Margaret Rejean Matthews (born August 5, 1935) is 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 ...

athlete who mainly competed in the

100 meters 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 ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

events. She competed for United States in the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. Matthews, a native Atlantan and captain of the TSU Tigerbelles, captured the bronze medal in the 4 × 100 meters with three of her U.S. teammates

Mae Faggs Aeriwentha ("Mae") Faggs Starr (April 10, 1932 in Mays Landing, New Jersey – January 27, 2000 in Cincinnati) was an American athlete who mainly competed in the sprint events. She graduated from Bayside High School, and then went to Tennessee S ...

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. ...

and

Isabelle Daniels Isabelle Frances Daniels (later ''Holston''; July 31, 1937 – September 8, 2017) was an American sprinter. Daniels attended Tennessee State University, where she was part of their Amateur Athletic Union, AAU champion relay team for 5 years ...

. Matthews was the first American woman to leap a record 20 feet in the

. At the 1956 Olympic trials in Washington, D.C. she set an American record of 19 feet, 9 inches. She won the national AAU outdoor meet four straight times from 1956 to 1959. In 1958 she set a new American long jump record of 20 feet, one inch. She won a silver medal in the long jump at the 1959 Pan American Games. Matthews was born in

Griffin, Georgia Griffin is a city in and the county seat of Spalding County, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 23,478. Griffin was founded in 1840 and named for landowner Col. Lewis Lawr ...

. She was the first person in her family to finish high school and has devoted 35 years to public education in Memphis. Her son, Barry Todd Wilburn, played professional football in the NFL. In 1997 she was inducted into the

Georgia Sports Hall of Fame The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in Macon, Georgia. It is the largest state sports hall of fame in the United States at . Exhibitions The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Induc ...

References

1935 births Living people Sportspeople from Griffin, Georgia American female sprinters Tennessee State Lady Tigers track and field athletes Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1959 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games Olympic female sprinters {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub