Louise Stokes

Louise Mae Stokes Fraser (October 27, 1913 – March 25, 1978) was an American track and field athlete.

Biography

The oldest of six children,[1] Louise Mae Stokes was born in Malden, Massachusetts on October 27, 1913,[2] to William, a gardener, and Mary Wesley Stokes, a domestic. She started running while a student at Beebe Junior High,[1] where she was a center for the basketball team.[3] In 1930, one of her basketball teammates, Kathryn Robley, impressed by her speed, suggested Stokes to join her in the Onteora Track Club,[2] whose sponsor, Malden park commissioner William H. Quaine, knew of Stokes' reputation.[4] Soon, Stokes started winning the sprints and jumping events.[5]

While a junior in Malden High School in 1931, Stokes won the James Michael Curley Cup for the best women's performance at the Mayor's Day track meet, including a New England record 12.6 seconds in the 100-meter dash.[1] In December of that year, she tied the world record for women's standing broad jump at 8 feet 5 3/4 inches.[6] At the 1932 United States Olympic Trials, competed in the 100 meters, where she placed third,[7] earning her a spot in the 4 × 100 meter relay pool, making her and Tidye Pickett the first African-American Women to be selected for the Olympics, although coach George Vreeland left them out at the final relay lineup.[5] In Los Angeles, Stokes was given a compact by film star Janet Gaynor.[2]

Stokes continued running, and at the 1936 United States Olympic Trials, she again competed in the 100 meters, winning both her heat and her semi-final.[7] She was leading the final until a costly error pushed her back to fifth.[2] Still, it was good enough for her to become a part of the 4 x 100 meter relay pool. Stokes' hometown of Malden raised $680 in order that she may compete in Berlin.[5] Although she did not compete at the Olympics, she was still given a hero's welcome in Malden.[1]

Stokes was considering to compete at the 1940 Olympics before its cancellation due to World War II.[5] In 1941, she founded the Colored Women's Bowling League, and for the next three decades won many awards.[5] In 1944, she married Caribbean cricketer Wilfred Fraser and had a son, Wilfred, Jr., as well as a stepdaughter, Shirley.[1] From 1957 to 1975, she worked as a clerk for the Massachusetts Department of Corporations and Taxation.[5] She died on March 25, 1978.[1]

Malden, Massachusetts have honored her with a fieldhouse with her name in Roosevelt Park, and a statue in the Malden High Courtyard.

References
  1. "Louise Stokes Fraser". Massachusetts Hall of Black Achievement. January 1999. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  2. Stout, Glenn (2011-04-04). Yes, She Can!: Women's Sports Pioneers. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780547574097.
  3. "Sports History Forgot About Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, Two Black Olympians Who Never Got Their Shot". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  4. Gissendanner, Cindy Himes (1996-06-01). "African American Women Olympians: The Impact of Race, Gender, and Class Ideologies, 1932–1968". Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 67 (2): 172–182. doi:10.1080/02701367.1996.10607941. ISSN 0270-1367. PMID 8835996.
  5. "BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Louise Stokes Fraser". Malden, MA Patch. 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  6. Jr., Gates, Henry Louis; 1945-, Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks; Research., W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American (2004-01-01). African American lives. Oxford University Press. OCLC 53361279.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. Hymans, Richard (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field" (PDF). USA Track & Field. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 20, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
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