Athletics-Track & Field
Al Joyner is a track and field star who won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles for the triple jump, the first American in eight decades to win the event and the first African American. He attended Arkansas State University, where he later returned as a coach, and was the winner of the prestigious Jim Thorpe award, honoring the best American field athlete at the Olympics. He was married to the late track legend Florence Griffith, who came to be known as “Flo Jo”.
In 1997, Al was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame, and in 1999 the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. In August 2000, he returned to the track and field staff at UCLA as assistant coach and women’s jump coach.
In 2003, he accepted a job as track coach for the U.S. Olympic Training Center and directs the Flo Jo Community Empowerment Foundation and the Final Kick Marketing Group. Currently, he is training athletes for the 2021 Olympics, but more importantly, he is training others to follow their dreams.
Tracy Sundlun, Paul Nestor and Phil Blair were his sponsors.
