Tommie Smith was born in Clarksville, Texas in 1944 to James and Dora Smith.

Tommie Smith was the seventh born of twelve kids.

When Tommie Smith was just a infant, he almost died from a bad case of pneumonia.

Tommie Smith in his youth years around 3rd to 4th grade were all about picking cotton in fields.

In 1950 looking for a better life Smiths' family moved to California looking for a better life, and settled in the Fresno area.  

When Smith entered school sports came into his life and he excelled greatly in sports but not as much in school.

With that time he started  bringing in scholarships like there was no tomorrow

With all the scholarships Tommie Smith went with San Jose State University

In college Smith was a very dedicated student and rarely missed  classes because he didn't want to go back to picking cotton in fields.

During his stay at S.J.S.U  he had a steady stream of sensational tomes in the 220m and 440m sprints, several NCAA titles, and world records (at one time held 11 world records)

All of this leading up to him being elected to the 1968 Olympic team.