University of Tennessee Athletics
Fitzgerald Mosley Delivers Address
February 01, 2011 | Women's Track
Feb. 1, 2011
By Eric Trainer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Former Lady Vol and U.S. Olympic track & field gold medalist Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, currently the Chief of Sports Performance for USA Track & Field, returned to the University of Tennessee on Tuesday as the keynote speaker for a kickoff event celebrating 50 years of African-American achievement and undergraduate admission at the university.
Fitzgerald Mosley, a product of Dale City, Va., and Gar-Field High School, competed for the Lady Vol track & field team from 1980-83, winning five national championships and earning All-America honors 14 times during a stellar career at Rocky Top. After finishing third in the 100-meter hurdles at the AIAW Outdoor national meet as a freshman, she reeled off three straight victories in that event from 1981 to 1983. She also picked up AIAW titles in the 60y hurdles indoors in 1982 and with the 800m medley relay in 1981.
During that 1981 season, she played a key role as the Lady Vol track & field claimed the first women's national team championship in school history, winning the AIAW Outdoor Championship under the direction of Head Coach Terry Crawford. That group became known as the "Ten That Made One."
At the Southeastern Conference level, Fitzgerald Mosley was a key in Tennessee winning the first three women's outdoor track & field trophies in conference history from 1981 to 83. A 10-time All-SEC selection, she won nine individual or relay league crowns, including the first three 100m hurdles championships from 1981-83. She also added personal victories in the 100m (1981, 1983) and 200m (1981, 1982) dashes.
A two-time Olympic qualifier in the 100m hurdles, Fitzgerald Mosley made the American team as a college freshman in 1980, only to see her opportunity vanish when the U.S. boycotted the Games in Moscow for political reasons. Four years later in 1984, she would take full advantage on her home soil, racing to a gold medal in Los Angeles and becoming the second American woman and first African-American female to win that event.
Fitzgerald Mosley, who served as president and CEO of Women In Cable Television prior to her current post, led a commemorative march Tuesday from the Torchbearer on campus to the Carolyn P. Brown University Center. In a program celebrating achievement, she delivered the keynote address entitled, "Gratitude With An Attitude."
In the accompanying video, Fitzgerald Mosley talks to local media about the opportunities she had at the University of Tennessee as an industrial engineering major and an All-American track & field athlete with the Lady Volunteers. A photo gallery of the day's events also will accompany this story.
