"selling for the money....and oh yeah, sharing it with the public"
Posted on 10/15/2010 7:32:40 AM PDT by flowerplough
Tommie Smith is selling the gold medal he won at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, where his Black Power salute on the podium shocked the sports world.
The former San Jose State runner has put his gold medal for the 200 meters and red-and-white Puma spikes up for auction at New York-based M.I.T. Memorabilia. The bidding starts at $250,000, and the sale is scheduled to close Nov. 4.
M.I.T.'s Gary Zimet said Smith is selling the medal for the money but also because he wants to share it with the public.
..Smith, now 66 and living in Georgia declined to comment on the auction to the San Jose Mercury News. "He feels that what he did ruined his life in many ways, and he simply doesn't want to put himself in the media spotlight," Zimet told the newspaper.
San Jose earned the nickname "Speed City" during that era for its plethora of world-class athletes.
Smith won the 200 meters in world-record time before officialls expelled him from the Games along with bronze medallist John Carlos when they bowed their heads during the Star-Spangled Banner and raised their black-gloved fists in protest during the medal ceremony on Oct. 17, 1968.
As for the glove, Zimet told the newspaper that Smith has lost track of it through the years.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
It may show up in the Oval Office.
He should write a book and tell how he was brainwashed into doing the bidding of the race hustlers—including how they abandoned him after he did so.
Mike
When one chooses to make a gesture that is going to be controversial one has to take the responsibility for those actions....a public apology would help but I doubt he feels he needs to make one.
"selling for the money....and oh yeah, sharing it with the public"
How much gold is in the thing...that would determine it’s worth to anyone other than him.
I bid $2.51. I'd melt it down and cast it into bullets. There may be a time coming when sending it back would be most appropriate.
I’m sure there are those who see some sort of significance in the medal where “it helped to advance race relations”. “It’s about an african american who felt he could no longer be a slave to the white man”. etc and so on, blah, blah.
Perhaps the “Slave Museum” in Charleston will take it!
I’m sure it has some historical value as a collectible, but I’d be shocked if he got anywhere near the opening price of $250,000. I’d guess more like a tenth of that.
It would be a hoot if someone like Rush Limbaugh bought it. I’m sure a clever conservative could think of a thousand amusing uses for it.
So what do you want to do? Sell it or pawn it?
Proves that stupidity knows no colour.
He should keep it. Never know when he might need a tooth filled.
OJ got the glove.
He’s stuck on stupid
DING!DING!DING!DING!
Pencils down, we have a winner!
Post of the day, Vinnie, for “OJ got the glove.”
Why barry bother? He won a Nobel without doing anything....He could probably get awarded some gold medals without ever running a race....
I;m thinking that a fan will buy it and give it to Barry to display as a symbol of Black Power. Put it right there in the Oval Office and tell Whitey to have a nice day.
Who'da thunk ... actions have consequences.
Life's a bitch Tommie, deal with it.
Maybe he needs to go to Las Vegas and visit Rick, the Old Man, Chumlee and Corey at the Pawn Shop.
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