The Cal 100: No. 97 -- Sheila Hudson
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 97: Sheila Hudson
Cal Sports Connection: Six-time NCAA champion in the triple jump and long jump who set American records and still owns Cal's best marks in both events 33 years later.
Claim to Fame: Campaigned vigorously for the women's triple jump to be included in the Olympics, and when it finally happened she finished 10th at the Atlanta Games.
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Sheila Hudson was a woman ahead of her time in track and field. Hudson actually set a “world best” in the triple jump before it was recognized internationally as an official event with an actual world record.
Sheila Hudson
Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
A six-time NCAA champion and eight-time All-American, indoors and outdoors, in the triple jump and long jump during her time (1986-90) at Cal, Hudson vigorously campaigned for the triple jump’s inclusion at the Olympics. The event finally was contested at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where the 29-year-old placed 10th.
While growing up in Rio Linda in Sacramento County, Hudson learned the triple jump by watching videos of world-record holder Willie Banks. “It takes years to get used to because it’s an awkward event,” she said in a 1990 interview. “There’s a lot to every phase, the hop phase and the jump phase. And you have to be patient to learn to apply everything.”
Once she figured it out, Hudson dominated her event in the U.S. even while still in college. From 1987 through 1998 she won 11 national titles and repeatedly broke her own American outdoor record. Her standard remained on the books for 17 years until it finally was eclipsed in 2004. Her indoor U.S. record stood for 23 years until 2017.
So dominant was Hudson as a collegiate athlete that her Cal records in both the triple and long jumps — outdoors and indoors — still have not been topped 33 years after she graduated.
She coached at both Cal and Cal State LA, where subsequently became an administrator, eventually ascending to senior associate athletic director.
Named more than two decades ago to the Pac-12’s All-20th Century team, Hudson more recently was honored with her selection to the Collegiate Track and Field Hall of Fame, joining the likes Wyomia Tyus, Edwin Moses and Renaldo Nehemiah in this year’s class.
Sheila Hudson
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-- No. 98: Now a national broadcaster, Roxy Bernstein got his start on Cal's student radio station.
Cover photo of Sheila Hudson courtesy of Cal Athletics
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo