LeRoy Walker Dead: First African-American To Lead U.S. Olympic Committee Dies At 93 (VIDEO): LeRoy Walker, the first African-American to lead the U.S. Olympic Committee and the first black man to coach an American Olympic team died Monday. He was 93.
Walker's death was confirmed by Scarborough & Hargett Funeral home, but no cause of death was given.
The grandson of slaves raised in the segregated South before he moved to Harlem, Walker led the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1992 to 1996, both shepherding the summer games played in Atlanta and leading the group when the 2002 Winter Olympics were awarded to Salt Lake City.
The Atlanta games were widely panned across the globe, and Walker warned his fellow countrymen the U.S. was not likely to host another games for a long time after Salt Lake City. He repeated his warnings after a bribery scandal threatened to derail the 2002 winter games, and so far, his prediction has been true.
