Wallace Spearmon Sr. (born September 3, 1962) is an American former sprinter. He is the father of Wallace Spearmon Jr. He attended the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

and competed collegiately for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

under coach

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. A member of the Labour Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington since 1997. ...

. While there he became a two-time

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n at the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships and helped the team to the overall title in 1985. He set bests of 10.23 seconds for the 100-meter dash and 20.36 seconds for the

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

while at Arkansas. At the 1985

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...

meet, he was the anchor leg for the 4×100-meter relay and 4×200-meter relay and took the Arkansas Razorbacks to their first titles in those events at the carnival, in its then 90-year history. Spearmon represented his country internationally over 200 m several times. His first international medal came at the

1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. The Ga ...

, where he was a bronze medallist close behind fellow American

Dwayne Evans Dwayne Eugene Evans (born October 13, 1958) is an American athlete who mainly competed in the 200 meters. He competed for the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he won the bronze medal in the men's ...

, making it a sweep for the United States as

Floyd Heard Floyd Wayne Heard (born March 24, 1966, in West Point, Mississippi) is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States, best known for setting the 1986 world's best year performance in the men's 200 m. He did so on 7 July 1986 at a mee ...

topped the podium. A year later he won two gold medals at the

1987 Summer Universiade The 1987 Summer Universiade, also known as the XIV Summer Universiade, took place in Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. It involved participants from 111 countries and over 6,000 individual sportspersons and members of teams. Infrastructural cha ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

. First, he defeated Heard to win the 200 m title, and then the pair teamed up with Lee McRae and

Lorenzo Daniel Lorenzo Daniel (born March 23, 1966) is an American retired track and field sprinter, best known for setting the 1985 world's best year performance in the men's 200 meters and being one of the fastest to run the event at the time. He did so on M ...

to secure the 4×100 m gold medals. The relay win was the start of a long winning streak for the United States in that event, which lasted until 2001. Returning to the United States, he was chosen for the team for the 1987 Pan American Games held in Indianapolis. A run of 20.53 seconds brought him the 200 m bronze medal, with Heard and Brazil's Robson Caetano da Silva getting the better of him. That year he set a personal best of 20.27 seconds for the 200 m in

Rhede Rhede () is a municipality in the district of Borken in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivis ...

, Germany. He competed for his nation at the global level, reaching the 200 m semi-finals at the

1987 World Championships in Athletics The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987. Men's results Track 1983 , 1987 ...

. He had a son – Wallace Spearmon Jr. – in 1984 and encouraged him to also take up track sprinting. He coached his son for a long period and continued on as mentor. His son ultimately bettered his father's achievements by winning three individual medals and a relay gold at the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

, in addition to a national record indoors in the 200 m.Wallace Spearmon Junior Honours
IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-04-24.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spearmon, Wallace Sr. 1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Arkansas American male sprinters African-American male track and field athletes Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Universiade gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople