Campbell secured legacy with gold medal

IU is grieving the loss of former IU athlete Milton Gray Campbell, who died this past Friday at his home in Gainesville, Ga., after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 78.

Campbell earned a 1956 Olympic Gold medal in the decathlon, becoming the first African American to win gold in the event, and is one of the most decorated athletes in IU history.

Campbell was born in 1933, in Plainfield, N.J., and attended Plainfield High School. He competed and started in several sports, notably track and field, swimming and football, en route to earning an athletic scholarship to IU.

But before arriving at IU, Campbell attended the 1952 U.S. Olympic trials as a high school senior. After failing to qualify in the high hurdles, he tried the decathlon for the first time and qualified for the team.

He later went on to win the silver medal at the Helsinki Games as the only high school athlete on the U.S. team.  

Campbell was a member of the inaugural class in the Indiana Athletics Hall of Fame after spending two years at IU, where he starred in football and track and field. His studies at IU were cut short by his enlistment in the Navy in 1955.

At the 1956 U.S. Olympic Trials, Campbell once again missed qualifying for the high hurdles but made it in the decathlon. Campbell went to the Melbourne Games and won the gold medal while scoring a then-record number of points in the event.

When he returned to America, he was drafted in the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns as a running back. After spending one year in the same backfield as future NFL Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown, the Browns cut Campbell, which he claimed was because he married a white woman.

Campbell then played in the Canadian Football League until 1964, when he moved back to New Jersey. Back in his home state, he started doing humanitarian work, including opening a private school for underprivileged children and co-founding a community center.

In more recent years, Campbell received honors from the New Jersey Hall of Fame, International Swimming Hall of Fame and National Track and Field Hall of Fame. In 2000, the New Jersey Sportswriters Association named Campbell its New Jersey Athlete of the Century.

Throughout his life, Campbell openly expressed his frustration at being less celebrated than other great U.S. decathletes of his time. He also claimed he was blackballed by the NFL after being released from the Browns.

Campbell is survived by his ex-wife, daughter, two sons, granddaughter, great-grandson and sister. His son Milton Jr. died in 1987.

Campbell’s competitive drive was well-known among his friends and family. In his interview with The Star-Ledger, Campbell recollected a discussion with his high school track coach.

“He asked me what I wanted to be. I told him, ‘The best athlete in Plainfield.’ Then it became ‘the best in New Jersey’ and ‘the best in America’ and ‘the best in the world.’”