Helen stephens 1936 olympics basketball

Helen Stephens () was only a teenager when she became an track star, winning two gold medals in the Olympic Games. She set world, Olympic, American, and Canadian records in running, broad jump, and discus.

Helen stephens 1936 olympics basketball

Helen stephens 1936 olympics basketball final

1936 olympics medal

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Helen stephens 1936 olympics basketball gold medal

Stephens later became the first female owner of a women's semiprofessional basketball team.

Stephens was born on February 3, in Fulton, Missouri. She grew up on a acre farm, the daughter of Frank E. Stephens and Bertie Mae Stephens.

She was tall, slender and seemed born to run. As a child, she routinely raced boys on a mile-long run home from the schoolhouse, winning every time.

Helen stephens 1936 olympics basketball final

Her cousin rode a horse and Stephens would trot along with them. "There were a couple of ditches on the way to school," Richard D. Mandell quotes her as saying in his book, The Nazi Olympics, "and the horse and I would take them together." Because she grew up on a farm and had a rugged, outdoor upbringing Stephens had been taught to use a rifle and was a good shot.

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