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}} Earlene Brown (née ''Dennis;'' June 11, 1935 – May 1, 1983) was an American athlete notable for her careers in track and field and roller games. She competed at the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics in the shot put and discus throw and won a bronze medal in the shot put in 1960; she finished fourth in the discus in 1956.〔(Earlene Brown ). sports-reference.com〕 ==Life== Brown was born on July 11, 1935 in Latexo, in Houston County, Texas, a town that, according to Isobel Silden, Earlene "(could) no longer find on the map" by 1973.〔Silden, Isobel (1973). Sportswoman (Vol. 1–2), p. 142〕 Earlene's father was 'a 6-footer' and a semipro baseball player with the Negro League in Texas〔Track and Field News, July 12, 1956〕〔Commire, Anne and Klezmer, Deborah (1999). Women in World History: a biographical encyclopedia, p.100〕〔Ward-Plowden, Martha(1996). Olympic Black Women, p.35〕 She was an only child. Her parents separated in 1938 and she followed her mother who joined the second Great Migration of Southern African-Americans to California and moved to Los Angeles.〔See: Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California (2001), edited by Lawrence B. de Graaf, Mulroy and Taylor〕 Brown began her participation in track and field activities as a member of LAPD Deputy Auxiliary Police after it was introduced on September 9, 1943, by Mayor Fletcher Bowron. She competed and excelled in the basketball throw, which led up to the shot put.〔Jet, 10 April 1958, p. 54〕 While attending Jordan High, she was discovered by Adeline Valdez, Josephine Spearman and Clarence Mackey, who tried to get her to turn out for the Helsinki Olympics, but she was then "too busy going to dances".〔Track and Field News, July 12, 1956〕 Brown joined the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) at 21 in 1956, by which time she was already married to Henry Brown, a bricklayer, and had a baby boy, Reginald, born November 19, 1954.〔Silden , Isobel (1973). Sportswoman (Vol. 1–2), p. 142〕〔Commire, Anne and Klezmer, Deborah (1999). Women in World History: a biographical encyclopedia, p.100〕 There, she started weight lifting under the tutelage of Des Koch, while America's original javelin technician Steve Seymour coached her in shot and discus.〔Track and Field News, July 12, 1956〕 Seeing Brown throw, Seymour was convinced she had potential as a gold medalist and decided to send her to the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. Since the Browns could not afford to pay for Earlene's training and traveling expenses, Brad Pye Jr., am influential sports editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel and African-American community activist, led a campaign that raised funds to support her. Shortly thereafter, though, Brown and her husband separated and Reggie was left in the care of his grandmother. To support herself, Brown began attending Henrietta's Beauty College to become a hairdresser.〔Davis, Michael (1992). Black American women in Olympic track and field, p.31〕 From 1959 on, Brown was associated with the Tennessee State University "Tigerbelles", whose coach Ed Temple was also the Head Coach of the U.S. Olympic Women's Track and Field Team. Temple spent time 'getting Earlene in shape' for the 1960 Games〔Mead-Tricard, Louise (1996) American Women's Track and Field: A History, 1895 Through 1980 (Vol. 1), p. 423〕 and Earlene then became one of Wilma Rudolph's closest friends.〔Smith, Maureen (2006). Wilma Rudolph: A Biography, p. 15〕 At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Brown won the bronze medal in the women's shot put. In the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Brown – who was short-sighted and wore heavy glasses as a consequence, except when throwing – was "beset by both wind and rain and lost her footing and a chance to get a toehold on the crown".〔Barbee, Bobby. "How Negroes helped U.S. in Tokyo Olympics" In ''Jet'' – 5 November 1964, p. 54〕 In 1965 she retired from shot put competition. The same year she became a skater. As a blocker for the New York Bombers Roller Derby team,〔Jet, 7 December 1967, p. 52〕 she was dubbed the "Brown Bomber". In 1975, after retiring from all athletic endeavors, she returned to her practice as beautician. She died aged 47, on May 1, 1983 in Compton, California. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Earlene Brown」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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