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BSP-06
OBIT-ATHLETICS-OLY-MORROW
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Morrow dies at 84
LOS ANGELES, May 31, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Treble Olympic gold medalist Bobby Joe
Morrow — who won 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay gold at the 1956 Melbourne
Games, has died at the age of 84.
The San Benito school district, which honored the hometown hero by naming
their football stadium after him, expressed condolences on its Facebook page
on Saturday, saying Morrow’s legacy would “live on forever” in the Texas town.
At Melbourne in 1956, Morrow joined US athletics great Jesse Owens as the
only men to win the 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold at a single Olympics — a feat
later matched by American Carl Lewis and Jamaican Usain Bolt.
He was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year that year —
beating out baseball hero Mickey Mantle and boxer Floyd Patterson.
Morrow retired from athletics in 1958, and in a brief comeback bid in 1960
failed to qualify for the US Olympic team.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1122HRS