OLYMPIAN| FROM PAGE 11 second try. These were some of the most well-known Olympics in history, featuring an eventual, fourGold Medal performance by Jesse Owens, a well-known black athlete, and two Gold Medals by Johnny Weismuller, who gained great fame as the star of the Tarzan movies after the Olympics. Generous Malden residents helped Stokes get to the 1936 Olympics in Germany Stokes was beloved in Malden for earning another Olympic Team bid, and Malden residents responded by raising $680 to pay for her transportation to the Olympic Games. To gauge the generosity of locals at the time, that sum is worth $11,172 in today’s dollars! For one round trip ticket! Stokes was humbled and thrilled by the gesture and vowed to do her best. Unfortunately, “The Malden Meteor,” for the second time in four years, missed out on competing. Once again, she and Pickett were in the 4 X 100 Relay pool, but neither was selected for the competition event. There were two small bits of consolation. Pinkett did go on to become the first Black woman to compete in the Olympics, in the hurdles event, but she broke her foot in the semifinals and had to bow out. Apparently, she had always trained with loose hurdles, and the ones at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games were rigid and stationary, which probably played a factor in her injury. Also, this time around, Stokes finished fifth in the pre-Olympics trials, while Pickett had concentrated on the hurdles. The four participants who were selected for the women’s 4 X 100 Relay Team in 1936 were all highly experienced and previously successful sprinters, unlike the field in 1932. This time around Stokes, again a spectator, saw the women’s team grab a Gold Medal finish and, ironically, tie the still standing world record at 46.9 seconds. Heroine’s welcome for Stokes in Malden By all accounts, Stokes got another heroine’s welcome when she came back to Malden after a second Olympics and was honored and revered in her hometown. Stokes fully intended on trying for a third time, at age of 26, to compete in the 1940 Olympics, but the Olympic Games were never played because of the onset of World War II. THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 7, 2023 As the years went on, she stayed in Malden and around the area, donating her time teaching other young girls and women the sports of track, running and also basketball. She also gained acclaim and was a highly successful professional bowler and was instrumental in helping found the Colored Women’s Bowling Association. She passed away too young at the age of 65 in 1978. The City of Malden named what then was a new fieldhouse in her honor at Roosevelt Park on SaPage 13 lem Street, right next to the old railroad tracks where she used to race the boys in her younger years. In 1983 she was posthumously recognized and inducted as one of the charter members of the Malden High School Golden Tornado Hall of Fame for her school and Olympics selections. In 1987 a memorial was erected in the courtyard of her hometown high school as part of the extensive renovations completed there. Recently, in May of 2020, Stokes Fraser’s hometown of Malden showed once again that they have never forgotten her and the pride she brought to the city when Mayor Gary Christenson presided over the dedication of a major portion of the Northern Strand Community Trail/“Bike to Sea” path, the Louise Stokes Fraser Loop. Whether she brought home medals or not, the memory, character, passion and legacy of Louise Mae Stokes Fraser will forever shine brightly in Malden history. Law Offices of JOSEPH D. CATALDO, P.C. “ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELORS AT LAW” • ESTATE/MEDICAID PLANNING • WILLS/TRUSTS/ESTATES • INCOME TAX PREPARATION • WEALTH MANAGEMENT • RETIREMENT PLANNING • ELDER LAW 369 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 (617)381-9600 JOSEPH D. CATALDO, CPA, CFP, MST, ESQUIRE. AICPA Personal Financial Specialist Designee
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