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THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 7, 2023 Page 9 ‘THE MALDEN METEOR’: Louise Mae Stokes Fraser, Malden’s one and only female U.S. Olympian, remembered History was made just before the 1932 Olympics by Fraser; unfortunately, her race most likely played a role in her not getting an opportunity to compete (Ed. Note: Following is the second and fi nal Part Two of a two-part series on one of Malden’s most renowned athletes, Louise May Stokes Fraser. Part One appeared in the March 24 edition of The Malden Advocate.) By Steve Freker I t has been 91 years since history was made just before the 1932 Olympic Games, when a fl edgling young runner put her hometown on the international map. Malden’s own Louise May Stokes, still just a teenager quite new to the world of organized athletics, was thrust into the national spotlight with her selection to the U.S. Olympics women’s track and fi eld contingent. Stokes, then just 18, and fellow selectee Tidye Pickett of Illinois were groundbreakers and history makers. The two teens were the fi rst-ever Black women to be selected for a U.S. Olympic Team, in this, the VIII Olympiad. It was only the second Olympics in which women were even permitted to compete in track and fi eld events. It was also only the second time the Olympics were to have been Some of the members of the 1932 U.S. Olympics Team are shown, including Louise Stokes (at left), one of the fi rst two Black women selected to the U.S. Olympics Team. (Courtesy Photo) hosted in the United States, this time in Los Angeles, Calif. It would be another 52 years before the Olympics would return again to the United States, in 1984, again in L.A. Selected for two Olympic Games, never chosen to compete in an event Sadly, Stokes never got the opA few of the U.S. Women Olympians posed for a photo upon their return to the United States after the 1936 Olympic Games. In the back row at far right is Tidye Pickett and at third from the left is Louise Stokes. (Courtesy Photos) portunity to formally compete in an event in the Olympic Games, despite her selection to the women’s contingent not once, but twice. After the 1932 Games, she continued a regimen of training and competition, which earned her another spot on the women’s team for the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Germany. For the second time, Stokes was not afforded an opportunity to compete in an event that year. A number of sports historians and researchers have claimed Stokes was denied the opportunity to compete because of her race. The chief evidence pointed to is that she was replaced at the last minute, both in 1932 The City of Malden dedicated this memorial located in the center of the then new Courtyard at Malden High School in 1987 in the name of former twotime U.S. Olympian Louise Mae Stokes Fraser. (Steve Freker Photo) and 1936, by white athletes in her event, the 4 X 100 women’s relay. Though both relay teams would go on to win Gold Medals as fi rst-place fi nishers in each year, setting a new world record in 1932, some researchers insist Stokes and Pickett both deserved to have run in those races. In 1936, Pickett did achieve some notoriety when she beOLYMPIAN| SEE PAGE 10

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