Theresa Manuel, black Olympian, coach, teacher, 90
President Harry S. Truman poses Oct. 22, 1948, with a group of black women Olympic athletes, including Theresa Manuel, second from left, who competed in the hurdles, the javelin and the 440-yard relay. Credit: AP / BILL CHAPLIS
TAMPA, Fla. — Theresa Manuel, the first black woman from Florida to compete in the Olympics, in the 1948 Games, has died in Tampa. She was 90.
The Tampa Bay Times reports that Manuel died on Nov. 21. She had been in the hospital the previous week and was discharged, but stopped eating on Nov. 20 and declined quickly.
The Tampa Bay area native was in the 1948 Olympics in London, where she competed in the 80-meter hurdles, threw the javelin and ran the third leg in the 440-yard relay.
The year after the Olympics, Manuel graduated from the Tuskegee Institute (now university) in Alabama. She then returned to Tampa and went on to work as a teacher and coach at Middleton and Hillsborough high schools.— AP
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