Originally posted by Shuffler
Those disrespectful guys went on to become... nobodies.... 
Disrespectful ? ... like Rosa Parks was ?
Nobodies ? ... I don't think so.
"The two American athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride. Carlos wore beads which he described "were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage." All three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges, after Norman expressed sympathy with their ideals."
"Smith and Carlos were largely ostracized by the U.S. sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. A writer in the Los Angeles Times accused Smith and Carlos of a "Nazi-like salute." Time magazine showed the five-ring Olympic logo with the words, "Angrier, Nastier, Uglier", instead of "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Back home they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats.
Smith continued in athletics and in the promotion of equal rights. He went on to play American football with the Cincinnati Bengals, before becoming an assistant professor of Physical Education at Oberlin College. In 1995 he went on to help coach the U.S. team at the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona. In 1999 he was awarded a Sportsman of the Millennium award. He is now a public speaker.
Carlos' career followed a similar path to Smith. He initially continued in athletics, equaling the 100m world record the following year. Later he played American football with the Philadelphia Eagles before a knee injury prematurely ended his career. He fell upon hard times in the late 1970s and in 1977 his wife committed suicide. In 1985 he became a track and field coach at a school in Palm Springs, a post which he still holds.
San Jose State University honored former students Smith and Carlos with a twenty foot high statue of their protest in 2005. In January 2007, History San José opened a new exhibit called Speed City: From Civil Rights to Black Power, covering the San Jose State University athletic program "from which many student athletes became globally recognized figures as the Civil Rights and Black Power movements reshaped American society."
