RG-03

Speaker 1 00:02. Talk Show Host, Marge Thrasher on AM Memphis
Wilma Rudolph is in our studios with us today. I can't believe it's been six years since you were here

Wilma Rudolph 00:06
seven years, almost seven years,

Speaker 1 00:09
when people have energy like you. It's almost like yesterday. Well, well, what do you think just any child can be a champion. As far as athletics is concerned?

Speaker 2 00:17 Wilma Rudolph
Yes. I think that sincerely from the standpoint of the caliber of people that have seen go through the world of athletics, the entries, how it's built, where it begins. From my early age, if I had listened to the things that people had told me very young, I would not have been interested because normally people with my background, don't turn out to be good athletes.

Speaker 1 00:46 Talk show host
Let's talk about your background. I watched it recreated. It was some time during the Olympics, because my little daughter hollered at me from the other room "mother she's on". Okay, you're 20, you were number 20 of 22 children. And just that in itself, you wouldn't think you have gotten much personal help at all from a family.

Speaker 1 02:15 Talk Show Host
But you really, it was basketball that really got you going.

Speaker 2 02:19 Wilma Rudolph
Yes. I mean, by the time I was 13, and 14, I was really playing basketball. I knew nothing about track. I didn't know that young girls weren't supposed to run track. We were taught at a very early age that young girls were supposed to not run, jump and do all those things. We were supposed to try and look pretty.

Talk Show Host
Which you always managed to do.

Wilma Rudolph
My family was alot different

Speaker 1 02:43 Talk Show Host
Yeah, but what made Wilma Rudolph demand this of herself, and discipline? Have you ever wondered why you Wilma?

Speaker 2 02:52 Wilma Rudolph
Oh, yes. I still wonder why me sometimes because I look at my long range goals. I look at my legacy, which is a woman with a foundation. I look at myself sometimes from the standpoint of my own belief, the sincerity that goes in from the standpoint of believing in young people and letting them know that anybody can be successful. And it's not being so successful so much from the standpoint of the Gold Medal as being successful from the standpoint of things in life, the things that you want to do, the accomplishments, the people that you want to sort of motivate. And when I look back, and I think about that, I I would say that all of that really came about from wearing in the braces. The kids that wouldn't play with me, I never forgave those kids. I hated them. I thought they were cruel. I thought they were mean. All of my young life, I would say, you know, one day all those kids who wouldn't play with me, I'm going to do something about this. I will make you remember me. These are things that go on inside when you're not able to do all the things that normal young people do.

Speaker 1 06:40 Talk Show Host
Did Coach Temple really influence you a lot?

Speaker 2 06:44
Oh of course. I still see him.

Talk Show Host
Do you really?

Wilma Rudolph
He still has a great influence on my life.

Talk Show Host
He wrote a book. I guess you know.

Wilma Rudolph
Only the Pure in Heart Survive. I did the foreword for his book. And that was one of the greatest times for me. Anytime that I can do anything with him. Or if I can see him, or if I can spend moments telling him about the things that I'm doing, I always share my long range goals with him. If there's anything I can ever do to help him at Tennessee State, I'm always willing,

Speaker 1 07:13 Talk Show Host
Wilma do you think we have enough Coach Temples around and enough Wilma Rudolphs, who, with you know, can instill determination and motivation and belief and you know, I worry about that. There are so many more things to take kids time today.

Speaker 2 07:27. Wilma Rudolph
I worry about it, I really don't think when I look at the new breed of coaches that that we have now. And then I look back and I try to compare them with Coach Tim, but there's just no comparison. Because he always dealt with the total person. He cared about them, the welfare, what you thought, how you felt, if you were ill he was there. I mean, if I needed a doctor's appointment, he was right there. If I cried, or if I couldn't sleep at night, I mean, all of the things that go into, I will say a total person, a caring about the person. And being there, especially when you're away from home very young. Education was the bottom line with a Temple. I see now in the new breed of coach that the most important aspect is coaching for them and winning. And not letting the young child know that this is a very short portion of your life. Feel good about whatever happens within the the the interim, be able to walk away from it, and pull from that experience. And to know that it was good. We don't do that anymore. We have to let them know that only, everybody will not be a winner. But you're always a winner if you take it at heart. And if you feel that you've made an accomplishment. And as I said before it's inside. It is something that doesn't show.

