Insight
From an era of exceptional performance, for a more inclusive future.
On a Saturday night in February 1978, a relay team of all-Black sprinters from Tennessee State University – Deborah Jones, Brenda Morehead, Chandra Cheeseborough and Ernestine Davis – made world history inside Louisville’s Freedom Hall, breaking the indoor 880-metre relay world record with a time of 1:38.5.
This record was also significant for Nike. Still in its infancy, the TSU Tigerbelles’ world record became the first-ever world record set by a Nike-sponsored team.
For the Tigerbelles, this moment was only a snapshot of their decades of dominance in women’s track and field, and their inspiration for activism in the civil rights movement and female athletes everywhere. Their timeline dates back to the early 1950s and continues through the 1970s, when the team amassed college championships, Olympic medals, international awards and further world records. To date, 40 Tigerbelles have competed in the Olympics.
Despite their monumental accomplishments, the story of the Tigerbelles is known by too few.