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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nUrla Hill, who graduated from Independence High in 1981, had seen a photo of Smith and Carlos\u2019 Black Power salute. But not until Hill enrolled at San Jose State did she develop a passion to explore the era that produced the salute. Her father\u2019s employment with United Airlines allowed her to take trips around the country to collect information and memorabilia. And now, as guest curator for the exhibit, she can finally show off her hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt feels really good to see it come together,\u201d Hill said recently as she tended to the exhibit\u2019s final touches. \u201cAnd I think my parents are going to feel even better about it. They probably want to see what I\u2019ve been doing all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hill has indeed been busy. Besides all of the above, the exhibit includes a jacket from Olympic discus thrower John Powell, a protest banner that reads \u201cLET US MARCH!\u201d and a mural painted at SJSU that depicts Smith and Carlos and is defaced with angry graffiti that reads \u201cDAMN COMMIES.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neat stuff. But the best museum exhibits \u2013 in sports or otherwise \u2013 do not just display neat stuff. The best exhibits explain why the neat stuff matters. And what it signifies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cSpeed City\u201d exhibit makes a stab at an answer. Hill\u2019s interpretation points the arrow at several equality-minded coaches who landed at San Jose State during and just after World War II. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among them was Bud Winter, a track and field genius. In 1939, the San Jose State yearbook shows no black athletes. By 1942, a picture of the track team coached by Winter includes four. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, a military veteran named DeWitt Portal had also arrived as the school\u2019s boxing coach. In the service, he had met Menendez, an Hispanic kid from East St. Louis. When the war ended, Portal invited Menendez to enroll at San Jose State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere were people angry at Portal for doing that because Menendez didn\u2019t speak English well,\u201d Hill says. \u201cSo what does Menendez do? He majors in English, graduates from San Jose State magna cum laude and then goes on to Stanford and earns a master\u2019s degree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Portal died, Menendez took over the boxing team and followed Portal\u2019s non-discriminatory practices. By that time, San Jose had also become home base for Yosh Uchida, a Japanese-American veteran who started the school\u2019s judo team after the war and eventually became the U.S. national team\u2019s first coach, at the 1964 Olympics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A photo of Yoshida\u2019s team from that year shows faces of all races, including a Native American named Ben \u201cNighthorse\u201d Campbell, who went on to become a U.S. senator from Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This multicultural stew, combined with the outspoken nature of certain San Jose State faculty members, created the energy that led to the Mexico City moment. Hill would love to locate the two black gloves that were lifted skyward by Smith and Carlos. But their whereabouts remain a mystery. Instead, she is settling for something more tasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems that in the 1950s and \u201960s, many downtown restaurants would not serve the men. Winter and his wife took it upon themselves to keep his athletes from starving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBud\u2019s wife would cook pies or cakes as a reward for winning races,\u201d Hill said. \u201cTommie Smith\u2019s favorite was her pineapple upside-down cake. We got the recipe. We\u2019re going to serve it at our reception opening night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/8floz.net\/speedcity\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2023\/04\/DeWittPortal_JuliusMenendez_Ronnie_Bout.jpg\")
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