Legendary track coach Ed Temple dies at 89

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/MikeOrganWriter/status/779282743628881920

Legendary Tennessee State and Olympic track coach Ed Temple has died. He was 89.

Temple, originally from Harrisburg, Pa., served as the women's track and field coach at TSU from 1953 to 1994.

His starting salary was $1,800 annually.

Temple gave the women's track team the nickname Tigerbelles and promptly turned the team into a national power.

In 1960 Temple had become so well known for what he had accomplished at TSU, he was named head coach of the U.S. Olympic Women's Track and Field Team in Rome.

Temple returned as the U.S. coach in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

U.S. athletes won 23 Olympic medals (15 gold, six silver, four bronze) under Temple.

Several of Temple's athletes at TSU also competed in the Olympics, including Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia Tyus and Willie White.

Rudolph, a Clarksville native, was the first American woman of any race to win three track and field gold medals at a single Olympic Games.

Tyus became the first woman to successfully defend an Olympic 100-meter gold medal.

A total of 40 Tigerbelles represented TSU in Olympic competition.

Temple led TSU to 24 national titles.

[DeltaBoy]

RIP and Prayers for his family friends and players he coached over the years.