NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ed Temple, the former Tennessee State track and field coach who led the U.S. women's team to 15 Olympic gold medals and helped break down racial and gender barriers in the sport, died Thursday night. He was 89.
Temple's daughter, Edwina, told Tennessee State officials that her father died after a lengthy illness. He celebrated his birthday Tuesday.
Temple coached the women's track team at Tennessee State, formerly Tennessee A&I, from 1953 to 1994. He was head coach of the U.S. Olympics women's teams in 1960 and 1964 and assistant coach in 1980.
One of the athletes he coached at TSU, Wilma Rudolph, became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympics, in Rome in 1960.