December 1, 2010

As a long jumper at Arkansas State University (ASU) in Jonesboro (Craighead County), Al Joyner was a three-time NCAA indoor and outdoor champion and four-time Southland Conference Champion. Representing the United States in the 1984 Olympic Games, he became the first African American to win the event and the first American to win it in eight decades. He was married to track legend Florence “Flo Jo” Griffith, who died in 1998. Joyner’s sister, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, also became a track star, and the two siblings became the first brother-sister American teammates to win medals at the same games.