Herbert Paul Douglas Jr. (March 9, 1922 – April 22, 2023) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. He was the oldest living U.S. Olympic medalist prior to his death at the age of 101.

Early life and education

Douglas graduated from

Taylor Allderdice High School Taylor Allderdice High School is a public high school in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school was established in 1927 and is part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools district. It was named for industrialist and S ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, in 1940. He was Allderdice's first black basketball player. Douglas first attended

Xavier University of Louisiana Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Roman Catholic, Catholic university in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the only Catholic Historically black c ...

in 1942, and competed at the 48th Annual

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012 ...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, helping Xavier win the American Quarter-Mile Relay Championship. He also competed in college at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

and was inducted into the inaugural class of their sports hall of fame in 2018. Douglas was a member of

Alpha Phi Omega Alpha Phi Omega (), commonly known as APO, but also A-Phi-O and A-Phi-Q, is a national Mixed-sex education, coeducational Service fraternities and sororities, service Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It is the largest College fraterniti ...

service fraternity.

Olympics

Douglas represented the U.S. in the long jump at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he won the bronze medal with a jump of .

Willie Steele William Samuel Steele (July 14, 1923 – September 19, 1989) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. Steele won the gold medal in the long jump at the 1948 London Olympics. A two-time USA Outdoor champion, St ...

of the United States won the gold medal with and Australia's Theo Bruce took the silver medal with . Prior to the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Douglas was recognized as the oldest living

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

Olympic medalist.

Later life

Douglas

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...

in March 2022, and died in Pittsburgh on April 22, 2023, at the age of 101. Douglas was inducted into the Taylor Allderdice High School alumni hall of fame in 2009.

References

External links

* * 1922 births 2023 deaths African-American centenarians American men centenarians American male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Pittsburgh Panthers men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub