Lee Evans, Olympic champ famous for his black power salute, dies at 74

Lee Evans, the record-setting American sprinter famous for his activism and iconic black power salute in the 1968 Olympics, has died at age 74.

The United States Track and Field announced Evans’ death on its website.

According to The Mercury News, a newspaper in San Jose, Calif., where Evans grew up, the gold medalist sprinter breathed his last on Wednesday in Nigeria where he had been unconscious for the past week after suffering from a stroke.

The newspaper quoted Segun Odegbami, Nigerian football icon and a close friend of Evans, as saying that he collapsed last week while having dinner with him and other friends.

Odegbami added that Evans, who was breathing through a ventilator, died before midnight while in a coma in the intensive care unit.

Born on February 25, 1947, in Madera, California, Evans started to garner popularity as part of San Jose State’s legendary sprint program after a celebrated career at Overfelt High School.

He won the first of his five US titles at 400 meters in 1966.

At the age of 21, he also set a record in the 400 meters at the Mexico City Games in 43.86 seconds to become the first man to crack the 44 seconds in that category. The record stood for about 20 years before it was broken.

Evans was, however, the cynosure of all eyes during the 1968 Olympic Games after he had earlier considered boycotting the tournament alongside Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two other US sprinters, to protest against the racial injustice in America at that time.

The three sprinters were nicknamed “Speed City” for their collegiate dominance and were all active in the black power movement.

The trio would later compete in the Olympics, where Smith and Carlos also won gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200-meter dash and raised their fist on the podium for the iconic black panther salute.

While accepting his gold medals, the double Olympic champion wore a black beret and gave a black power salute on the podium alongside Larry James and Ron Freeman — fellow black teammates and medalists — imitating members of the Black Panther Party.

Smith and Carlos also raised their fists on the medals stand and did the same salute after the 200 meters in the same Olympics. The development had led to their eviction from the US Olympic team in Mexico amid a wave of opprobrium.

Evans was inducted into the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1983.

At the end of his career, Evans, who was a leading member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, an organisation — founded in 1967 — that spoke against racial inequality and oppression in the United States and across the world, came to Africa, where he worked for the United Nations, and also coached national teams in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.

He was also an assistant track coach at Odegbami’s International College and Sports Academy which is situated along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.