters) in the long jump. He did this while competing for the United States.
Who Is Ralph Boston?
Boston was able to earn a spot at the Summer Olympics in Rome, where he went on to win the gold medal in the long jump and set a new Olympic record with a jump of 8.12 meters (26 feet 7+12 inches). He did this while narrowly edging out his American colleague Bo Roberson, who he only beat by a centimeter. After losing the record to Igor Ter-Ovanesyan and then reclaiming it a few of months before the games, first in Kingston, Jamaica, and then improving it at the 1964 Olympic Trials, he went back to the Tokyo Olympics as the holder of the world record.
He did this after having lost the record to Igor Ter-Ovanesyan and then regaining it. During the final competition of the Olympics, Boston and Ter-Ovanesyan took turns leading. Boston was in the lead going into the fifth round, but he committed a foul while Lynn Davies and Ter-Ovanesyan rushed past him to take the lead. On his final jump, he was able to jump past Ter-Ovanesyan; however, he was unable to catch Davies and ended up winning the silver medal instead of the gold.
The Modesto Relays in 1965 were the location of Boston’s final record improvement, which brought their total to 8.35 meters. Ter-Ovanesyan was able to tie it in terms of altitude in 1967. In 1967, he was defeated by Jerry Proctor, who went on to win the national title. Boston began unofficially coaching his competitor Bob Beamon after he was expelled from the University of Texas at El Paso for refusing to participate against Brigham Young University on the grounds that the latter adhered to racial rules. Beamon had claimed that BYU maintained discriminatory practices. Beamon was victorious at the National Championships in 1968. At the Olympics in 1968, Boston witnessed one of his students break the world record by jumping 8.90 meters (29 feet 2 and a half inches).
The age of Boston at that time was 29. After finishing in third place, behind Beamon and Klaus Beer, he decided to call it quits with his athletic career shortly afterward. After relocating to Knoxville in Tennessee, he began working at the University of Tennessee in 1968 and remained there until 1975 in the roles of Assistant Dean of Students and Coordinator of Minority Affairs.
He covered the field events for the CBS Sports Spectacular’s coverage of the various track and field competitions held in the United States. It was in 1974 that he was admitted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame, and it was in 1985 when he was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame.
Ralph Boston Obituary and funeral plans will be released by the family at a later date…
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