Olympic sprinter from Wilcox County passes away in Forsyth, Ga.

Thornton, third from right, competes in 1948.

I was sad to learn on Friday that former Olympic sprinter Mabel Walker Thornton had passed away on Sept. 10 in Forsyth, Georgia. A graveside service for Thornton was held last Thursday at the Walker Estate in Camden.

Thornton is arguably the greatest female athlete that Wilcox County has ever produced. Born Mabel Elizabeth Walker on Dec. 11, 1928, she grew up in Camden and attended Camden Academy, where she was a standout member of the track 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.

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.

After the Olympics, Thornton returned to Tuskegee Institute, where she continued to compete on the track 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, condolences go out to Thornton’s family. If anyone in the reading audience has any additional information about Thornton’s 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.