'The Olympian': A Story Of The First Black Gold Medalist

'The Olympian': A Story Of The First Black Gold Medalist: Craig Williams walked through the gates of Eden Cemetery, the oldest African American cemetery in the U.S., one fall day in 2007. Even though the Collingsdale, Pa., cemetery contains the bodies of several black luminaries -- including civil rights leader Octavius Valentine Catto and opera singer Marian Anderson -- Williams didn't come for any of these big names.

He was there to see John Taylor, the first African American to win Olympic gold.

Taylor was a college graduate and a star athlete, recognized for his success even by then president Theodore Roosevelt. But in 1908, the same year he medaled at the Olympic games in London, he died of typhoid pneumonia.

And with his death, much of Taylor's story was lost.

Since then, his Olympic feats and much of what we know about his life have been relegated to history books and university archives. Even in this famous cemetery where he is buried, Taylor's legend remained unknown. An index card in the cemetery’s file helped Williams find Taylor's grave -- where his family's tombstone leaned crookedly in the unkempt grass.