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Yale's Melton Honored in NCAA Black History Exhibit
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Patricia Melton
had an unexpected surprise in her first visit to the NCAA Hall of Champions
in Indianapolis on Monday morning. As she toured the exhibits and watched the
Martin Luther King Day functions with student-athletes from both Butler University
and IUPUI, she took her
first look at the Hall of Honor, where she is a member.
Melton, a seven-time Heps track champion at Yale University, was a 2007 recipient
of an NCAA Silver Anniversary award, along with Dartmouth's Gail
Koziara and Brown's Steve
Jordan.
But the surprise came when Kelly Dodds of the NCAA staff approached and escorted
her to the newly-installed Black History Month section of the Hall. The exhibit
had been unveiled that morning. There were only 22 athletes included on the
panels and Melton was the only Ivy Leaguer in the bunch. Directly beneath her
on the panel was Anita DeFrantz, who competed at Connecticut College, but later
earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Among the 22 athletes were such giants as Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, Bill Cosby,
Wilma Rudolph and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "It was surreal because so many
people on there are people I watched as a kid in the Olympics and on television,"
said Melton. "It's such an honor. When one of the tour guides found out
that it was me, he told me that it is what the NCAA Hall of Champions is about
-- what you do with your life not just in sports."
"I was particularly shocked to be on the panel with Anita DeFrantz, because
I had just met with her last month about being involved with the launch of a
charter high school in her hometown of Indianapolis. It was a great way to start
a day."
