'40 years later there's a track in my name'
By Molly Blancett KVAL NewsEUGENE, Ore -- Fighting back tears, a hometown hero returned to the place her journey first began to see a new community track dedicated in her name. "It touches my heart because I grew up here," said Margaret Johnson Bailes. "I went to this school and 40 years later there is a track in my name."
"In 1964 I had predicted when she was only 13 that she would be on the '68 Olympic Team," said Jerome. The odds were against Johnson Bailes. It was the early 60s. She was a woman. And she was black, but she never let that stop her. "There wasn't a race issue," said Johnson Bailes. "It's after you got off the track that it was an issue because as long as you are on the track you are a star. When you got off the track, you were just who you were." Johnson Bailes made the '68 Olympic team. She was just 17-years-old and a student at Churchill High School. She won a gold medal, the first for any athlete from Oregon at the time. Forty years later, Johnson Bailes hasn't lost her love for Eugene or for the kids this track will serve. "No matter what you want to go through or what your dreams are, keep focus and don't let anybody or any circumstance make you discouraged before you follow through," Johnson Bailes told students. Johnson Bailes was almost left out of last years Olympic Trials celebrations. But organizers quickly made amends and produced a video-tribute to her. |
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Johnson Bailes started running in 1963. She was a ninth grader at then-Jefferson Junior High School. That same year, Johnson Bailes met Wendy Jerome. Jerome saw her run and saw something very special.
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