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The greatest Olympic athlete from every U.S. state

By Adam Strangis

16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) /
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Missouri: Michael Spinks

Sport: Boxing

Olympics: Montreal 1976

Michael Spinks remains one of the best boxers of all-time and has a gold medal to his name from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He took the gold in the middleweight division and then continued to box for many years after. In 31 professional fights, Spinks only lost one match, to Mike Tyson, who defeated Spinks in just 91 seconds.

Before he turned professional or went to the Olympics, Spinks won the National Golden Gloves Championship in 1974 and 1976. He culminated his amateur career at the Olympics by defeating a boxer from the Soviet Union, Rufat Riskiev. Spinks scored the knockout victory in the third round and then returned home to a simple job at a chemical plant. His brother, Leon Spinks, was preparing for a fight with Muhammad Ali so Michael didn’t start his professional career until 1977. Michael was needed at home to help take care of their ailing mother. After he turned pro Spinks had a distinguished career.

Spinks was a two-weight champion in his career as he captured the light heavyweight title and held it from 1983 to 1985 before he moved up to heavyweight and held that belt from 1985 to 1988. He defended his light heavyweight title a whopping 10 times before moving up to the heavyweight division. He was able to defeat Larry Holmes who was a heavy favorite in that match. Spinks has been inducted into the International and World Boxing Hall of Fame and is widely considered to be a top-10 light heavyweight.

Honorable Mention: Helen Stephens, track and field in Berlin 1936

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