Frank Thomas

Tyus Notable Sports Figures
Where Is She Now?
Wyomia Tyus currently lives in Los Angeles with her second husband,
Duane Tillman. She has two grown children: a daughter, Simone, and
a son, Tyus. She made no money from her amateur track career through
endorsements and other similar contracts that support today’s world-class
athletes. She did use the advantages of her Olympic status to continue in a
positive direction for herself and for others. As history has caught up with
the importance of her contributions to track, Tyus has proved the value of
her experience through leadership roles in a number of important areas.
In 1974 Tyus, along with tennis star Billie Jean King and Olympic
swimmer Donna de Varona and other female athletes, founded the nonprofit
Women’s Sports Foundation. The Foundation was created to help
girls coming up in sports find guidance through education, advocacy,
recognition, and opportunity. By 1994, the Women’s Sports Foundation was
handing out grants that totaled over $800,000 to programs that supported
girls in sports and to individuals who needed funding to achieve their athletic
goals.
Tyus has been a tireless speaker on behalf of female participation in
sports as well as other areas of athletics and physical fitness. In 1982, she
traveled to sixty cities on a tour that promoted women’s athletics. In 1985,
she participated in a clinic at Pepperdine University that enlightened high
school students of all abilities to the variety of careers available in sports. In
1997, she was spokesperson for the Active and Ageless program that encouraged
people over 50 to exercise. In 2000, she served in a leadership
role on the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Project Gold 2000.
During most of this time, Tyus has been an outdoor education specialist
for the Los Angeles Unified School District. It’s a job that she finds
very satisfying, one in which she considers the Angelus National Forest her
office. She told People, “I get to hike every day and leave the smog behind.”
ing on the women he coached, “The most famous one
was Wilma [Rudolph].… But maybe the best was Tyus.”
Wyomia Tyus’s reign as one of the world’s fastest female
runners may have had a different outcome if she’d
come along twenty years later. She competed during a
time when the public had difficulty accepting the athleticism
of female athletes. She overcame the impediments
of a college sports program that favored men. She even
proved that twenty-three was not too old to compete
successfully in world-class events.
There is no doubt that she set a high standard for
herself and overcame many obstacles. That’s not uncommon
for Olympic-level athletes. What is exceptional
about Tyus is that despite being overlooked by
history and despite never having made any money from
her track career, she made the most of what track had to
offer. Most extraordinary of all she did it with a smile
and with humble recognition of her own talents. She
explained to Boykin, “I wasn’t paid a dime for my track
career. But participating in the Olympics gave me the
opportunity to learn about different cultures; it made
me a better person. I wouldn’t trade the time I competed
for anything.” She is able to look back on her career
and recognize the gifts of the people around her that
helped her succeed. When she spoke to a group of high
school students, Tyus told them, as reported by Ann
1660
Japenga of the Los Angeles Times, “You can be the best
in the world and not be recognized.… A lot of it has to
do with breaks. If a coach at Tennessee State hadn’t
given me a break at 14, I never would have been in the
Olympic Games.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
Address: Wyomia Tyus, 1102 Keniston Avenue, Los Angeles,
CA 90019. Phone: (323) 934-6559.
SELECTED WRITINGS BY TYUS:
Inside Jogging for Women, Contemporary Books, 1978.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Books
Johnson, Anne Janette. Great Women in Sports. Detroit:
Visible Ink Press, 1996.
Periodicals
Boykin, Mary Reese. “Voices / A Forum for Community
Issues; Community Interviews; Go for the Gold
Throughout Life.” Los Angeles Times (September 16,
2000): B9.
“A Child of Jim Crow, She Refused to Run Second to
Anyone.” People (July 15, 1996): 109.
Crouse, Karen. “Wyomia Tyus: Jones Minus Hype.”
Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) (July 13, 2000): S1.
“For Your Information.” PR Newswire (June 6, 1984).
Japenga, Ann. “Workouts, Words on Right Track to Career
in Sports.” Los Angeles Times (June 28, 1985):
P5.18.
Lawrence, James. “Wyomia Tyus Speaks Up for Female
Athletes.” United Press International (August 28,
1982).
New York Times (February 24, 1974): S5.3.
Rosenthal, Bert. Associated Press (November 28, 1989).
“Three-time Olympic gold medal sprinter headlines
USOC diversity project.” Associated Press (March
24, 2000).
Votava, Lyn. “They Raced for Their Lives.” Ethnic
NewsWatch (March 31, 1994): 62.
Other
“Wyomia Tyus.” Women’s Sports Foundation. http://
www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/
sports/ggg/ind.html?record=305 (January 6, 2003).
Sketch by Eve M. B. Hermann