Acknowledgments and Dedication

I would like to thank the following people for their role in making this book a reality. First, I would like to thank the many family members, former athletes, and coaches who granted me interviews, providing their perspective on Milburn’s life and career. That list would include Leon Coleman, Charles Foster, Tom Hill, Larry Shipp, Renaldo Nehemiah, Tonie Campbell, Bill Collins, Cliff Wiley, Brian Oldfield, Dwight Stones, Ollan Cassell, George Whitfield, Betty Milburn, Rodney’s sisters Alice and Lillie, Gil Deville, Stanislars Milburn, Harry Meullion, and all of Rodney’s former teammates and coaches from J.S. Clark High School who spoke with me.

Special thanks to Sue Deville, who was director the Opelousas Interpretative Museum at the time I was putting the book together. Deville helped me to find many old local archived materials and helped to arrange interviews with many key people. Deville, sadly, has passed prior to the completion of this project.

Ken Stone of www.masterstrack.com helped me to edit and revise early chapters of the book, and did much of the footwork for me in finding old issues of Track & Field News for race results and Milburn-related articles. I don’t know how many hours Ken saved me, but it was a lot.

Rodney’s brother Jimmy Milburn is the reason this biography was able to happen at all. When I initially inquired about writing a biography on Rodney, Jimmy encouraged me, gave his full support throughout the process, and sat through hours of interview questions, patiently providing answers. If not for Jimmy, I would have had no material for Rodney’s early childhood prior to his high school years.

***

This book is dedicated to Rodney Milburn Jr., 1972 Olympic champion in the 110 meter hurdles. Rodney was one of the greatest hurdlers who ever lived, and one of the kindest, most thoughtful human beings to ever walk the planet.