Olympic Gold Medal Athlete. Willie Davenport was an American athlete who ran the 100-meter hurdles in four Summer Games and brought home one Gold Medal. After graduating from high school, he joined the United States Army and was deployed to Germany. While in Germany, he ran for a local track club and qualified for the United States Olympic Trials. He participated in the 110-meter hurdles in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but pulled a thigh muscle during the semifinals, halting his competition. While competing, he was a private in the army. In the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games, he claimed the Gold Medal in the 110 hurdles and a Bronze Medal in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. He had knee surgery months before the 1976 games and was told that he would never compete again. At the age of 33, he knew his track and field days were over. With strong legs, he was approached about joining the United States Bobsledding team in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid. With his two months of experience in this sport, his team finished 12th in the four-man bobsled competition. He was the fourth American to compete in both the summer and winter games. He was one of the first two African Americans to compete in the Winter Olympic Games. Including the bobsled competition, he competed in five Olympic Games: 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980. After retiring from competition, he was an athlete's representative to the U.S. Olympic Committee and was employed by the City of Baton Rouge while continuing to serve in the military in the National Guard. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he was honored as one of the country's 100 Golden Olympians. He suddenly died of a heart attack at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. At the time of his death, he was a colonel in the National Guard. He graduated in 1969 from Southern University A&M, a historically Black college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was a member of the school's award-winning football team for all four years. After high school, he attempted to play professional football and was drafted three times, but contracts never were pleasing. In 1982 he was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. He married, then divorced, and had three children.