Milt Campbell
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | ||
Representing the  United States
|
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| Olympic Games | ||
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1956 Melbourne | Decathlon |
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1952 Helsinki | Decathlon |
| No. 48 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Fullback | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Date of birth: | December 9, 1933 | ||||||
| Place of birth: | Plainfield, New Jersey | ||||||
| Date of death: | November 2, 2012 (aged 78) | ||||||
| Place of death: | Gainesville, Georgia | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 217 lb (98 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school: | Plainfield (NJ) | ||||||
| College: | Indiana | ||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1957 / Round: 5 / Pick: 53 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||||||
| Rushing yards: | 23 |
|---|---|
| Rush attempts: | 7 |
| Player stats at NFL.com | |
Milton Gray Campbell (December 9, 1933 – November 2, 2012) was an American decathlete of the 1950s. In 1956, he became the first African American to win the gold medal in the decathlon of the Summer Olympic Games.
Campbell was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. At Plainfield High School he competed in track, football and swimming. He then enrolled at the Indiana University (Bloomington), where he played football and ran track.
While a student at Plainfield High School, Campbell won a place on the 1952 Olympic team in the decathlon. Although just 18 years old, Campbell finished second to Bob Mathias in the decathlon. Campbell set New Jersey state records in the high and low hurdles and in the high jump, and scored 140 points as fullback in football. He was inducted into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1997. He was Track and Field News "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1952.
In 1956 at Melbourne, Campbell won the gold medal. He narrowly missed a world record. He did however set the Olympic record of 7937 at the Melbourne Olympics.
Campbell was also an excellent swimmer as a youth. An all around athlete, Campbell was drafted by the NFL Cleveland Browns in 1957 and played one season in the same backfield as Jim Brown. Milt was released from the Cleveland Browns by owner Paul Brown for marrying a white woman. He then played for several years in the Canadian Football League, ending his football career in 1964.
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