ISU’S JACKSON WAS FIRST BLACK TO LEAD A U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK TEAM
Head Coach of American Women’s Team in Both 1956 and 1972
By Tom Emery
Dr. Nell Jackson was a trailblazer in many ways. That’s why she’s a member of numerous Halls of Fame.
Jackson, an Illinois State University faculty member from 1963-65, was the first black to be named head coach of either a men’s or women’s U.S. Olympic track team. She led the U.S. women’s track squad at the Games in both 1956 and 1972.
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At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, her team included the incomparable Wilma Rudolph, a bronze medalist in the 4 X 100 relay, who went on to win three golds at the next Olympics in 1960.
Later, Jackson became the first black woman to serve on the board of the U.S. Olympic Committee. In 1989, Jackson was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame, one of many halls of fame of which she is a member.
Born on July 1, 1929 in Athens, Ga., Jackson was a four-sport athlete as an eighth-grader. But her basketball coach, recognizing her unusual speed, recommended that she focus on track.
It proved to be good advice, as Jackson ran in the 1944 U.S. national track championships at age 15. The next year, she finished second in the 200 in both the indoor and outdoor Amateur Athletic Union meets. In 1946, she was the 200-meter champion at the first-ever U.S. Junior Nationals for women.
Jackson chose the prestigious Tuskegee Institute, a recognized power in black college athletics, for her collegiate career, and was a member of the 1948 U.S. Olympic team in London in both the 200 and the 4 X 100 relay.
In 1949, she set the American record in the 200 with a time of 24.2. In 1950, Jackson won a pair of collegiate national titles for Tuskegee, capturing the 200 while also running a leg on the 4 X 100.
At the Pan American Games in Buenos Aires in 1951, Jackson was the silver medalist in the 200, and won the gold in the 4 X 100. That year, she graduated from Tuskegee, then earned an M.S. from Springfield College in Massachusetts in 1953.
Jackson returned to Tuskegee, where she taught physical education and was the women’s track and field coach from 1953-60. She also began a men’s swimming program at Tuskegee in 1958, serving as its first head coach. Jackson was an assistant coach on the 1960 U.S. Olympic track team.
In 1962, Jackson earned a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, where she was also on the coaching staff. She then went back to Tuskegee for a year before accepting a faculty position in physical education at Illinois State in 1963.
At Normal, she coached the women’s track team and organized the Bloomington-Normal Track Club, for female athletes ranging from 10 years old to college age. An active campus member, Dr. Jackson also delivered various addresses on athletics.
During the summer of 1964, she again was an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic track team. The next summer, she was also named an assistant on the U.S. women’s team for a tour of West Germany, the U.S.S.R, and Poland.
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Dr. Jackson left Normal in 1965. She later accepted a faculty position at the University of Illinois, where she led the women’s track team to the 1970 national title.
A prolific writer, she published a host of articles on track and field, among other athletic topics. In 1968, she published Track and Field for Girls and Women, a book which became a standard in the field.
The previous year, she received a grant from the U.S. Olympic Development Committee to produce a 10-minute film to instruct and motivate girls in track and field. By 1970, she was chair of the U.S. Women’s Olympic Track and Field Committee.
In 1973, Jackson was named the first-ever Assistant Director of Athletics for Women at Michigan State, a position she held until 1981. She also was the head coach of the women’s track team for six seasons at Michigan State.
Jackson was later the director of physical education at the State University of New York – Binghamton. Following a brief illness, she died on April 1, 1988 at age 58.
She is a member of numerous Halls of Fame, including in athletics at the University of Illinois and Michigan State. Jackson is also in the Black Athletes Hall of Fame, the Women’s Sports Foundation Hall of Fame, and the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Hall of Fame, among others.
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.
