Olympic champion, National Track & Field Hall of Fame inductee and six-time long jump world record setter Ralph Boston died Sunday in Atlanta. He was 83. Boston was the greatest long jumper of his time, winning gold at the 1960 Olympics in Rome less than a month after breaking Jesse Owens' world record that had stood for 25 years. He added Olympic silver at Tokyo in 1964 and bronze in 1968 at Mexico City before hanging up his spikes. From 1960-65, Boston bettered the world record six times and was the first man to surpass 27-feet when he spanned 8.24m/27-0.5 at the California Relays in Modesto in May 1961. He won six straight AAU national titles from 1961-66 and captured the 1961 AAU indoor gold. Starring in multiple sports at Oak Park High School in Laurel, Mississippi, the same school that produced opera great Leontyne Price, Boston was the youngest of 10 children, all of whom attended college. A supremely talented all-around athlete, Boston started his career aspiring to decathlon stardom, but his lack of prowess in the throwing events convinced him to pursue other avenues in the sport. He carried his academic and athletic talents to Tennessee A&I University (now Tennessee State) in 1957 and took bronze in the NCAA long jump as a sophomore in 1959 before mounting the victory podium the next year with a leap of 25-5.75. That NCAA victory set the stage for his Olympic Trials win, world record and, ultimately, his gold at Rome. After dominating the Olympic Trials in July at Stanford, going a wind-aided 8.09m/26-6.5 in round five, he leaped into the record books on August 12 with an 8.21m/26-11.25 at an Olympic Test meet in Walnut, California to finally take down the world record of 8.13m/26-8.25 that Jesse Owens set during his legendary record-breaking day at Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1935. Favored for Olympic gold after these exploits, Boston traveled to Rome as a wide-eyed 21-year-old. “I was just a bright-eyed, skinny kid from Laurel, Mississippi, who didn’t know which way was up,” Boston said later to interviewer Rick Cleveland. “And then I walk into that stadium and there are more people than I had ever seen in my life. I thought, ‘Man, what have I gotten myself into here.’” Trailing going into the third round, Boston uncorked an 8.12m/26-7.75 to take the lead, and he held on to win by just one centimeter over U.S. teammate Bo Roberson, with Soviet star Igor Ter-Ovanesyan third. Setting two more long jump world records in 1961, Boston was also undefeated in the high hurdles and ranked fifth in the world by Track & Field News that year. On the heels of his historic 27-footer at Modesto, he set his third world record in a dual meet against the Soviet Union at Moscow on July 16 with an 8.28m/27-2 in round three after a pair of fouls. Boston was victorious in meets against West Germany, Great Britain, and Poland that summer to help cement his status as the No. 1 long jumper in Track & Field News' world rankings, a spot he held from 1960-67. Boston picked up two more wins against the Soviets in 1962 and 1963 and took gold at the 1963 Pan American Games, leading up to the 1964 Olympic Trials that would select the team for Tokyo. The Trials were contested in a semifinal/final format, and Boston won both legs easily. At the semifinal Trials in New York City on July 3, Boston rode a strong breeze to an 8.37m/27-5.5w to win by 15cm and earn his berth in the final Trials at Los Angeles on September 12. In the interim, a fourth world record came at Kingston, Jamaica, on August 15 when he hit 8.31m/27-3.25 to tie the WR that had been set by Ter-Ovanesyan in 1962. Opening the final Trials with what would end up as his longest jump ever, Boston had a wind-aided 8.49m/27-10.25w (+2.8 wind), virtually shutting down the competition. He also had a wind-legal 8.34m/27-4.5 in round three to claim his fifth world record. Again an Olympic favorite, Boston faced stiff competition in Tokyo from long-time rival Ter-Ovanesyan, but it was Great Britain's relatively unheralded Lynn Davies who came away with gold. Boston took the lead in the second stanza with a 7.85m/25-9.25 jump and improved his hold on the top spot with a 7.88m/25-10.25 in the fourth round. Davies flew out to 8.07m/26-5.75 in the next round to take the lead, and Boston's final attempt elicited an 8.03m/26-4.25 that earned him silver. With no World Championships on the calendar, Boston had to wait until 1968 for his next chance at Olympic and global glory, picking up his second Pan American Games gold in 1967 to go with an array of victories in international dual meets. Battling an injury that kept him out of the semifinal Trials at Los Angeles in June, Boston went into the final Trials at Echo Summit facing a new threat – Bob Beamon. Undefeated coming into the meet, Beamon won the semifinal Trials by more than a foot to set up an intriguing clash with Boston, the world's best. Boston's wind-aided 8.26m/27-1.25w on his opening jump was followed by a windy 8.39m/27-6.5w by Beamon, and both men chose to shut it down after the next round. At high altitude in Mexico City, Boston had an Olympic record 8.27m/27-1.75 in the first round of qualifying as Beamon struggled with his steps and had two fouls. Boston offered some friendly advice and Beamon popped an 8.19m26-10.5 on his last try to secure a berth in the final. “I fouled on my first two attempts and was about to get disqualified," Beamon said later. "Then Ralph told me I needed to adjust my footwork leading to my takeoff. I figured I had better listen to the master, and I did. The rest, as they say, is history. I owe a lot to Ralph Boston.” Beamon went on to produce one of the greatest single performances in the history of the sport, an almost mythical jump in the first round of the final that measured 8.90m/29-2.5, a world record that would remain for 23 more years. Stunned by the titanic jump just like everyone else in the final, Boston was unable to improve on his 8.16m/26-9.25 in round one and ended up with bronze to complete his collection of Olympic medals. Retiring from competition after the 1968 Games, Boston worked as a Coordinator of Minority Affairs and Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Tennessee and had stints as an on-field reporter for CBS Sports Spectacular. He was a member of the inaugural class of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1974 and earned induction into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1985. He was the first Black athlete inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.