Wilma Rudolph 'wows' the Chautauqua crowd

By DONNA HICKMAN
Daily Journal Staff Writer

Friday, July 18, 2008 11:33 AM CDT

BONNE TERRE — If the North County Cross Country Team came to Chautauqua Thursday night seeking a little inspiration, they got it.

 In an energetic performance sprinkled with humor and history, Sherrie Tolliver brought the Olympic Champion to life. The event continues in a tent behind the new Bonne Terre City Hall tonight and Saturday. Tonight, Hasan Davis performs as Joe Louis, telling the story of the heavyweight champion of the world who became a soldier in World War II. John Moser performs as Howard Cosell on Saturday.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m., preceded at 6:30 p.m. by the Chautauqua Singers and on Saturday night at 6:10 p.m., Andrea and Emily Layden will perform the comedy routine, “Who’s On First?”

About 200 people attended this first night of performances, giving Tolliver, as Rudolph a standing ovation. Among them was Barbara Stotler of Herculaneum who brought her aunt, Marie Thurman. It was their first Chautauqua.

“I remember Wilma Rudolph was in the Olympics when I was a senior in high school,” said Stotler.

“I know she was fast — I’m sure of that!” added Thurman.

Coach Pete Selzer had about a dozen of his cross country athletes attend the show instead of going for a run.

“We have camp this week and I wanted them to get an education about someone who overcame a lot of adversity to become a champion,” he said. “That’s what Wilma Rudolph did.”

Tolliver, the actress from Cleveland, Ohio, wore her own version of Gold Medals around her neck and a patriotically colored jogging suit to transform herself into the runner who made history as the first American woman to win three gold medals. She told the story of the young girl from Clarksville, Tenn., who overcame poverty and polio to set her feet to walking and then running.

“I took off my brace in church and walked right down the center aisle,” said Tolliver in character as Rudolph. “I said to myself now that I can walk, the next thing I’m gonna do is run!”

She began with basketball and bugged the coach so much to put her in, she was nicknamed “Skeeter” -- because she was as pesky as a mosquito. When Tennessee State University Track Coach Ed Temple saw her play, he recognized her potential as a runner and while she was still in high school, he told her she could one day make an Olympic team.

“I didn’t even know what the Olympics were!” she said. “That’s how poor and uneducated I was.”

In 1956, she won a Bronze Medal in the Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

“It was the first time I’d been somewhere and it didn’t matter what color you were or what country you were from, we were all athletes,” she said. When she returned, her hometown wanted to have a parade for her, but she told them only if they did not make it segregated with whites on one side of the street and black on the other. Rudolph was proud of the fact she brought about that change. The Chautauqua audience broke into loud applause.

When she became pregnant while still in high school, she thought her dreams of college were over, but Coach Temple made an exception and let her keep her track scholarship. In June of that year, she graduated from high school. In July she had the baby and in September, she became a freshman at Tennessee State. Her sister would care for her daughter in St. Louis.

In 1960, she returned to the Olympics and in Rome, she won gold in the 100 and 200-meter dash and in anchoring the 400-meter relay. She was named Athlete of the Year and dubbed the “world’s fastest woman.”

“What did you eat before you competed?” asked Cross Country Team Member Taylor Weible.

“I had stomach trouble, so I would eat a little oatmeal, some orange juice and sometimes I could keep it down,” said Tolliver, as Rudolph. “I could relax my body before I ran, but not my stomach.”

Rudolph had a hard time finding her place back in Tennessee after the Olympics, so she started a foundation of her own called Wilma Unlimited, coaching and tutoring children. On Nov. 12, 1994, Rudolph died of cancer at her home at the age of 54.

Tonight, at 5:30 p.m., the Bonne Terre Chamber of Commerce will serve smoked turkey legs, hot dogs, beans and chips and corn on the cob. Desserts will be served by First Christian Church. Saturday, the St. Francois County Rotary Club will grill pork steaks and hot dogs, with beans and chips on the side. The First Congregational Church will serve desserts.

Each night, the North County Band Boosters will sell bottled water, soda and popcorn to benefit their trip next year to perform in Washington, D.C.

The Big River Chautauqua is the longest running privately-funded Chautauqua in Missouri. Super sponsors are State Sen. Kevin Engler of Farmington, Parkland Health Center and First State Community Bank. Mike Layden led Thursday’s audience in a moment of silence to remember Jack Lawson, a longtime Chautauqua committee member who died in June.

To get to Chautauqua from St. Louis, take I-55 South to the U.S. Hwy. 67 exit and go south to the Bonne Terre exit. Turn right. Chautauqua will be on the right on the campus of the old elementary school, currently the Bonne Terre City Hall, with a portion being converted to senior apartments.

From the north, take Hwy. 67 north to the  Bonne Terre exit. Turn left and Chautauqua will be on the right.

Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.

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