Liberty Park, Clarksville, Wilma Rudolph and Pat Summitt

When you enter Liberty Park, turn left and take Champions Way to park by the Wilma Rudolph Event Center, which opened in 2012. Wilma Glodean Rudolph was born in the St. Bethlehem area of Clarksville in 1940. She had polio as a young child and had to wear a brace and orthopedic shoes until she was 12. Her mother brought her to Nashville’s Meharry Medical College for physical therapy. She miraculously recovered and became a basketball star at Burt High School, the county’s only Black high school during the era of segregation. It was on the basketball court where TSU track and field coach Ed Temple first saw Wilma. He refereed one of Wilma’s basketball games, and saw her speed. He invited Rudolph to his summer track program. The rest, as they say, is history.

While still in high school, Rudolph qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where she won a bronze medal as part of the 4x100 relay. After high school, Rudolph officially became a TSU Tigerbelle and began training for the 1960 Rome Olympics. There, Rudolph won gold in the 100m, 200m, and was part of the all-Tigerbelle 4x100m relay team. 

Rudolph was the first woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics—earning her the title “fastest woman in the world." Back in the U.S., she used her international status to champion Civil Rights and wasn’t afraid to take a stand. When the city of Clarksville wanted to honor her with a parade and medal ceremony, she insisted it be an integrated event. Check out the images above for copies of the program. Her Civil Rights’ activism continued until she was diagnosed with cancer. At only 54-years old, Wilma Rudolph passed away in 1994, but she remains one of the most revered figures in American sports history.

Burt High School closed in 1970 and re-opened in 1980 as Burt Elementary School. You can see the school and historical marker at 110 Bailey Street, Clarksville, near the Austin Peay campus.

Follow Champions Way through the park to reach Freedom Point, then walk to the Pat Head Summitt Plaza and Legacy Park which was dedicated on June 15, 2018. There you’ll find a bronze statue of Summitt as well as informational panels about her life. Learn more about Summitt’s early life on the Cheatham County stop. Her coaching career is featured on the UT-Knoxville stop. To hear about her college days, keep listening. The next stop is the University of Tennessee at Martin. There you should visit the “Coaches” statue honoring Pat Summitt, Bettye Giles, and Nadine Gearin outside the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center, located at 15 Mt Pelia Rd, Martin. If you go, make sure you drive down Pat Head Summitt Drive to the Bettye Giles Softball Field!