Milt Campbell

Medal record
Milt Campbell at a Civitan International sports clinic.
Men's Athletics
Competitor for  United States
Olympic Games
Silver	1952 Helsinki	Decathlon
Gold	1956 Melbourne	Decathlon

Milton Gray Campbell (born December 9, 1933 at Plainfield, New Jersey) is an American decathlete of the 1950s. In 1956, he became the first African American to win the gold medal in the decathlon of the Summer Olympic Games.

At Plainfield High School he competed in track and swimming.^[1] He then enrolled at the Indiana University (Bloomington). While a student at Plainfield High School , Campbell won a place on the 1952 Olympic team in the decathlon. Although just 18 years old, Campbell finished second to Bob Mathias in the decathlon.

Campbell set New Jersey state records in the high and low hurdles and in the high jump, and scored 140 points as fullback in football. He was inducted into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1997.^[2]

In 1956 at Melbourne, Campbell won the gold medal. He narrowly missed a world record. Many observers believe he would have set the record if not for a subpar performance in the pole vault.

Campbell was also an excellent swimmer as a youth. An all around athlete, Campbell briefly played in the National Football League for the Cleveland Browns and in 1959 for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. Among Campbell's 3 children, his son Grant is a winner of the World Karate Championships.

In 2008, a degree of Doctor of Public Service, honoris causa, was conferred upon him by Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

References