On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, 32 Olympians confirmed attendance, including the oldest living Olympian, for the screening of Dr. Herbert P. Douglas Jr. and Robert Lott’s powerful documentary Renaissance Period of the African American in Sports which was shown to a host of VIPs and tastemakers at Morehouse College’s Bank of America Auditorium in the Shirley Massey Conference Center. The event was produced by Everett & Associates and Rivers Production Inc. The film is “a tribute to nine track and field medalists in the 1936 Olympics who shattered records and stereotypes.”
Douglas, 93, was the oldest living Olympian in the room. An Olympic medalist, he won a Bronze medal for the long jump during the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and is a mentee of the incomparable Jesse Owens. Douglas was a groundbreaking senior Hennessy executive and is a living example of the Hennessy mantra, “Never stop. Never settle.”
Other notables included Bob Beamon who leapt into history when he broke the record becoming the first 29-foot long jumper during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. This was 10½ inches farther than his previous best; John Carlos (Bronze) famous for the Black power salute during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. William Harrison “Bones” Dillard (1948, London Summer Olympics; and 1952, Helsinki Summer Olympics) is an American former track and field athlete, the only male so far to win Olympic titles in both sprinting and hurdling events. As well as medalist Edwin Moses, who won gold medals in the 400 m hurdles at the 1976 (Los Angeles) and 1984 (Montreal) Olympics.