Speaker 1 10:12 Talk Show Host
Did they ever talk to you about the fact that it would be so tough to be your child, as far as in athletics?

Speaker 2 10:18 Wilma Rudolph
Yes. They feel that it is an injustice, to have to be compared to their mother all the time. Or it is an injustice to know that everything the conversation starts on me before it gets to the children. And that makes it a little bit tough. And I think all of them had a lot of potential. But they all shied away because of that fact. And I never pushed them. Whatever they wanted to do. I've always been there.

10:45 Talk Show Host
Have you ever been afraid of failure?

Speaker 2 10:49. Wilma Rudolph
Yes. Sometimes I'm still afraid of failure. I am a little strong headed from the standpoint of believing that it will happen, and I will work and work and work and work to make it happen. And I if I do fail, I can now look back and try and evaluate it. And I will try it again. As soon as I have a chance. (Talk Show Host: It won't knock you down.) No, no, if it would , I would never have gotten up in this life. But I have strong self belief, I believe in Wilma, when I believe in nothing else in this world.

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Speaker 1 13:52 Marge Thrasher Talk Show Host on AM Memphis
Here's the interview that I did with Yolanda King last week, in fact, on Thursday evening at the Memphis City Council Chambers, I enjoyed it. Let's watch.

Talk Show Host:
Yolanda, such a pleasure having you in Memphis. As you landed was it strange to come back where you lost your daddy?

Speaker 3 14:09. Yoland King
Well, I'm good. I definitely had rushes of, of thoughts that that crossed my mind. I thought about the fact that, of course, he he came out of it when they brought his body back it came through the airport and you know those kinds of images naturally, I think would would flash across one's mind. And needless to say, they do not come without regret and, and sorrow. But I also firmly believe that my father was taken for a reason that that was a necessary sacrifice that had to be made. And so I think that provides for me a great deal of, of comfort and acceptance. So that while the images are there, they don't mar my, my appreciation and my desire to come to Memphis.

Speaker 1 16:27 Talk Show Host
And you must be so very proud. Oh, my. Ebony Magazine, that great picture of your family, Keepers of the Dream. That's pretty. I mean, that's pretty heavy on all of you to keep this alive. Do you have a comment about that is the tag?

Speaker 3 16:43. Yolanda King
Well, I think that the reality is that when you grow up in a household as we did, where it's not only talked about, but that the fact that one has to be responsible to something other than themselves, and their own individual lives is so fully lived, that you don't really feel real good about yourself, unless you do continue that. That it's really it's it's an ingrained, very integral part of your being so I don't see it as a as a burden. Really. It certainly is a responsibility. But that's life.

Speaker 1 17:21 Talk Show Host
How Intimidating is it to be Dr. Martin Luther King's daughter to other to other men.

Speaker 3 17:25 Yolanda King
Yeah. Well, that that is real. That is a real factor.

17:30 Talk Show Host
I bet it is.

Speaker 3 17:31 Yolanda King
Yeah. Yeah. And it's been expressed on a number of occasions, by a number of men. , yeah. Yeah. It's hard because you, you just that there's just no way to take the lead. No, that's the reality. I think if perhaps I was my father's daughter, and I didn't also choose a profession that is so very public. I'm also an actress.

Speaker 1 19:45 Talk Show Host
Well you certainly gave me food for thought since I'm on the foundation here for the Lorain Civil Rights Museum, and we're trying to get that off the ground but you've you know, it is a struggle, but I think it's worth it. (King: Oh, so very much). We're so proud to have you in Memphis. Thank you. You're gonna just wait for invitations, we may just extend you an oath to come back, come back as an actress and do your show

Speaker 3 20:06 Yolanda King
Oh I would love to do that. I'd love to bring my company here I have a theater company that's based in New York, but we travel all the time. It's a touring company. So maybe that'll be the way I'll come back the next time.

