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wardell gilbreath - inductee #186

Wardell Gilbreath

Gilbreath burst to prominence in track at Amarillo High in the early 1970s. He won the 5A state championship at UIL state track meet in Austin in the 220 in 1972, running the half lap in 21.0. That would be the lone individual state title on the track for AHS for the next 44 years.

Gilbreath would go on to compete at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. At NMJC, he won the national junior college title in the 220 in 1973 in 20.6 seconds. Since meters would soon become the accepted distance, Gilbreath set a national junior college record in the event that won’t be broken.

In his time at NMJC, he was also runner-up in the 100, and ran a leg on the mile relay that finished third nationally. Gilbreath was one of the first NMJC sprinters to compete in multiple USA and World University Games. He was the Junior AAU International champion in the 220 in 1973. Gilbreath was inducted into the NMJC Hall of Fame in 2018.

Gilbreath signed with the University of Arizona where he was third in the NCAA championships in his specialty. He was a two-time All-America with the Wildcats in 1974 and 1976. In the Olympic year of 1976, he was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 200 for half the year. 

Projected to make the 1976 Olympic team, Gilbreath pulled a muscle while leading the semifinals in the U.S. Olympic Trials that year that prevented him from making the team. His 20.2 seconds was still the third-fastest in the world. 

Gilbreath continued to shine internationally over the next four years, including running a leg on a winning 400 relay in the Pacific Conference Games – competition between five Pacific nations – in hopes of making the 1980 Olympic team, but the U.S. boycott ended that dream.

Gilbreath and wife Audrey own one of the largest and oldest African-American marketing agencies in Houston, Gilbreath Communications.

 

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