Born November 9, 1923, Albany, Ga.

One of those athletes whose competition was restricted by World War II, Alice Coachman nonetheless won 25 national titles, most of them in the high jump where she won consecutive titles from 1939 to 1948.

She achieved her greatest fame in 1948 when she won the Olympic women's high jump title in a meet and American record 5-6 1/8, thus becoming the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She attended both Tuskegee Institute and Albany State in Georgia and after her competitive days became a schoolteacher and coach. At Tuskegee, she was coached by fellow Hall of Famer Cleve Abbott.