In honor of Veterans Day, “American Valor: A Salute to Our Heroes” highlights some of the nation’s top veterans.
Pender’s unique path went from a Vietnam battlefield to Olympic gold medalist.
Pender was an officer with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. While Pender played halfback for the unit’s football team, it was discovered he possessed world-class speed.
Pender’s untapped potential afforded him the opportunity to be sent back stateside to train as a sprinter with the goal on making the 1964 Olympic Team.
Pender made the 1964 U.S. Olympic Team, but he was hampered by a hamstring injury. He eventually finished fourth in the 100 meters at the Tokyo Games.
At the age of 27, Pender thought his Olympic dreams were over. He was deployed to the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, seeing combat with the 9th Infantry Division.
However, in 1968 Pender was summoned from South Vietnam back to track and field to compete in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Pender returned to the Olympic village at 30 years old.
Pender qualified for the 100-meter final and finished sixth as his U.S. teammate Jim Hines ran a world-record time of 9.9 seconds to become the first man in history to run sub-10 seconds. A few days later, Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously raised their black-gloved fist on the Olympic podium to bring attention to human rights issues and racial injustice in the U.S. after Smith and Carlos finished first and third, respectively, in the 200.
One the final day of competition, Pender was on the track again as the second leg of Team USA’s 4×100-relay team. With Pender at second leg and Hines as the anchor, the U.S. team cruised and crossed the finish line in a what was at the time a world-record time of 38.24.
“A career defined by excellence with each step he took,” Buck said of Pender in the narrated segment.
Pender, the Olympic gold medalist and veteran, is now 88 years old. His remarkable journey of perseverance and patriotism can be watched here.