Fall 2020: Local Roots, Global Impact: Fredonia’s Olympian Janell Smith Carson

Posted On September 21, 2020

In the mid-1960s, almost a full decade before the banner of Title IX would pave the way for the proliferation of female athletics throughout the country, a wiry, young teenage girl from Fredonia, Kansas, proudly carried a different banner – that of United States Olympian. Janell Smith Carson qualified for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in the 400 meters while still a student at Fredonia High School, despite the fact she had only begun training for that event the previous year.

 

Want to read more of Janell’s story? Check out the Fall issue of Southeast Kansas Living, out now! It includes this story in its entirety, plus so much more. Subscribe now, Purchase a Single Issue or find a newsstand near you.