Lorraine Dunn (later ''Davis'', 12 September 1942 – 16 October 2003) was a Panamanian sprinter and

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. She competed 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 indiv ...

at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

and the 1964 Summer Olympics as well as the

80 metres hurdles 80 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling ran by women until 1972 in international competitions. Since the 1972 Summer Olympics, the event has been permanently replaced by the 100 metre hurdles. Masters athletics The distance, with different s ...

in 1964. Dunn finished third in the 200 metres with a time of 24.7 seconds and finished fourth in the 80 metres hurdles at the

1963 Pan American Games The 1963 Pan American Games were held from April 20 to May 5, 1963, in São Paulo, Brazil. Host city selection For the first time, two cities submitted bids to host the 1963 Pan American Games that were recognized by the Pan American Sports O ...

. Dunn's international breakthrough came when she won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the

1959 Central American and Caribbean Games The 8th Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Caracas, Venezuela, and it was the first time this nation had held the Games. The Games were held from 6 January to 15 January 1959 and included 1,150 athletes from twelve nation A nati ...

as a 16-year old. She also won a silver medal in the 80 metres hurdles and a bronze in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the

1962 Central American and Caribbean Games The ninth Central American and Caribbean Games were held in Kingston, the capital city of Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles an ...

Early life

Dunn was born in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

into a family of accomplished athletes. Her father was a competitive weightlifter before becoming an accountant for the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

, and her aunt Josephine Lewis Sampson held many of the country's records in hurdles (these records were in turn later broken by Dunn). In 1960, Dunn, along with her relay teammates Silvia Hunte, Carlota Gooden and Jean Holmes-Mitchell, were the first female athletes to represent

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

at the Olympics. They set a Panamanian 4 x 100 metres women's relay record of 46.66 seconds that was not equalled until 2013. After she graduated from high school in 1961,

Wilma Rudolph Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) was an American sprinter, who became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. ...

's coach, the legendary

Ed Temple Edward Stanley Temple (September 20, 1927 – September 22, 2016) was a women's track and field pioneer and coach. Temple was Head Women's Track and Field Coach at Nashville's Tennessee State University for 44 years and was Head Coach of th ...

, offered her a track scholarship to train under him at

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

. She competed for the powerhouse TSU Tigerbelles and graduated from Tennessee State with honours in 1965. The Tigerbelles dominated US women's track and field during this era. In fact, from 1960 to 1968 they did not lose an AAU National Championship and won nearly every single competitive team meet they participated in during those years.Salisbury, Tracey. (2009) https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Salisbury_uncg_0154D_10304.pdf ''First to the Finish Line: The Tennessee State Tigerbelles 1944‐1994.'' p. 140 In February 1964, Dunn, along with

Wyomia Tyus Wyomia Tyus (pronunciation: ''why-o-mi''; born August 29, 1945) is a retired American track and field sprinter, and the first person to retain the Olympic title in the 100 m (a feat since duplicated by Carl Lewis, Gail Devers, Shelly-Ann Fraser ...

, Vivian Brown and

Edith McGuire Edith Marie McGuire (born June 3, 1944), later known as Edith McGuire Duvall, is an American former sprinter. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, McGuire ran for Tennessee State University. TSU had a very successful women's sprinting team, The Tigerbelle ...

, was on the Tigerbelles relay team that set an indoor world record of 47.5 seconds in the 440 yard relay at the Mason-Dixon Games at

Freedom Hall Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Previously, TSU held the old world mark of 48.3 seconds.

Olympics and beyond

At the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics, Dunn served as the

Panamanian Panamanians (Spanish: ''Panameños'') are people identified with Panama, a transcontinental country in Central America (a region within North America) and South America, whose connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For m ...

flag bearer. In her final year at TSU, Dunn was a member of the women's track and field team that won the AAU National Indoor Championships at Madison Square Garden,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Dunn, Tyus, McGuire and Essie Crews made up the 640 yard relay team which won the event in a time of 1:11.7 after running a heat in a record-breaking 1:11.5. After retiring from competitive athletics, Dunn settled in Peoria, Illinois and worked as an accountant for Caterpillar and

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over ...

. In 1974, she briefly coached the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

women’s cross-country and track teams."Another Milestone", Chicago Tribune, 5 February 1975 p.55 Soon after, she moved to Fairfax County, Virginia and worked as an accountant for the

National Bar Association The National Bar Association (NBA) was founded in 1925 and is the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 65,000 lawyers, judges, law profess ...

. She was a member of the Northern Virginia chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta service sorority and past president of its educational and community service foundation. Dunn was past treasurer of both the Fairfax County Committee of 100 and the Fairfax County-wide PTA; a member of the Williamsburg Manor Civic Association; the

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

; the NAACP; the Northern Virginia League of Women Voters; and St. Joseph's Catholic Church in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

. On 13 January 2000, in a statement which appeared in the newspaper El Siglo, the then-President of Panama,

Mireya Moscoso Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez de Arias (born July 1, 1946) is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first female president. Born into a rural family, Moscoso became active in t ...

, expressed her sincere appreciation to all Panamanian athletes who throughout the 20th century gave all of their effort to honour the country, nationally and internationally. Lorraine Dunn was among those athletes mentioned by name, along with the likes of

Roberto Durán Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as w ...

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman, second baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins ...

and

Lloyd LaBeach Lloyd Barrington LaBeach (28 June 1922 – 19 February 1999) was a Panamanian sprinter, who won two bronze medals during the 1948 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic medals for Panama and for Central America. He also competed in the lon ...

. Dunn died of a heart attack in 2003. Survivors include her husband, John Davis of Alexandria; a daughter, Aisha Davis of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

; a son, Kiilu Davis of Scottsdale; a sister, Lydia Harris; and two grandsons and a granddaughter. She was preceded in death by her youngest sister, Raquel Octavia Dunn.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Lorraine 1942 births 2003 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Panamanian female sprinters Panamanian female hurdlers Olympic athletes of Panama Athletes (track and field) at the 1959 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1963 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for Panama Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Competitors at the 1959 Central American and Caribbean Games Competitors at the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Panama Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Panama Central American and Caribbean Games bronze medalists for Panama Sportspeople from Panama City Tennessee State Lady Tigers track and field athletes Panamanian emigrants to the United States Panamanian Roman Catholics African-American Catholics Kansas Jayhawks track and field coaches Kansas Jayhawks cross country coaches Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics National Bar Association Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people