Wilhelm Delano Meriwether (born April 23, 1943) is an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and a former

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 eve ...

athlete. He is best known for having been the head of the

United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

immunization program during the

1976 swine flu outbreak In 1976, an outbreak of the swine flu, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 at Fort Dix, New Jersey caused one death, hospitalized 13, and led to a mass immunization program. After the program began, the vaccine was associated with an increase in repor ...

and as the 1971 US outdoor track and field champion in 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. ...

Early life

Meriwether was born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, United States to parents who were teachers. His father, Wilhelm R. Meriwether, in time became a principal of Burke High School in Charleston, South Carolina where the younger Meriwether was educated. At Burke he played

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

on the school band and was a member of the Science Club. His sporting involvement at high school was limited as he was considered too small for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and football. Meriwether graduated from Burke in 1960. While still at high school Meriwether worked in a veterinary hospital having already won an award from the

American Veterinary Medical Association The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), founded in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 99,500 veterinarians in the US. The AVMA provides information resources, continuing education opportunities, publicati ...

as a 16-year-old for research on internal parasites found in dogs. After graduating from high school he received a scholarship to study at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

; taking pre-veterinary studies for two years before switching to

pre-medical Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...

. After three years he graduated from Michigan State and became the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

to be accepted into

Duke University School of Medicine The Duke University School of Medicine, commonly known as Duke Med, is the medical school of Duke University. It is located in the Collegiate Gothic-style West Campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The School of Medicine, along w ...

, graduating with honors in 1967 and then obtained a

Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health or Master of Philosophy in Public Health (M.P.H.), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.), International Masters for Healt ...

from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

Medicine

After graduating from Duke, Meriwether took his internship at the

Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (MSHMC) is a 628-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, servicing the Central Pennsylvania area. MSHMC is the region's only university-le ...

, before starting a residency at

Ohio State University Medical Center The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, on the main campus of The Ohio State University. For 29 consecutive years, '' U.S. News & World Report'' has ...

. He later specialized in

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the pro ...

, the study of blood, and had a number of papers published. In the early 1970s he worked researching

Leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

at the Baltimore Cancer Research Center, and was a 1973-1974

White House Fellow The White House Fellows program is a federal fellowship program established via Executive Order by President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964, based upon a suggestion from John W. Gardner, then the president of Carnegie Cor ...

. In 1976 Meriwether, as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Health, was appointed Director of the

United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant ...

's National Influenza Immunization Program (NIIP). The NIIP sought to immunize over 200 million people against

swine influenza Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As ...

within six months. This program faced much opposition as many doctors, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies refused to take responsibility for mishaps. Meriwether became the public face of this campaign. In 1983 he moved to

Gazankulu Gazankulu was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government to be a semi-independent homeland for the Tsonga people. It was located in both the Northern Transvaal, now Limpopo province and Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

where he worked as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

doctor and was one of six physicians treating a half million people. He later worked and lived in the

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a se ...

township. Meriwether returned to the United States in 1990 working as an

Emergency Room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pa ...

doctor.

Athletics

Meriwether began competitive running in 1970 while working at the Baltimore Cancer Research Center. In order to train Meriwether would scale a fence at the nearby

athletics track and would run at night in the dark. Due to his relative inexperience and unique attire, Meriwether drew the attention of the news media; appearing on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'' posing in his running gear, and also featured in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

''. Meriwether made his mark as a runner at the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census ...

in June 1971 when he won the

. His appearance at the event was unusual for a number of reasons. He was unattached to any educational institution and he was wearing a hospital shirt, gold and white

suspenders Suspenders (American English, Canadian English), or braces (British English, Australian English) are fabric or leather straps worn over the shoulders to hold up skirts or trousers. The straps may be elasticated, either entirely or only at a ...

and swimming trunks. The most remarkable element of the day was the time he recorded for the

. In recording a nine-second 100-yard he became the second runner to run the distance in nine seconds flat, the other being

John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional American football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power sal ...

, however Meriwether's time did not count as a record as the run was

wind assisted In track and field, wind assistance is the benefit that an athlete receives during a race or event as registered by a wind gauge. Wind is one of many forms of weather that can affect sport. Due to a tailwind helping to enhance the speed of the at ...

. In 1972 Meriwether was the United States Indoor Track and Field Champion, but due to a knee injury he was unable to compete for selection for the United States 1972 Olympic Games team. After another injury prevented his chances of being selected for the 1976 Olympics, he retired from regular competition to concentrate on medicine. For a number of years he ran in masters events and his 200-meter run of 20.8 seconds in 1978 is still a current national record in the 35-39 age group.

Personal life

Delano is married to Nomvimbi Meriwether, who runs a travel agency specializing in tours of Africa. Their daughter,

Nana Meriwether Nana Meriwether (born May 24, 1985) is an American philanthropist, former professional volleyball player, and beauty pageant titleholder. She competed at Miss USA 2012, representing Maryland, and finished as the first runner-up. On December 19, ...

(b. 1985) represented

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

in the 2012

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

Pageant and was named the New Miss USA 2012 on December 19, after current Miss USA Olivia Culpo became Miss Universe 2012.

Popular culture

The novel Bethany Park, by Glen Sharp, tells the story of a boy inspired to run after reading of Dr Meriwether's athletic endeavors in Sports Illustrated.

References

External links

Sports Illustrated cover featuring Delano Meriwether
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meriwether, Delano 1943 births Living people American male sprinters African-American track and field athletes American male track and field athletes Duke University School of Medicine alumni Ford administration personnel American hematologists Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Michigan State University alumni Ohio State University faculty Pennsylvania State University faculty Sportspeople from Charleston, South Carolina Sportspeople from Nashville, Tennessee Track and field athletes from South Carolina Track and field athletes from Tennessee University of Maryland, Baltimore faculty American masters athletes White House Fellows USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field)