Margaret Matthews Wilburn was the first American woman to leap a record 20 feet in the broad jump. At the 1956 Olympic trials in Washington, D.C., she set an American
record of19 feet, nine and one-half inches. At the national AAU outdoor meet in 1957, she won the broad jump title in the women's division. In 1958, she set a new American record in the broad jump: 20 feet, one inch. Additionally, this native Atlantan and captain of the TSU Tigerbelles captured the bronze with three of her U.S. teammates in the 4 x 100-meter relay in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The first person in her family to finish high school, she has devoted 35 years to public education in Memphis. Today, she serves as principal of Dunbar Elementary School. |