Born October 11, 1924, Bay City, Texas

Mal Whitfield, or "Marvelous Mal" as he was called, held his share of world records but he was an athlete who ran to win, rather than run for time. Competitive at any distance from the 220 to the mile, Whitfield put together a record that included two Olympic 800-meter crowns, six world records and eight National AAU titles, six of them outdoors.

A sergeant in the U.S. Air Force while attending Ohio State, Whitfield won national collegiate 880-800 titles in 1948 and 1949. He made his first Olympic team in 1948, taking the 800 in 1:49.2 and placing third in the 400. He garnered a second gold medal in the 4 x 400 relay. In 1952, he repeated his 800 victory, again in 1:49.2, and earned a silver medal in the 4 x 400. He set a world 880 record of 1:49.2 in 1950 and dropped it to 1:48.6 in 1952. Whitfield narrowly missed making the 1956 Olympic team while a student at Cal State Los Angeles. The 1954 Sullivan Award winner as the top amateur athlete in the U.S., he later worked for the U.S. State Department in Africa. He was elected to U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1988.