Notable Deaths in 2021
Lee Evans
Sprinter Lee Evans (February 25, 1947-May 19, 2021), an NCAA champion, set Olympic records in the 400 meter and the 4×400 meter relay at the 1968 Mexico City Games. As a founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (formed to combat housing discrimination at his university), Evans had prepared to protest against racism at the Olympics. But after teammates Tommie Smith and John Carlos were sent home for raising their fists on the winners’ podium, Evans was warned by officials not to repeat their act.
Evans told Counterpunch in 2004 that he was prepared to sit out the rest of the Games after Smith and Carlos were ejected. “I wanted to go home. I said I wasn’t going to run. But Tommy and John, they came to me and said I better run and I better win.”
After winning the 400, Evans wore a black beret on the podium, in sympathy to the Black Panther Party. “After what Tommy and John did, what anybody else did was like little or nothing,” Evans said. But it was enough to attract death threats.
A San Jose State graduate and Fulbright scholar, Evans followed his Olympic success with professional competition, before coaching track teams in Africa (including three Olympic medal winners from Nigeria), the Middle East, and at South Alabama University. He also coached for the U.S. Special Olympics.
