Now the track and field events begin, and that just takes me back to when I was a Junior Olympian. I have great reflections during my early years as an American Athletic Union Junior Olympian competitor, beginning at the local park in our neighborhood. Most of the kids back then would visit the park to play table tennis and ping pong.
But I was always a tall lanky slim girl so I heard “Too Tall Jones”, “Tree Top”, “Jabbar” — any name that could wound a 11/12 year old’s feelings, I heard it. I looked to movies like Cleopatra Jones for role models; watching that tall, striking, stunning, high-kicking female hero gave me a safe place to retreat when the teasing and taunting was unbearable .
Those women coaches noticed the taunts too but also noticed I had the will and was a natural athlete and ushered me into so many sports. I ended up being in all the sports and music events (I was also in choral competitions, music and musical plays) from elementary to junior high and then high school. I competed and excelled in every sport: volleyball, basketball, and track and field.
Olinda Park and Moore Park, where we practiced, still stand to date. There were lots and lots of practices after school, and every Saturday was the routine of pick up by our coach 
in a van or station wagon. Coach Hardemann blew that car horn, and out I’d go in my sweat suit or track shorts. I always made sure I grabbed that red cosmetic sponge puff to blot my face. My mother was a big fan (or maybe all black mothers used that famous red sponge). Once the screen door slammed, it was “bye, Mama” and I wouldn’t come home until dark. We would drive to pick up other trackmates in various parts of Miami, Miami Beach, up to Gainesville and Coco beach. That was my routine every Saturday —sometimes Sundays — out for practice, competitions and track meets.
I competed as a high jumper in the Junior Olympics in Lincoln, Nebraska and Ithaca, New York. There were 2000 competitors at each event. The Amateur Athletic Union’s Junior Olympic Games are known as the largest national multi-sport event for youth in the United States. The AAU was founded in 1888 to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sports. Vice President Hubert Humphrey proclaimed the first AAU Junior Olympic Games open on August 21, 1967 in downtown Washington DC. National champions were determined in swimming and track and field. I had Chandra Cheesborough as a roommate in Nebraska and I remember everyone cheering on Houston McTear, both Floridians from my area.
It wasn’t easy for young active teens in the 1970’s to find beauty essentials for black skin and hair. For hair, I had Afro Sheen, Ultra Sheen and Royal Crown. I mostly wore my hair natural. I braided my hair at night, undid the braids in the morning and used a pick to shape my hair into an afro, afro–puffs or two pony tails.
For my face and skin, I used natural products, brands sitting my mother’s dresser or what I discovered in copies of Jet and Ebony magazines I read when I got a rare press-and-curl at the beauty parlor my neighbor owned on the corner. Noxema was the most common facial cleanser and a popular moisturizer was Oil of Olay. I think most black households in the US had cocoa butter and a jar of Vaseline. I steered clear of Nadionola and Bleach and Glow, but those were popular too.
I was lucky that coaches saw potential in me. My talent in the high jump enabled me to receive an athletic scholarship to college in Texas. Sports requires a commitment but can open doors, as we can see at the Olympics this week. Good luck to the track and field team and all the athletes.
Always think of Cleopatra Jones when someone calls you “Too Tall Jones”. Say to them, “Yeah, six foot–two of dynamite and fully stacked!” #WeTallGals!
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