Speaker 1 20:17 Talk Show Host
Come back and see us. Thank you Yolanda.

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Talk Show Host Marge Thrasher
Robert Worsham Senior is in the studios with us today. Among his other titles and notoriety is the author of a poem that was written in 1962 called, I Am a Man. Last Friday on the new news here on Channel 13, I announced that our director of this program and the the host of The Other Side was presenting a special. Part of it was called, I Am a Man. And then later, he updated the program in the last 30 minutes called, Now What Kind of Man Am I. Mr. Worsham was listening to the New News and called Gene Pace, thus we have you with us today. And thank you for coming. (Mr. Worsham: I Appreciate it). Mr. Worsham. You wrote this in 1962, some six years before Dr. King was killed in our city. What prompted you to write, I Am a Man?

Speaker 4 21:52 Robert Worsham, Sr.
Well we were proud of that I led a strike for three years, practically three years at the Chisca Hotel. And at the time, we were striking down town, the NAACP was picketing uptown, or around the Black and White stores. And during the time that I was leaving the picket line, I got on the bus. And it was no, well, it was two seats available, occupied by two White men individually. And Blacks were standing up and I asked one for to join the whites so two of us can sit. And he refused. And I asked the other and he refused and I asked the bus driver, but he refused. And because then I pushed the White fella over and sat down. As a result, I was taken off the bus by the police and the supervisor of the two arresting officer, after abusing me, quite often decided that he wanted to teach me a lesson. So he called each officer aside, and instructed them on what to do. And he told them I meet you at the police station. So when they got back in the car, and they headed toward the river, I'm in the backseat with this officer and I explained to him that I had done nothing wrong. I hadn't violated the law. And you would take me to river to put me in and I'm telling you if you hit me, you hit the wrong man. And he proceeded to tell me, nigga, you had no business sitting down by that White man. And in a sense, I lost control because I had made a decision that I was not willingly going to accept a beating. And so when they got to the river, they got out and I started to get out and they told me to stay in there, and I guess, rationale, or a rational thought prevailed. So they told me when they come back, we want to do something for you that's good. And we hope you will appreciate it. And I said officer if you do anything for me that's good I certainly will appreciate it. So they say we want you to walk in that police station, holding your stomach as if your gut's beat up. Can you do it? I said sure. And so that's the way I went in. And the word was there when I got there that this big desk sergeant was laughing because he really thought they had really done the job on me. And he said oh come around and i will knock you down myself sitting by a White man And they put me back in the cell, and these two young officers come again and say now, don't mess this up. I said I promise you I won't mess you up. We went before Judge Beverley Blushade (?). And I was really afraid because he was considered at that time a police judge but he was very very fair. And he wanted to know why the White man was not on the docket. So he continued the trial and he had him there.

Speaker 1 27:09 Talk Show Host
Let me get let you get ready to recite for u, I Am a Man, and tell the rest of you that it was during the sanitation strike. And any of you who lived here or watch television film at the time, remember the big picket signs on the front's of the sanitation workers and those in the strike. And if it said, I Am a Man. It was the theme. And we have the author of that Mr. Robert Worsham, Sr. with us today, and this will close out our segment, Mr. Worsham?

Speaker 4 27:36 Worsham recites his poem.
Well, the title, I Am a Man. Don't look at me with this name. For I'm not a weakling, I am a man. Asked to where to stand, brought severe reprimand. I spoke when to speak brought the negotiations from the weak and brutal attacks from those in power. But to me, this was my greatest hour. With chin thrust out and head up proud I stood up straight and I spoke out loud.For I am a man and I shall always defy the oppression of mankind. Until the day I die.