Charles Edward "Charlie" Greene (March 21, 1945 – March 14, 2022) was an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

sprinter and winner of the gold medal in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. Born in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...

, Greene was considered a certain candidate for the 1964 Olympic team, but he suffered a muscle pull which held him to a sixth-place finish at the Olympic Trials. Greene won the

100-yard dash 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

for

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the school was built. O'Dea is a part of the Ar ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 1962 and 1963 and also the 220-yard dash in 1963. Greene won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships in the

in 1966 and in the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

in 1968. At the 1968 AAU Championships, Greene tied the 100 m

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

twice. First in the heats, he equaled the world record of 10.0 seconds. In the second semifinal, he achieved a time of 9.9 seconds, the same time which had been run by

Jim Hines James Ray Hines (born September 10, 1946) is a retired American track and field athlete and NFL player, who held the 100-meter world record for 15 years. In 1968, he became the first man to officially break the 10-second barrier in the 100 me ...

and

Ronnie Ray Smith Ronald Ray Smith (March 28, 1949 – March 31, 2013) was an American athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He attended San Jose State College during the "Speed City" era, coached by Lloyd (Bud) W ...

in the previous race. The evening when the three men equaled the world record (and several others were very close), June 20, 1968, at Hughes Stadium in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

has been dubbed by track and field historians as the "

Night of Speed The Night of Speed was the rare occurrence when three men set the world record in the 100 metres in the same History On Thursday, June 20, 1968, two semi-final races were held as part of the AAU National Championships held at Hughes Stadium in ...

". As a

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

student, Greene won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships in the 100-yard dash from 1965 to 1967 and tied the world record at 9.1 seconds. At the 1968 Olympics in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, Greene felt pain in his left hamstring late in the race and was third in the 100-meter dash. He was the fastest man in the trials and semifinals, but before the final race he was injured although started anyway with a bandaged leg. Despite the injury, he also led off the American 4 × 100 metres relay team which won the gold medal and set a new world record of 38.24 seconds. Following his athletic career, Greene became a United States Army officer, serving as the sprint coach at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

and head coach of the All-Army team. After retiring from the Army with the rank of Major, he became a director for

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

International. In 2007, Charles Greene became the sprints coach at

Lincoln Northeast High School Lincoln Northeast High School is a public high school in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Lincoln Public Schools district and was established in 1941 when three rival schools (Bethany, Havelock and Jackson) were combined into o ...

in Lincoln, Nebraska. He coached multiple state qualifiers in his first year along with the state's third-place 4 × 100 metres relay team of Logan Reising, Brian May, Tory Berks, and AJ Robinson. Greene, who spent most of his childhood in Seattle, Washington, was slowed down later in life due to a number of medical complications and surgeries. He died in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

on March 14, 2022, at the age of 76.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Charles 1945 births 2022 deaths African-American male track and field athletes American male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) Nebraska Cornhuskers men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Track and field athletes from Arkansas Track and field athletes from Seattle USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople