HPOD Events
A Conversation on Sports, Law and Life
With Olympic Gold Medalist Bob Beamon, Long Jump Record Holder
No name is as synonymous with the Olympic long jump as that of Bob Beamon. Nearly a half-century after his gold medal performance at the 1968 Mexico City Games, reporters still attach the label “Beamonesque” to one of the greatest exploits in all of sports.
However, the story of Bob Beamon did not start at the Olympics. Born in South Jamaica, Queens, New York, Beamon was surrounded by a world of unsavory activity. Beamon became engulfed by the culture of the time. By the age of fourteen, he was rarely at school and involved in gang life, eventually becoming a gang leader. With the help of positive goals developed through sports, Beamon turned his life around. Athletics were the catalyst that fueled this transition. Bob was a New York state record holder and Junior Olympian. He won the 1965 National High School Triple Jump and High Jump awards. In 1967, he won the Indoor AAU Long Jump Championship as well as the Silver Medal at the Pan American Games Outdoor Long Jump Championships. Beamon made the shift from hanging out on the corner to attending college. After beginning his NCAA career at North Carolina, A&T, he transferred to the emerging track powerhouse program at the University of Texas El-Paso. While competing at UTEP, Beamon proved to be a man of unparalleled principle. As a college student at the time of the civil rights movement, Beamon and fellow African-Americans boycotted a track and field meet held by a university with insensitive racial practices. His decision had major repercussions, costing him his scholarship and coach mere months before the Olympic Trials.
The year of the 1968 Olympics, Bob had 22 wins in 23 events, which landed him a spot in the Olympics. Nothing less than gold was expected of Beamon in Mexico City and his jump was nothing short of miraculous! Just 22 years old, he landed a jump of 29 ft. 2½ inches, destroying the existing world record by 1.8 feet. His Olympic record still stands today, nearly a half-century later. It is currently the longest standing Olympic record in the history of the modern Olympic Games. He is also in the National Track & Field Hall of Fame, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, New York Track & Field Hall of Fame as well as ESPN’s top 100 athletes in history. Beamon has been honored by every single major Olympic organization in the world as part of his many sports accolades. Mr. Beamon also received the stellar Olympian Award given every 25 years by the United States Olympic Committee.
His story also did not end at the Olympics. Following his uncharted success, he went back to school to complete his degree, graduating from Adelphi University in 1972 with a degree in Sociology. Now, Beamon takes lessons from his own life to positively affect American youth. As the Associate Commissioner of Parks in Miami-Dade County, Bob Beamon, along with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, organized the South Florida Inner-City Games for at-risk kids.
He was Chairman of the Bob Beamon United Way Golf Classic, which benefited youth-related programs for the United Way. In addition, he has gone on to pursue new dreams. He operates his own corporation, Bob Beamon Communications Inc., in Central Florida as well as Las Vegas, Nevada where he now lives with his wife, Rhonda A. Beamon. He collaborates with several organizations to facilitate scholarship fairs in the Central Florida area. More than 35 colleges and Universities award over $10 million in scholarships to qualified high school seniors. He is also an exhibited artist, designing and marketing a successful line of neckties and scarves. He is one of the first athletes to receive a license to use the United States Olympic Committee rings and logos on his merchandise. As with the USOC, Beamon has a line of apparel that can be purchased online at the International Olympic Committee website as well. Bob spends much of his time as an inspirational speaker and corporate spokesperson. He has developed his own motivational program, The Champion in You, in which he describes how, "Champions are made by the things you accomplish and by the way you use your abilities in everyday life situations." Beamon is also on the Jessie Owens Foundation Board of Directors and is the newly named Global Ambassador for Special Olympics. Bob remains very active in the Olympic movement and received the prestigious Jesse Owens Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
Frank K. Wheaton is a prominent United States attorney, developer, global citizen, and specialist that amassed a celebrity representation platform for over 25 years as an agent, manager and lawyer for some of the most stellar entertainers and athletes of our time. Hiss diversified professional and developmental experience spans throughout the United States, Caribbean and, in particular, the sub-Saharan African region. He has traveled extensively throughout the world including Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia as an attorney, consultant and business adviser. He has led any number of initiatives in the areas of politics, economic development, sports and entertainment in various parts of the world. His work is also focused on humanitarian development coupled with legislative measures to help reshape the lives and environment of the underprivileged. Designated as one of the top ten percent of all entertainment attorneys in the United States, he recently served as one of the lead attorneys in the probate matter of Prince Rogers Nelson, one of the most iconic music legends of our time. He maintains offices in Indianapolis and Los Angeles. He is married to Jennifer Jones, a former IBM executive. They share a blended family including seven children, all of whom are college educated and enjoy successful careers.
Professor William Alford considers himself blessed to have been involved with Special Olympics for the past two decades. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Special Olympics International since 2005 and now serves on its Executive Committee. In his life apart from SOI, Prof. Alford is Henry L. Stimson Professor at Harvard Law School, where he also serves as Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies, Chair of the Harvard Law School Project on Disability (HPOD), and Director of East Asian Legal Studies. His academic work is focused on: China and its effort to develop its legal system; China’s engagement with the world community; on disability issues; and on international law. HPOD works in China, Bangladesh, South Africa and many other nations to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in a culturally appropriate manner.
Angela Ciccolo, Special Olympics Chief Legal Officer, is responsible for the full range of legal functions handled by the Legal Department and by outside counsel, for Special Olympics offices around the world. She also has a special role to protect the mission of Special Olympics through oversight and maintenance of compliance with the Special Olympics General Rules, which are the principal governing policies of the Special Olympics movement. She comes to Special Olympics after having spent the past decade with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States. She served as the organization’s first woman General Counsel and Secretary, managing all legal internal and external legal matters. Ciccolo previously served as a civil trial attorney in the Washington, D.C. She received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Virginia State Advisory Committee and has served as an election monitor and speaker on issues of diversity and inclusion in the United States and abroad.