Mamie Rallins

American hurdler

Mamie Rallins

Ralph Boston and Mamie Rallins at the 1972 Olympics

Personal information
Born| July 8, 1941
Chicago, U.S.[1]
Died| May 16, 2016 (aged 74)
Height| 168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight| 61 kg (134 lb)
Sport
Sport| Athletics
Event(s)| Sprint, hurdles
Club| TSU Tigers, Nashville
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)| 100 m – 12.1 (1968)
200 m – 24.4 (1972)
80 mH – 10.69 (1968)
100 mH – 13.2 (1972)[1][2]

Medal record

Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
| 1967 Winnipeg | 80 m hurdles

Mamie Annette Rallins (July 8, 1941 – May 16, 2016) was an American hurdler. She competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics and later coached many future Olympians.

## Early life[edit]

Rallins started running when she was a teenager: "At the age of 15, I started running track for a track club, because we did not have track and field in the high schools in the '50s".[3] She then began running for the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation in Chicago. Rallins realized this was much more than an enjoyable hobby and knew running was going to play a large part in her future. Rallins was a 1976 graduate of Tennessee State University, she began running hurdles for their track and field team her freshman year. She also joined the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and won four outdoor high hurdle championships. She triumphed in the 80 meter high hurdles in 1967–1968 and at the 100 meters in 1970 and 1972. Rallins also won a silver medal in the 80-meter hurdles at the 1967 Pan American Games.[1][4] Rallins competed in numerous competitions in her days; however, nothing would compare to her time spent running in the Olympics.

## 1968 Olympics[edit]

The United States had quite the woman's track and field team in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Sports Illustrated said the team was, "The best women's track and field team it had ever had—more mobile, stronger, deeper and faster than anything before". Rallins, along with her other teammates were coached by Ed Temple. This was the first Olympics in which Rallins competed; she was only 27 at the time. She ran the 80-meter hurdles for her team and won the first heat running it in 10.6 seconds. In the semi-finals, she placed fifth running it in 10.7 seconds. Sports Illustrated covered the Olympics and in one of their articles they wrote the following about Rallins: "Mamie Rallins, that tiny-waisted thing who does not look strong enough to handle a hurdle, always does. It was typical: the gun went off and here came Mamie—who had politely waited for the other girls to start first, since Mamie is courteous that way—suddenly moving so fast that she seemed to be taking tippy-toes steps between the hurdles and passing everybody easily. When it was over, she ran a few dainty steps beyond the finish, stopped and threw her head back in a sort of madcap gesture".[5] Despite coming in fifth in the 80-meter hurdles, in 1969 she was ranked the top hurdler in the world according to MEAC/ SWAC Sports Main Street.

## 1972 Olympics[edit]

Rallins also competed in the 1972 Munich Germany Olympics when she was 31, running the 100-meter hurdles for the United States. In the first round, she placed third running it in 13.51 seconds. In the semi-finals, her time was 13.75 seconds, putting her in seventh place. She missed making the Munich Olympic finals by 0.001 of a second. This is something that Rallins will never forget, "I missed the final in a photo-finish by one-thousandth of a second," she said. "The speaker in my (starting) blocks didn't work and I couldn't hear the commands (from the starter). I got out late and I couldn't make it up at the finish line.[6] "While this was extremely disheartening, Rallins continued to be connected to the Olympics for many years to follow by coaching future Olympians.

## Coaching career[edit]

Rallins was equally as successful coaching as she was at running. She was an effective coach on both the nation and international level, coaching as the head coach of the U.S. Indoor World Championship team in 1987. "She also served as assistant coach of the USA Olympic Games in 1996, 1995 World University Games, 1981 USA vs. USSR Meet and the World University Games in 1979.[7] Rallins was also the Head Coach at Ohio State University of the Women's Track and Field and Cross Country team for 18 years (1976–94). She was also the first black woman to ever coach at Ohio State University "During that time, she coached 60 Big Ten indoor/outdoor champions, 24 All Americans, nine Olympic trial qualifiers and one Olympian. She also served as assistant athletic director for three years."[8] After her coaching career at Ohio State University, she was the Olympic head manager for the USA women's track team in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. She was fatally injured in a car accident on May 16, 2016, in Fremont, Ohio on State Route 53.[9]

