The Stamp Collectors Corner

Wilma Rudolph was an amazing American athlete; not only for the medals that she won for the United States, but also for the obstacles she had to overcome in her lifetime.

Wilma Rudolph was the 20th of 22 children in her large family.  Her mother was a maid and her father was a railroad porter.  At the age of four, she contracted polio and became crippled.  Doctors told her mother repeatedly that Wilma would never be able to walk again.  She was not able to receive good medical care because your family was poor; but her mother was determined to teach her daughter to walk again.  Every day Wilma’s brothers and sisters helped in her quest to walk again by massaging her legs four times a day.

By the time that Wilma was 8 years old, she was able to walk slowly with a brace.  She enjoyed playing basketball with her brothers with the brace attached to her leg.  Surprisingly, when she was 11 years old, her mother came home from work to find her playing basketball, barefooted and without the brace.

Please check back on Friday for the conclusion.