Dr. Nell Jackson, Women’s Track Coach • 1970

Jackson led the Illinois women to the 1970 National Championship for women's track and field. She was the Olympic women’s track and field head coach in 1956 and 1972. Jackson was inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame in 1989 and is considered one of the pioneers in women’s track and field. At the time of her death, she was the secretary of The Athletics Congress (TAC; now USATF) and had previously been a TAC vice president. While a student at Tuskegee Institute, she was a member of the 1948 Olympic team and also competed in the first Pan American Games in 1951, winning a silver medal in the 200-meter dash. Jackson set an American record in the 200 meters in 1949 and won two national titles for Tuskegee University 1950 in the 200 meters and 4x100-meter relay. After her competitive career as an athlete, Jackson became coach at Tuskegee, Illinois State, Illinois and Michigan State. She was the first Black coach to be named head coach of the U.S. Olympic team, men’s or women’s, as well as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Olympic Committee’s board of directors. Jackson is honored in several Halls of Fame, among them the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, the Black Athletes Hall of Fame, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the Women’s Sports Foundation Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. From 1973-81, she served as the first Assistant Director of Athletics for Women at Michigan State and also served as MSU’s women’s track and field head coach for six seasons. A native of Athens, Georgia, Jackson died in 1988 at 58 years of age.