Olympian Bobby Joe Morrow, Paralympian Margaret Maughan

(ATR) The lives of Olympic and Paralympic champions from another era are remembered.

Bobby Joe Morrow, a lanky sprinter from Texas, winner of three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, is said to have been the best Olympic sprinter since Jesse Owens at the 1936 Games.

Morrow died May 30 in Harlingen, Texas. He was 84.

Morrow won the 100 m, 200 m and anchored the team in the relay for gold medal number three.

Kevan Gosper, a silver medalist in the 4 x 400 relay team for Australia, didn’t compete against the U.S. phenomenon. But in an email, Gosper tells Around the Rings Morrow was one of the stars of those first Olympics in Australia.

"It was nice to be reminded of Bobby Morrow, which brought back all my memories of the excitement of competing in the 1956 Olympic Games," Gosper writes.

"Bobby together with Vladimir Kutz, were the male stars of those Games, whilst on the other hand, our Betty Cuthbert stood out in the women's’ events. I admired Morrow, I mean what a great triple, probably the best performance by a sprinter at a modern Olympics since Jesse Owens in Berlin in 1936," says Gosper. A former member of the IOC, Gosper is now an honorary member.

Despite his fame and acclaim, Morrow was snubbed for the 1960 US team for the Rome Olympics andnever raced again. His post competitive career wasn’t a smooth one, marked by some bitterness. Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News recounts the melodrama of Morrow’s life in a June 2 remembrance.

Margaret Maughan, Paralympic Pioneer

Margaret Maughan of Great Britain was the nation’s first Paralympic champion, She won gold in three events: archery, swimming and darchery, a combination of darts and archery.

She used a wheelchair for the rest of her life following a spinal injury suffered in a car crash in 1959 in Malawi.

She died May 20, age 91.

Following the 1960 Paralympics she competed in four more editions. Maughan went on to be a constant advocate for Paralympic sports. In 2012 she lit the cauldron during the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games.

"The International Paralympic Committee and entire Paralympic Movement is truly saddened by the loss of a true legend in Margaret. She was a beneficiary of the outstanding rehabilitation methods of the Movement’s founding father Sir Ludwig Guttmann and someone who witnessed first-hand the growth of the Paralympic Movement. We will be eternally thankful for her pioneering role in connecting persons with a disability with Para sports," said IPC President Andrew Parsons in a statement.

Reported by Ed Hula.