Wilcox County sprinter Mabel Walker Thornton competed in the Olympics

Thornton, third from right, competes in '48 Olympics.

Wilcox County has produced many fine athletes over the years, but Olympic sprinter Mabel Walker Thornton is arguably the top female athlete to ever call Wilcox County home.

Born Mabel Elizabeth Walker on Dec. 11, 1928, sources vary as to where she was actually born. Many sources say she was born in Camden, while others say she was born in Mobile County. Other sources say she was born in Prichard.

Regardless of where she was born, she grew up in Camden and attended Camden Academy, where she was a standout member of the track and field team. At some point, her coach at Camden Academy, Nora Francis Smith, took the team to a meet at Tuskegee Institute. Thanks in large part to the speedy Thornton, Camden Academy won the meet, and Thornton grabbed the attention of college coaches.

After high school, Thornton went on to run for Tuskegee Institute, and she was later invited to Olympic qualifier Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) meets in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During those meets, Thornton finished third in the Women’s 50-meter race in 1947 and captured top honors in the 50-meter race in 1948, the same year that she finished third in the AAU Indoor Championships. During AAU competition, Thornton earned a reputation as one of the nation’s top runners, especially in short distance races.

Her AAU success took her to the Olympic Trials in Providence, Rhode Island, where she made the 1948 U.S. Olympic team after finishing first in the Women’s 100-meter race. The 1948 Olympics were held in London, England and, due to World War II, these games were the first Olympics since the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. (It was at the 1936 Olympics that another Alabama native, Jesse Owens, gained international fame as a world class sprinter.)

At the 1948 Olympics, the 18-year-old Thornton ran in the 100-meter race and in the first leg of the 4x100-meter relay race at Wembley Stadium in London, becoming the first black woman from Alabama to ever compete in the Olympics. During the Olympics, Thornton ran her fastest ever 100-meter race, finishing the event in a blistering 12.3 seconds. Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands captured gold in the event with a finish time of 11.9 seconds, just fourth-tenths of second faster than Thornton.

After the Olympics, Thornton returned to Tuskegee Institute, where she continued to compete on the track and field team. Her grandparents lived in Mobile and she later moved to the Port City after college. She got married in 1950 (taking the last name Thornton) and later had two children.

Thornton managed Widemire’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe on Old Shell Road in Mobile during the 1970s and 1980s. Years later, in 2010, Thornton was inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame along with Major League Baseball player Randy McGilberry, former college and professional football coach Phil Savage Jr. and William Earle Smith, who starred in football, baseball and golf at the U.S. Naval Academy.

In the end, there is no doubt that Thornton is one of the greatest athletes Wilcox County has ever produced. If anyone in the reading audience has any additional information about her athletic career and ties to Wilcox County, please let me hear from you. There is no better time than right now to document this outstanding woman’s many achievements so that they will be remembered for years to come.