Born Nov. 3, 1933, Atlanta, Ga.

One of the world's top women athletes of the 1950s, Mildred McDaniel excelled both in track and field and basketball and acquired her nickname of "Tex" on the basketball floor because her teammates said she dribbled like a Texan. The world's dominant women's high jumper during that period, she was the Olympic champion in 1956 with a world record 5-9 1/4.

A 1957 graduate of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where she was coached by Hall of Fame coach Cleve Abbott, she was the U.S. women's high jump champion in 1953, 1955 and 1956 and was the U.S. indoor champion the latter two years. She also was the 1955 Pan American Games winner with a leap of 5-6 1/4, a meet mark which stood until 1967. She later became a physical education teacher in California