Evelyn Ashford
Class of 2003
By the time she was 15 years old, Evelyn Ashford had to her credit 2 state and 1 national track record and had led her track team at Clements High School to back-to-back State Championships in 1971-72. She was an eighth grader when she joined the track team and completed with high school girls where all schools regardless of size competed in the same division. She ran the 50, 100 and 220 yard dash and was on the 440 yard relay team and did the standing broad jump.
Her father was in the Air Force and the family had to move often. When she left Clements she moved to California and the new school did not have a girls track team. She ran on the boy's team when she was a senior and her talent was recognized by the UCLA women's track coach.
She received a scholarship from UCLA on the track team where she won four national collegiate championships and made the 1976 Olympic team.
When she retired, she had earned 4 Olympic Gold Medals; a Silver Olympic Medal, set a world record, broke her own world record, won 4 World Cup Titles and ran 20 ofthe 23 fastest 100's in USA history.
Ashford now lives in California with her family.