Background
He was born in Baltimore and attended Baltimore"s Morgan State College.
He was born in Baltimore and attended Baltimore"s Morgan State College.
Running with a pulled muscle, he finished "a miserable last" in his race.
In 1952 he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Olympic 100 metres event. Bragg also tried to qualify for the 200 m event but was only fourth in his semi-final at the Olympic Trials. In both races he lost narrowly to Cuba"s Rafael Fortun.
Always a keen college runner, in 1953, Bragg helped, as anchor leg, Morgan State College to victories in the quarterand half-mile relays at the Penn Relays.
Bragg also completed a triple of individual wins. Bragg continued running after leaving college.
In both he established new Amateur Athletic Union meet records of 9.4 and 21.1 s respectively. Bragg was famed at the time he was racing for his often slow start to his races with a subsequent fast finish and the disappointments he suffered in his career at the major championships.
In the end, the award went to Mal Whitfield.
Bragg has admitted his Olympic disappointment lives with him - when watching the 100 m "I cried," Bragg said. "I had successes; that was the major disappointment. Every Olympics, when I watch the 100 on television, I break down and cry." He has described his 1952 injury as a total fluke - whilst on the warmup strip "Someone opened one of the doors and I made a quick motion to my left to avoid hitting lieutenant
. oops, the hamstring went.". In later years, Bragg is reported as living in Los Angeles and working for Los Angeles County Probation Department as a Deputy Probation Officer. He left for California in 1956 and never returned to Maryland.
Bragg was ranked among the best in the United States of America and the world in both the 100 m/100 y and 200 m/220 y sprint events from 1950 to 1954, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.
Bragg was always a formidable performer at the Amateur Athletic Union championships, the United States of America national championships.