The Desire To Dance Saved His Life
WHITFIELD: This is a time of thanks. And I have a lot to be grateful for. You've showed a lot of love for my dad, Mal Whitfield, for a very long time. His incredible journey as a husband, dad, Olympian, Tuskegee airmen, and career U.S. diplomat, coach, mentor, and friend, I know, the list is long. Well, he's entered a new phase this week, and he said so long to us at the age of 91. And as a family, we were at his bedside in Washington. But we don't want you to be sad. He has given us all a lot to celebrate, admire, and honor.</s>WHITFIELD: In the last lap of his life, dad, Mal Whitfield, finished strong. But that shouldn't surprise anyone unless you've never heard of "Marvelous Mal," read about his incredible legacy, or, in recent years, even caught the first of what would become many moments like this on CNN. Marvelous Mal, I know him as dad. Hello, dad. Even to us, his family, Marvelous Mal's life is mind boggling. Who could believe that before this world champion mid-distance track star won three gold --</s>MAL WHITFIELD: You keep this one, the first one.</s>WHITFIELD: -- a silver and a bronze in two Olympic games, he was an Olympic hopeful training in between 27 combat bombing missions as a Tuskegee airmen tail gunner in World War II and the Korean War. And well before that, in segregated America, the odds were stacked. Born in 1924 in Bay City, Texas, orphaned after the deaths of both parents, dad's big sister, Betty, would migrate west like thousands of black Americans in the 1930s, seeking better opportunities. Big sis Betty would raise dad in Watts, Los Angeles, California. Mal Whitfield couldn't have known it then, but he told us kids it would help define his destiny, cultivate his determination, shape his indefatigable winning spirit. It's well documented by now how as a youngster in Los Angeles he snuck into the 1932 Olympic Game stadium and was awe-inspired by the great Eddie Tolan. Dad's Olympic interest flame was sparked. While dad has blazed quite a trail in all of the history books as an airmen, a world class athlete --</s>MAL WHITFIELD: I ran three, 800 meters, the 400 meters, and the 400- meter relays. I just overdid it, but it was all worth it.</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, and since we're on a roll, a more than three-decades' long career as a U.S. State Department foreign service officer, an ambassador of sport serving six presidents, from John F. Kennedy to George H. W. Bush. We've all run out of superlatives to describe this awesome man. But through it all, to us, Mal Whitfield has just been dad and grandpa, even after he and 300 Tuskegee airmen received 2007 Congressional gold medals. How do you feel?</s>MAL WHITFIELD: Great, great, great.</s>WHITFIELD: That infectious humor, broad smile, his signature mantras like, "keep moving," "never quit," "all things are possible," "education is your ticket," "have a plan," "be ready," none of it lip service. He believed all of it because he lived it, coached, and mentored thousands of American and African athletes from Boxer George Foreman to Kenyan marathoner Kip Keino. Are you ready?</s>MAL WHITFIELD: Oh, I've been ready. I haven't had a good night's sleep. I'll sleep on the plane.</s>WHITFIELD: That was him gearing up for our trip to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, where he reunited with fellow Olympians of yesteryear.</s>MAL WHITFIELD: They remember the face and my laugh.</s>WHITFIELD: Making it that much more special, you were right there with him, with us, to Beijing, to London in 2012, 54 years after his Olympic gold debut at the 1948 London games.</s>MAL WHITFIELD: That's what the Olympic Games is partly about. The word is "unity."</s>WHITFIELD: And afterwards, everyone always asking, commenting about dad.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fredricka, I hope to be there with your dad, God willing. Mal, I love you, baby. You take care. I'll see you soon.</s>WHITFIELD: And remember I mentioned Mal Whitfield was a man born to beat the odds? Well, he wouldn't lose his footing over a few health matters that got in the way, either. A brain tumor, at least two strokes and prostate cancer, none of it defeating Marvelous Mal, even letting me tag along on his 2009 return to the Helsinki stadium where he won gold in the 1952 games. While he most certainly became more physically frail leading up to his 91st birthday last month, that determination and drive that fueled so much of his life and legacy remained defiantly strong. A great team of loving care around him saw to that. On the door of his hospice bedroom, where red, white, and blue gave final salute, inside, we saw his courage and felt it. He ran his race called life vigorously, all of the way. Dad passed away with the same kind of stamina, smoothness, and grace that won him renowned distinction, Marvelous Mal Whitfield.