Ralph Boston

Ralph Harold Boston (born May 9, 1939 in Laurel, Mississippi) is an American athlete. He was an all around athletic star, but he is best remembered for his successes in the long jump during the 1960s.

As a student at Tennessee State University, Boston won the 1960 National Collegiate Athletic Association title in the long jump. In August of the same year, he broke the world record in the event, held by Jesse Owens for 25 years. He qualified for the Summer Olympics in Rome, where he took the gold medal in the long jump.

Between the Olympic Games, Boston won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championship in the long jump in 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1964. He also had the longest triple jump for an American in 1963.

Although Boston lost both the national title and the #1 ranking in 1968, he continued to compete. At 29, he won a bronze, finishing third behind Bob Beamon and Klaus Beer at the 1968 Summer Olympics at Mexico City. Shortly after these Games, Boston retired.

A Los Angeles Times article on Boston (August 2, 2010), coinciding roughly with the 50th anniversary of his initial world record, described him as a divorced great-grandfather who is writing an autobiography. He divides his time between Atlanta, Georgia and Knoxville, Tennessee.