SAN JOSE -- The black-gloved salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics had a greater impact than John Carlos and Tommie Smith probably realized.
I told Carlos as much nine years ago when attending a U.S. Olympic Committee event at his alma mater San Jose State. I explained how their actions reached through the black-and-white television screen and grabbed ahold of this redheaded Jewish teen living a bicycle ride from Richard Nixon's birthplace in northeast Orange County.I couldn't have known the struggles with racism the Olympians and their Spartans teammates faced while putting San Jose on the map as "Speed City.