Lee Evans

In 1966, his first year out of Overfelt High School, Lee Evans was undefeated and won his first AAU title. In 1967 he won the 400 m and the 4x400 m relay at the Pan American Games and in 1968, while a junior at San Jose State, he was NCAA champion. Evans then went on to win the Final Trials with a world record of 44.0 (44.06), which he reduced to 43.86 in the Olympic final. He won a second gold and another world record plaque in the 4x400 m relay. His 400 m mark of 43.86 stood as a world record until broken by [Butch Reynolds] in 1988.

After his 400 gold medal, when he led a USA medal sweep with Larry James and Ron Freeman, all three wore berets representing themselves as Black Panthers, although they removed the berets and did not a raise a fist during the playing of the national anthem. A mini-protest, it did not receive the same ire from the IOC as had the protest of Tommie Smith and John Carlos after the 200 metres.

Evans won the last of his five AAU titles in 1972 and, after placing fifth at the Final Trials, went to München as a member of the 4x400 relay. However, because of the ouster of Vince Matthews and [Wayne Collett[(), due to their actions on the medal podium, and the injury to John Smith, the USA could not field a team in this event. At the end of the 1972 season, Evans joined the professional ranks, running in the short-lived International Track Association until 1974.

Evans later became a coach, noted especially for his international teaching, when he coached track in Cameroon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria. He was an assistant coach at the University of Washington in 2000 and 2001 and then head coach at the University of South Alabama until 2008, when he returned to Nigeria. Evans was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1983 and the US Olympic Hall of Fame in 1989.

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.9 (1966); 200 – 20.4 (1969); 400 – 43.86 (1968); 880y – 1:52.0 (1966); 440yH – 50.5 (1970).