HONOLULU -- Jackie Joyner-Kersee Saturday became the first athlete to win track and field's highest honor, the Jesse Owens Memorial Award, for a second time.
Joyner-Kersee, 25, who also received the honor last year, staked her claim to be the world's best women's track athlete in 1987 by winning the long jump and heptathlon at the World Championships. She also equaled the world long-jump record while winning that event at the Pan American Games.
The Athletics Congress of the USA selected the Long Beach, Calif., resident from a field of nominees that included jumper Mike Conley; hurdlers Greg Foster and Edwin Moses and sprinter-long jumper Carl Lewis. Moses won the award in 1981, and Lewis took the honor in 1982.
The award was the second for Joyner-Kersee at the Athletics Congress convention in Honolulu. She was recognized as the nation's top female field-events performer for the fourth straight year when she was given the C.C. Jackson Award Friday.
During the awards program, Jim Bush, Franklin 'Bud' Held, Eulace Peacock and Martha Watson were inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Bush was track coach at UCLA for 20 years and the Bruins won five NCAA championships during his tenure. Held, who was a member of the 1952 Olympic team, set a world javelin mark in 1953 with a throw of 263 feet, 10 inches. He still competes in masters track and field.
Peacock was one of the nation's top sprinters-long jumpers during the 1930s and 1940s. He competed for Temple University, but missed the 1936 Olympic team due to an injury. The former co-holder of the world record in the 100-meter dash had a 7-3 edge over the great Jesse Owens in the sprints and long jump.
Watson, who competed on four U.S. Olympic teams beginning in 1964, won eight national long-jump titles.
