Faster. Higher. Stronger.

The institution that evolved into the University of Maryland Eastern Shore was in its 10th year of educating Blacks as Princess Anne Academy when the inaugural Olympic Games of the modern era were held in Greece in 1896.

Nine world-class student-athletes – all of them in track and field  –  competed at summer Olympiads in the first 125 years of the university’s existence.  A 10^th thinclad was a coach.

Edwin Skinner holds the distinction of being the school’s first Olympian and medal winner. He won a bronze at the 1964 Tokyo games competing for Trinidad and Tobago in the 4 x 400 meter relay. In March 1964, Skinner was part of a mile relay team  that set a world record during an NCAA meet.

The most recent UMES Olympian is Lenorá Guion-Firmin of Martinique, who qualified for the French team as a sprinter at the 2012 London games.

Edwin Skinner ¹†	Trinidad-Tobago	1964	4 x 400 M relay
Benedict Cayenne ¹	Trinidad-Tobago	1968	4 x 400 M relay & 800 M
Charles Mays Sr. ¹	United States	1968	Long jump
Howard Lindsay ¹	Antigua-Barbuda	1984, ’88, ’96	200 M, 4 x 400 M & 4 x 100 M relay
Russ Rogers ¹	United States	1988	Sprint coach
Dawnette Douglas	Bermuda	1992	100 & 200 M
Derry Pemberton	U.S. Virgin Islands	1992	4 x 100 M relay
Allodin Fothergill	Jamaica	2008	4 x 400 M relay
Mikel Thomas ²	Trinidad-Tobago	2008, 2012	110 M hurdles
Lenorá Guion-Firmin	France	2012	4 x 400 M relay

Five alumni are in the UMES athletics hall of fame; Skinner, Benedict Cayenne, Howard Lindsay, Russ Rogers and the late Charles Mays Sr.

Mays, who died in 2005, served six years on the Jersey City, N.J. city council and as an Assemblyman in the New Jersey legislature from 1978 to 1982.  Rogers, also from New Jersey, became a collegiate track and field coach and retired in 2006 from The Ohio State University.  

---

^{1 – UMES athletics’ Hall of Fame members at the university’s 125th anniversary.}

^{† – medal winner} 

^{2 – Thomas was a University of Kentucky student when he competed in Beijing, China ~ 2008.}