## References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mamie Rallins.

1. ^ a b c Mamie Rallins. sports-reference.com
2. ^ Mamie Rallins. trackfield.brinkster.net
3. ^ "MEAC/SWAC Sports Main Street". Trail Blazer: Tennessee State's Olympian – Hampton U. Track Coach Mamie Rallins. April 6, 2008. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
4. ^ "SR/OlympicSport". Mamie Rallins. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
5. ^ Ottum, Bob. "SI Vault". Dolls on the Move to Mexico. Retrieved February 20, 2013.
6. ^ Cart, Julie. "Los Angeles Times". PLAY IT AGAIN : Turner, Fitzgerald-Brown, Page and Hightower to Have Rematch Saturday. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
7. ^ "MEAC/SWAC SPORTS MAIN STREET". Trail Blazer: Tennessee State's Olympian – Hampton U. Track Coach Mamie Rallins. April 6, 2008.
8. ^ "Onnidan Online". Mamie Rallins Leaves Hampton for Chicago State. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
9. ^ Stinchcomb, Jon (May 17, 2016) Mamie Rallins, ex-Olympian and OSU coach, mourned statewide. Port Clinton News Herald

* v
* t
* e

US National Championship winners in women's 100-meter hurdles

1923–1979
Amateur Athletic Union|

* 1923–4: Hazel Kirk
* 1925–9: Helen Filkey
* 1930: Evelyne Hall
* 1931–2: Babe Didrikson
* 1933: Simone Schaller
* 1934: Not held
* 1935: Jean Hiller
* 1936: Anne O'Brien
* 1937: Cora Gaines
* 1938–9: Marie Cortell
* 1940: Sybil Cooper
* 1941: Lelia Perry
* 1942: Lillie Purifoy
* 1943: Nancy Cowperthwaite
* 1944–5: Lillie Purifoy
* 1946–7: Nancy Cowperthwaite
* 1948–9: Bernice Robinson
* 1950: Evelyn Lawler
* 1951: Nancy C. Phillips
* 1952: Constance Darnowski
* 1953: Nancy Phillips
* 1954: Constance Darnowski
* 1955 Bertha Diaz (CUB) * Barbara Mueller
* 1956 Bertha Diaz (CUB) * Shirley Eckel
* 1957: Shirley Crowder
* 1958: Not held
* 1959: Shirley Crowder
* 1960: JoAnn Grissom
* 1961–2: Cherrie Parrish
* 1963–4: Rosie Bonds
* 1965–6: Cherrie Sherrard
* 1967–8: Mamie Rallins
* 1969: Chi Cheng (TPE) * Mamie Rallins
* 1970: Mamie Rallins
* 1971: Patty Johnson
* 1972: Mamie Rallins
* 1973–4: Patty Johnson
* 1975–6: Jane Frederick
* 1977: Patty Van Wolvelaere
* 1978–9: Deby LaPlante

1980–1992
The Athletics Congress|

* 1980–2: Stephanie Hightower
* 1983: Benita Fitzgerald
* 1984: Stephanie Hightower
* 1985: Rhonda Blanford
* 1986: Benita Fitzgerald-Brown
* 1987: LaVonna Martin
* 1988: Kim McKenzie
* 1989: Lynda Tolbert
* 1990: LaVonna Martin
* 1991–2: Gail Devers

1993–present
USA Track & Field|

* 1993: Lynda Tolbert
* 1994: Jackie Joyner-Kersee
* 1995–6: Gail Devers
* 1997: Melissa Morrison
* 1998: Cheryl Dickey
* 1999–2004: Gail Devers
* 2005: Michelle Perry
* 2006–7: Virginia Powell
* 2008: Lolo Jones
* 2009: Dawn Harper
* 2010: Lolo Jones
* 2011: Kellie Wells
* 2012: Dawn Harper
* 2013: Brianna Rollins
* 2014–5: Dawn Harper Nelson
* 2016: Brianna Rollins
* 2017–9: Kendra Harrison
* 20212020 OT: Kendra Harrison

Notes|

* OT: 1932, and since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials in Olympic years, otherwise held as a discrete event.

* 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Distance:The event was over 60 yards until 1928, 80 meters 1929-1968

* v
* t
* e

1968 USA Olympic track and field team

Qualification|

1968 United States Olympic trials (track and field)

Men's
track and road
athletes|

* Jack Bacheler
* Wade Bell
* John Carlos
* Leon Coleman
* Willie Davenport
* Ron Daws
* Bob Day
* Tom Dooley
* Lee Evans
* Tom Farrell
* Ron Freeman
* Boyd Gittins
* Charles Greene
* Ervin Hall
* Rudy Haluza
* Jim Hines
* Larry James
* Goetz Klopfer
* Ron Kutschinski
* Ron Laird
* Tom Laris
* Marty Liquori
* Vincent Matthews
* Kenny Moore
* Van Nelson
* Conrad Nightingale
* Mel Pender
* Larry Questad
* Bill Reilly
* David Romansky
* Jim Ryun
* Lou Scott
* Ronnie Ray Smith
* Tommie Smith
* Tracy Smith
* Geoff Vanderstock
* Tom Von Ruden
* Ron Whitney
* George Young
* Larry Young

