Copyright 2014 Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri, All rights reserved tsup.truman.edu

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2 Copyright 2014 Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri, All rights reserved tsup.truman.edu Cover art: Helen Stephens crossing the finish line at the 1936 Olympics, courtesy of William Woods University, Office of Advancement; John Woodruff s gold medal from the 1936 Olympics, image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Cover design: Teresa Wheeler Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Offutt, Jason, 1965 Helen Stephens : the Fulton Flash / Jason Offutt. pages cm -- (Notable Missourians) Audience: Grades 4 to 6. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN (alkaline paper) ISBN (ebook) 1. Stephens, Helen, Juvenile literature. 2. Women athletes United States Biography Juvenile literature. 3. Athletes United States Biography Juvenile literature. 4. Track and field athletes United States Biography Juvenile literature. 5. Basketball players United States Biography Juvenile literature. 6. Olympic Games (11th : 1936 : Berlin, Germany) Juvenile literature. 7. Fulton (Mo.) Biography Juvenile literature. I. Title. GV697.S694O dc23 [B] No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means without written permission from the publisher. The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z

3 Contents Introduction Chapter 1: A Born Runner Chapter 2: Olympic Champion Chapter 3: Basketball Star Chapter 4: Hall of Famer Chapter 5: Never Stopped Running Legacy: Athletic Champion Timeline For Future Reading Index Image Credits

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5 Introduction It all started in a pair of dirty sneakers. In 1934, fifteen-year-old Helen Stephens, wearing a pair of old shoes borrowed from a classmate, was running with other girls in her tenth-grade class at Fulton High School. Helen loved to run and she ran fast. Helen ran so fast she passed by all of her classmates. The coach timed her and found that Helen tied the women s world record for the 50-meter race. The school did not have any athletic teams for girls, but the coach worked with Helen and helped her train to run in track and field events. Three years later, Helen went to Berlin, Germany, as a member of the United States Olympic team. She set a world record and people started calling her The Fulton Flash. J 5

6 Chapter 1 A Born Runner Helen Stephens was born on February 3, She grew up on a farm outside the small town of Fulton, Missouri. Her mother, Bertie Mae, wanted Helen to learn to play the piano, but Helen wanted to be outside. She said she just couldn t sit still long enough to do anything but read. Helen did something many girls didn t do at that time she helped out on the farm. She herded cattle, planted crops, and threw hay 6

7 bales. That s how her long sports career began, with healthy farm life and hard work. Helen always liked to run and she was always fast. She ran faster than all the other girls in Fulton and all the local boys her age. She ran everywhere, even to school. Her cousin Helen grew up on a farm near Fulton in Callaway County. Later in her life Helen said that from an early age she was eating wholesome food, breathing clean country air, and getting a lot of exercise. She thought those things helped her become a great athlete. 7

8 Chapter 2 Olympic Champion Helen s dream of being the world s fastest runner became real in high school. In physical education class, coach W. Burton Moore had the girls run the 50-yard dash. When he timed the girls, fifteen-year-old Helen ran the race faster than anyone in the school. In fact, she ran the 50 yards as fast as world record holder Elizabeth Robinson. Coach Moore was amazed at Helen s time. He thought his watch must 12

9 not be working right, so he had it checked. His watch was fine; Helen really was that fast. Helen also tied the world record for the standing broad jump. This was amazing for a young girl who had trained herself. Burton knew Helen was special. He showed her how she was supposed to run. With Coach Moore took Helen to her first race in St. Louis, over the objections of the school superintendent. Moore paid Helen s entry fee into the race himself. She won that race. 13

10 Chapter 4 Hall of Famer In 1955, Helen was called Missouri s best woman athlete of all time when she was inducted into America s Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1964, she was the first woman elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. The Associated Press news agency called her one of the most outstanding athletes in the last fifty years. She was named to the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame and the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 32

11 1975. She was inducted into the International Women s Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and in 1993, she was named to the National Women s Hall of Fame. Even many years after she won her gold medals in the Olympics, everyone knew how good Helen was at running. Since Helen had become a very famous person, she wanted to use her fame to Sports make sports friendlier for Equality girls. As early as 1956, Helen In 1972, the law was making speeches and made sure girls talking to reporters about the and boys would importance of school athletic be treated fairly programs, especially programs areas. One thing for girls. She said, We must give our young a well-balanced program and encourage them schools began to take part and said that to offer as many school sports programs should sports programs develop interest in our youth, for girls as were particularly the girls, in sports known as Title IX in many different that changed due to this law is that all across America, offered for boys. 33

12 Legacy Athletic Champion Helen Stephens, the Fulton Flash, grew up on a farm in a small town at a time when schools didn t have athletic programs for girls. From there she went on to become one of the most well-known athletes of her time. She set world records while winning two Olympic gold medals. She was also the first woman to own and manage a basketball team, and she set records as a senior athlete. Her wins and records on the field were important, but Helen should also be remembered as a person who worked hard to make sports more available to girls. The Fulton Flash was a champion on the track and field and off. J 44

