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Great Athletes

Milt Campbell

by Jack Ewing

Sport: Track and field (decathlon and hurdles)

Early Life

Milton Gray “Milt” Campbell was born December 9, 1933, in Plainfield, New Jersey. His father, Thomas, drove a cab in New York City, and his mother, Edith, performed domestic work. Milt’s parents divorced when he was a child; thus, his grandmother raised him and older brother, Tom.

Milt Campbell competing in the decathlon discus event during the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

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(Popperfoto/Getty Images)

By the time Milt and Tom entered Plainfield High School, they had become outstanding athletes. Tom, the high school’s best hurdler, was an inspiration to Milt, who built homemade hurdles so he could emulate his brother. Milt soon surpassed Tom in both size and ability. As a sophomore in high school, Milt was 6 feet tall and 200 pounds. By his senior year, he had grown 3 inches and gained 15 pounds of muscle. An all-around athlete, as a high school senior, he was an all-state football player, an all-state swimmer, nationally ranked in karate, and the national champion in the 60-yard high hurdles.

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The Road to Excellence

During his senior year at Plainfield High School, Milt tried out for the 1952 Olympics in two events: the 110-meter high hurdles and the decathlon. At the Olympic trials, he placed fifth in the hurdles and did not make the cut. However, he qualified for the decathlon, despite the fact he had never attempted several of the events, such as the 1,500-meter run, the discus throw, the javelin toss, or the pole vault. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, teenaged Milt placed second in the decathlon to gold-medal winner Bob Mathias, who had won the event at the 1948 Olympics as well.

After the Olympics, Milt returned to high school in New Jersey. Following graduation, he attended Indiana University on a football scholarship. There, he continued to excel in sports, earning the 1953 national championship in the decathlon. In 1955, he triumphed in the high hurdles at Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) competitions. A halfback and defensive back on a mediocre Hoosiers football team, Milt was a standout.

The Emerging Champion

By the 1956 Olympics, Milt was ready to compete in the decathlon again. In Melbourne, Australia, he began by winning the 100-meter dash and never looked back. Milt set a new Olympic record in the decathlon, with 7,937 points; beat Rafer Johnson, who won the 1960 Olympic decathlon; and just missed establishing a new world record while winning the gold medal. He was the first African American to capture the event and to be declared “the greatest athlete in the world.”

After the Olympics, Milt continued winning. In 1957, he smashed the world indoor record for 60-yard hurdles, with a time of 7 seconds, to nose out Olympic champion Lee Calhoun. He also set the world outdoor record in the 120-yard hurdles, breaking the tape in 13.40 seconds. Milt became the first Olympic decathlon champion in history to hold world records in individual events.

Following Milt’s graduation from Indiana University, the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) selected Milt in the fifth round of the 1957 draft. He roomed with the Browns’ first-round pick, future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Jim Brown. For Cleveland, Milt mostly returned kickoffs and punts. In nine games, he had eleven returns for 263 yards, rushed seven times for 23 yards, and caught 1 pass for 25 yards and 1 touchdown.

At the end of the season, Milt did something that was almost forbidden to a black man during the 1950’s: He married a white woman, Barbara Mount. The marriage ended his NFL career. He was dismissed from the Browns, and no other American professional football team was interested in his services.

Continuing the Story

Unable to land a job in the United States, Milt turned his attention north and found a warm reception with the Canadian Football League. For eight years, from 1959 to 1966, he played with several Canadian professional teams, including the Montreal Alouettes, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and Toronto Argonauts. Finally, in 1967, he retired and returned to his hometown of Plainfield during the racial riots then plaguing the state. In Plainfield, Milt raised funds for a community center and cofounded the Chad School in Newark, an alternative facility that focused on black history and culture in an attempt to inspire youngsters through education.

Always competitive, Milt took up judo and had aspirations of making the 1968 U.S. Olympic team in that sport. However, since he had played professional football, he was declared ineligible; at that time only amateurs were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, a rule that was eliminated later.

Milt, who earned his living as a motivational speaker, remained married to Barbara for twenty-five years, during which time they had three children. They eventually divorced in the early 1980’s, but remained friends. Milt later married Terri Campbell, who gave birth to their son, Milton III. Milt and his family settled in Somerville, New Jersey.

Summary

A superb all-around athlete who starred in track and field, football, and swimming, Milt Campbell was the first African American to win the Olympic decathlon. The only Olympic decathlete to also hold world records in individual track events, he was a victim of racial prejudice prohibiting him from realizing his potential in the NFL. A hero forgotten by the world at large, Milt has been inducted into more than one dozen halls of fame, including the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the National Swimming Hall of Fame, and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

Additional Sources

1 

Boyles, Bob, and Paul Guido. Fifty Years of College Football: A Modern History of America’s Most Colorful Sport. New York: Skyhorse, 2007.

2 

Hammel, Bob, and Kit Klingelhoffer. The Glory of Old IU. Champaign, Ill.: Sagamore, 2000.

3 

Johnson, Rafer. The Best That I Can Be: An Autobiography. Toronto: Galilee Trade, 1999.

4 

Lurie, Maxine N., and Marc Mappen, eds. Encyclopedia of New Jersey. Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2004.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Ewing, Jack. "Milt Campbell." Great Athletes,Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Athletes_1916.
APA 7th
Ewing, J. (2009). Milt Campbell. Great Athletes. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Ewing, Jack. "Milt Campbell." Great Athletes. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.