Men's
field athletes|

* Bob Beamon
* Ralph Boston
* Reynaldo Brown
* Ed Burke
* Gary Carlsen
* Casey Carrigan
* Ed Caruthers
* Hal Connolly
* Frank Covelli
* Dick Fosbury
* Albert Hall
* Dave Maggard
* Randy Matson
* Charles Mays
* Mark Murro
* Al Oerter
* John Pennel
* Bob Seagren
* Jay Silvester
* Rick Sloan
* David Smith
* Gary Stenlund
* Norman Tate
* Bill Toomey
* Tom Waddell
* Art Walker
* George Woods

Women's track and
road athletes|

* Margaret Bailes
* Doris Brown
* Lois Anne Drinkwater
* Judy Dyer
* Barbara Ferrell
* Francie Kraker
* Madeline Manning
* Mildrette Netter
* Mamie Rallins
* Jarvis Scott
* Esther Stroy
* Wyomia Tyus
* Patty Van Wolvelaere

Women's
field athletes|

* RaNae Bair
* Estelle Baskerville
* Sharon Callahan
* Olga Connolly
* Barbara Friedrich
* Cathy Hamblin
* Eleanor Montgomery
* Carol Moseke
* Maren Seidler
* Martha Watson
* Willye White
* Pat Winslow

Coaches|

* Payton Jordan (men's head coach)
* Ted Haydon (men's assistant coach)
* John Oelkers (men's assistant coach)
* Frank Potts (men's assistant coach)
* Stan Wright (men's assistant coach)
* Alex Ferenczy (women's coach)
* Conrad Ford (women's coach)

* v
* t
* e

1972 USA Olympic track and field team

Qualification|

* 1972 United States Olympic trials (track and field)

Men's
track and road
athletes|

* Jon Anderson
* Jack Bacheler
* Larry Black
* Doug Brown
* Dick Bruggeman
* Larry Burton
* Wayne Collett
* Willie Davenport
* Tom Dooley
* Jeff Galloway
* Eddie Hart
* Steve Hayden
* Thomas Hill
* Leonard Hilton
* Goetz Klopfer
* Mike Manley
* Ralph Mann
* Vincent Matthews
* Rod Milburn
* Kenny Moore
* Steve Prefontaine
* Rey Robinson
* Jim Ryun
* Steve Savage
* Jim Seymour
* Frank Shorter
* Chuck Smith
* John Smith
* Ken Swenson
* Robert Taylor
* Gerald Tinker (r)
* William Weigle
* Bob Wheeler
* Rick Wohlhuter
* Dave Wottle
* George Young
* Larry Young

Men's
field athletes|

* Jeff Bannister
* Jeff Bennett
* Preston Carrington
* John Craft
* Chris Dunn
* Al Feuerbach
* George Frenn
* Tom Gage
* Bruce Jenner
* Jan Johnson
* Ron Jourdan
* Fred Luke
* Brian Oldfield
* John Powell
* Arnie Robinson
* Bill Schmidt
* Al Schoterman
* Bob Seagren
* Jay Silvester
* Dave Smith
* Steve Smith
* Milt Sonsky
* Dwight Stones
* Tim Vollmer
* Art Walker
* Randy Williams
* George Woods

Women's
track athletes|

* Iris Davis
* Debra Edwards
* Mable Fergerson
* Barbara Ferrell
* Pam Greene
* Kathy Hammond
* Patty Johnson
* Wendy Koenig
* Francie Kraker
* Francie Larrieu
* Madeline Manning
* Mildrette Netter (r)
* Lacey O'Neal
* Mamie Rallins
* Mattiline Render
* Jackie Thompson
* Cheryl Toussaint
* Martha Watson

Women's
field athletes|

* Kim Attlesey
* Roberta Brown
* Sherry Calvert
* Olga Connolly
* Gale Fitzgerald
* Jane Frederick
* Cindy Gilbert
* Sandi Goldsberry
* Kate Schmidt
* Maren Seidler
* Jan Svendsen
* Martha Watson
* Deanne Wilson
* Willye White

Coaches|

* Bill Bowerman (men's head coach)
* Ted Haydon (men's assistant coach)
* Hoover Wright (men's assistant coach)
* Stan Wright (men's assistant coach)
* Nell Jackson (women's head coach)
* Randall Lambert (women's assistant coach)
* Ron Sorkness (women's assistant coach)

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