13 Timeline February 3, 1918: Helen Stephens was born in Fulton, Missouri. 1927: Helen had a dream she was a world champion runner. 1934: Her high school gym teacher timed her in the 50-yard dash. At fifteen years old, she tied a world record. 1935: In March, Helen ran her first race and won. She beat the world record holder. People started calling her The Fulton Flash. In the fall, Helen went to William Woods College to run track. 1936: Helen competed in three events in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. She won two gold medals : Helen played for the All-American Red Heads, a professional women s basketball team : Helen owned and played for the Helen Stephens Olympics Co- Eds a professional women s basketball team. 1946: Helen served in the U.S. Marines Women s Reserves, then started working for the Air Force mapping center in St. Louis. 1955: Helen entered America s Athletic Hall of Fame, the first of many. 1964: Helen was the first woman to enter the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. 1976: Helen retired from the Air Force mapping center. 1977: Helen started coaching track and field at William Woods College. 1979: Helen set the record for the 100-meter dash in the Senior Olympics. 1986: Helen broke her own record for the 100-meter dash in the St. Louis Senior Olympics. 1993: Helen ran her last race and not surprisingly she won. January 17, 1994: Helen died at seventy-five years old. 45

14 For Further Reading For Young Readers Aaseng, Nathan. Women Olympic Champions. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, Berman, Len, and Kent Gamble. And Nobody Got Hurt 2!: The World s Weirdest, Wackiest and Most Amazing True Sports Stories. New York: Little, Brown, Blumenthal, Karen. Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, the Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Freedman, Russell. Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion. New York: Clarion Books, Hasday, Judy L. Extraordinary Women Athletes. New York: Children s Press, Macy, Sue. Girls Got Game: Sports Stories and Poems. New York: Henry Holt & Co, Miller, Karen. Girls and Sports. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, Websites National Women s Hall of Fame, Helen Stephens. greatwomen.org/component/fabrik/details/2/150 (October 30, 2013). Scholastic.com. Go For the Gold: Origin and History of the Olympic Games. From Grolier Online s New Book of Knowledge. athens_games/history.htm. 46

15 Top 10 Women Who Changed Missouri: Helen Stephens. Missouri Life, March 11, com/life/top-10-women-who-changed-missouri%3ahelen-stephens/. USA Track and Field, Helen Stephens. Inducted 1975, athlete. Visit MO. Helen Stephens Display at William Woods University. President s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. Why Is It Important? Sources Guttmann, Allen. Women s Sports: A History. New York: Columbia University Press, Hanson, Sharon Kinney. The Life of Helen Stephens: The Fulton Flash. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, Mandell, Richard D. The Nazi Olympics. New York: Macmillan, Markel, Robert, Nancy Brooks, and Susan Markel. For the Record: Women in Sports. New York: World Almanac Publications, Stephens, Helen ( ), Papers, C3552. State Historical Society of Missouri. Thornton, Carolyn Gray. Helen Stephens, Missouri s outstanding all-around athlete of competitive sports. Nevada Daily Mail, August 13, 2004, Senior section. Wallechinsky, David. The Complete Book of the Olympics. New York: Viking Press,

16 Index All-American Red Heads (basketball team), 21 22, basketball, 15, 16, 21 22, 30 bowling, 30, 37 exhibition races, 21, Halls of Fame, 32 33, 36 jobs and work, 22, 28, 29 30, 37 Moore, W. Burton (coach), Olympic All-Stars (basketball team), Olympics, 16 20, 30 31, Owens, Jesse, 18 19, 24, 26 records for track events, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 40 Senior Olympics, 39 40, 42 sports for girls, 10 11, 31, 33 34, track coach, Helen as, 31, 34 35, William Woods College, 15 16, 21, 37, Image Credits Original art by John Hare: pgs. 6, 12, 21, 32, and 38. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: cover, John Woodruff s gold medal from the 1936 Olympics. Courtesy of Missouri State Archives: p. 7, farm scene from the 1930s. Courtesy of Kingdom of Callaway County Historical Society: (special thanks to Barb Huddleston): p. 8, downtown Fulton, ca. 1930; p. 9, Middle River School, early 1930s. From istockphotos.com: p. 11 (# ); p. 30 (# ); p. 35 (#662068); p. 39 ( ); p. 43 ( ). Courtesy of State Historical Society of Missouri: (special thanks to Anne Cox): p. 13, Helen Stephens with Coach W. Burton Moore; p. 14, Helen Stephens running on a track; p. 15, Helen Stephens throwing the discus; p. 16, the SS Manhattan, July 15, 1936; p. 17, the 1936 U.S. Olympic women s 100-meter relay team; p. 18, Helen Stephens crossing the finish line in the 100-meter race in the 1936 Olympics; p. 19, Helen Stephens meets Adolf Hitler; p. 24, ad for appearances by Helen Stephens, 1937; p. 24, detail from ad for House of Davidites game, 1937; p. 26, Helen Stephens doing the broad jump; p. 28, poster for All-American Red-Heads, 1938; p. 29, Helen Stephens with Olympic Co-Eds basketball team and blank poster for Olympic Co-Eds, ; p. 41, button from Senior Olympics. Courtesy of William Woods University, Office of Advancement: (special thanks to Mary Ann Beahon): cover, Helen Stephens crossing the finish line at the 1936 Olympics; p. 25, Helen Stephens and Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games; p. 42, Helen Stephens Sports Complex, William Woods University. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs: p. 22, Helen Stephens meeting FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Sept. 12, 1936 (LC-DIG-hec-33760); p. 23, Helen Stephens with trophies, Washington, DC, Sept. 12, 1936 (LC-H2-B-11179), and Helen Stephens attempts to break record for 200-meter race, Washington, DC, Sept. 12, 1936 (LC-H2-B-11178). Courtesy of John A. Molina Collection, p. 27, All-American Red-Heads team, Courtesy of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame: p. 36, Helen Stephens display at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Springfield, MO. 48

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