Career
A three-time Olympian (1960, 1964, 1968), she set her personal best (4880 points) in the pentathlon in 1967. She was the first coach of the women"s track and field team at the University of California Los Angeles, which she coached to AIAW National Championships in 1975 and 1977. In 1983, she coached University of California, Los Angeles alumna Evelyn Ashford to a world record in the women"s 100m of 10.79 seconds, set in Colorado Springs.
In 1984, she coached Ashford to gold medals in the women"s 100m and 4 × 100 m relay at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and later that year to a new world record in the 100m of 10.76 seconds, set in Zurich.
She became head men"s and women"s track and field coach at Radford University in 1998 and was named Big South Coach of the Year in 2001 before retiring the following year. In 2004 she came out of retirement to coach Allyson Felix to a silver medal and world junior record in the women"s 200m at the Olympic Games in Athens.
In 1989 she testified before a Senate hearing on steroid abuse chaired by Senator Joseph Biden. She has published numerous articles in publications including the New York Times on the subject of performance-enhancing drugs.
She is author of Coaching Evelyn: Fast, Faster, Fastest Woman in the World (1991 HarperCollins).
In 2010 she was inducted into the African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame. Also, starting in 2010, she began coaching for Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland. She helped coach the Greyhounds to championships in the MIAA for both indoor and outdoor track and field
