U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

It's that time again! It's Olympic month, y'all! We thought we'd take this opportunity to share some Olympians from our own home state of Mississippi. For the sake of length, I've only included medalists in this post.

 Let's take it on back to the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. Lee Calhoun took home gold in the 110m hurdles. Not to be shown up in 1960, Calhoun took gold AGAIN. Here's Calhoun with one of his medals! Calhoun was born in Laurel, MS.

The 1960 Olympics took place in Rome, Italy. While Calhoun was leaving everyone in the dust in 110m hurdles, Ralph Boston was bounding ahead of the competition in the Men's Long Jump event where he took home gold. Boston also took home silver in the long jump at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, and bronze at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Boston was born in Laurel, MS. Below is Ralph Boston completing a  jump at the Olympics in 1964.

Also competing in Mexico City in 1968 was Hattiesburg, MS native, Barbara Ferrell. Ferrell won gold and silver medals in the 1968 Olympics. She won gold in the 4x100m relay, and silver in the 100m race. The photo below shows Ferrell streaking out ahead of her competition.

Mississippi didn't have another Olympic medalist until 1984 when Calvin Smith competed in the Olympic Games that were held in Los Angeles, CA. Smith won gold in the men's 4x100m relay. He medaled again in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea, where he took home bronze for the men's 100m race. Smith is a native of Bolton, MS. The photo below shows Smith blasting out of the starting blocks!

Not far from Bolton, the town of Clinton was watching with baited breath as one of their own competed in the 1988 Games. Larry Myricks won the bronze medal in the men's long jump! Below is Myricks mid jump.

The most recent Mississippian to take home a medal is Otis Harris of Edwards, MS who took home silver and gold in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Harris and his teammates won gold in the men's 4x400 relay, and he won silver in the men's 400m race. The photo below shows Otis (far left) and his teammates after claiming gold.

And now we get to cheer on another Mississippian in the games in London this summer! Trell Kimmons, of Coldwater, MS, is headed across the pond to represent the U.S. of A, and the Magnolia State! 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Harris

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/my/larry-myricks-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Ferrell

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bo/ralph-boston-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Calhoun

Oh, Mother, Look--A Lady Angel.

Elisabeth found this awesome ad while looking through some microfilm last week. I wish the quality were better, but that’s just because I’ve become spoiled by the 21st century. But could the 21st century bring us this?



Only in a John Waters movie!

The text is smallish, so here are the highlights:


Return Sensational Match
You Must See Horror Face
Tonight at 8:30 PM
City Auditorium – Jackson, MS
Out of This World Comes the Only One Alive

LADY ANGEL
WORLD’S UGLIEST GIRL WRESTLER

The Lady Angel, Only One Alive
THE ONLY GIRL BALD-HEAD COMING FROM EUROPE
THE HORROR-FACE—SHE MAKES WOMEN FAINT,
CHILDREN CRY, OH MOTHER LOOK—A LADY ANGEL

I’m going to have to do some research and come back with a longer post about the Lady Angel, but a quick search revealed this photo is available on eBay:

Goooooooal!

Are you suffering from World Cup soccer withdrawal yet? If so, here's one last tantalizing taste. (If not, what, are you made of stone?!) I think you would have to be after seeing this goal at the 1:35 mark.

After that down-to-the-wire goal (It truly was a magnificent goal! They were about to move to a shootout, of which I am not a fan!), I wanted to see a list of the tally of winners over the years. I always need to see things in writing; I guess I process information better that way. I visited the FIFA World Cup Archive page and dug up this:

5 wins   Brazil
4 wins   Italy
3 wins   Germany
2 wins   Argentina
2 wins   Uruguay
1 win   England
1 win   France
1 win   Spain

Am I the only one that didn't know that Uruguay had won two and that the very first World Cup was held in Montevideo? Or did the rest of you also fall victim to the downfall of watching soccer on a big screen with no sound? Be sure to poke around some more on the FIFA site. You can see footage from old World Cup games, photos, and just about any nitpicky statistic you could dream up.

Maybe if I scour the site often enough, I'll understand all the rules by the time Brazil 2014 rolls around. You think?