Celebrating Black History Month through Norwalk sports: Roman a standout in Senior Olympics
Long before she became one of the best senior Olympians in the world, more than 30 years before Black History Month was even recognized in the United States, Mary Roman had an up close and personal view of how the country was slowly changing.
Now 78, Roman's remarkable accomplishments in Senior Olympics have been well documented. All the medals she's won, records she's set and milestones she's reached have filled these sports pages for the past quarter of a century since she became eligible to compete.
But here's something even her biggest fans may not be aware of. Members of Roman's family in Stockbridge, Mass., where she grew up, played a role in changing the perception many in this country had of blacks.
Norman Rockwell, one of the great 20th-century American artists, also made his home in Stockbridge. A longtime supporter of equality and tolerance, many of Rockwell's paintings expressed his own social concerns.
This included his series of civil rights paintings, the most famous of which was the iconic "The Problem We All Live With." The painting depicts Ruby Bridges, the little girl who integrated the New Orleans school system in 1960, being escorted on her first day by four federal marshals in the face of a hostile crowd.
"You can't see the marshals' heads and Rockwell said he purposely did that so people would focus on the little girl," Roman explained.
The event made the nightly news, where Rockwell saw it and was inspired to do the painting. The powerful image became a national symbol of the struggle for racial equality, appearing on the cover of Look magazine and even exhibited outside the Oval Office in the White House.
What's all this have to do with Mary Roman, you ask? Her then 9-year-old cousin, Lynda Gunn, was the model who posed for Rockwell as he painted Ruby Bridges.
That's not the only time members of Roman's family appeared in a Rockwell painting promoting equality. In his painting "The Golden Rule", Rockwell illustrates people of all different nationalities and races with the words, "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You" written along the bottom.
"My sister Charlotte is the little girl in the front row," Roman said. "My Aunt Sinclara is on the right side near the top and her son David is in back of her.
"A couple of my cousins are also in his painting called 'Moving In.' They're holding a white cat and the kids they just met are white and have a black dog."
Four more relatives are in "A Right to Know", which was painted in 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated.
So where was Mary Roman when Rockwell was painting these?
"I was living down here by then," she said. "We moved to Stamford in 1954 and bought our first house in Norwalk in '64."
Her introduction to sports, however, came in Stockbridge.
"I played softball and basketball and did cheerleading at Williams High School," she pointed out. "Those were the only three sports for girls.
"I also took horseback riding because I had polio and the doctor said it would strengthen my legs. I guess it worked."
She attended Springfield College in the mid '50s, but at the time there were no varsity sports for girls.
"Just intramurals," she said. "We were only the third class of girls. Springfield was an all-boys school before then."
And like many Springfield College students, Roman had her sights set on a career in physical education, though it never materialized
"I got so involved raising my family," she said.
Mary and the late Granville Roman had five boys, all athletes, including Kenny, who played college football and had a tryout with the Cleveland Browns, Craig, a state champion hurdler at Brien McMahon, and Gerald, a three-sport standout for the Senators.
Of course, between their mother and father -- who ran track and played football at Springfield College -- they inherited some pretty good athletic genes.
It was Granville Roman who entered the Connecticut Senior Olympics first at the University of Bridgeport in 1987.
"I was still too young," Mary laughed. "So I went to cheer for him and he won and went to the Nationals in St. Louis in 1989."
That's also the same year Mary entered her first Connecticut Senior Games. By 1991, she was going to her first Nationals and before long she was qualifying for the World Senior Games and USATF Masters Track and Field Championships.
All told, Roman has won more than 250 gold, silver and bronze medals and has traveled all over the country, and to places like Spain, Italy, British Columbia and, this past fall, Brazil. In 2010 she was named the Norwalk Sports Person of the Year by the Fairfield County Sports Commission.
The ageless wonder is currently ranked first in the U.S. and eighth in the world in the weight throw in the 75-79 age group. She's also first nationally in the super weight throw and ultra-weight throw, and second in the throws pentathlon.
"I never had a coach until last year when Mike Santa Lucia (who coached her son Craig in track) helped me in the javelin for the World Games," she pointed out. "I just watched a lot of videos and talked to people."
Not bad for someone who holds the American record in the shot put in the women's 65-69, 70-74 and 75-79 age groups.
But as busy as Roman was on the track, she was just as active in the community. A banker for 35 years, she later spent eight years as city clerk under three mayors. She also served on a number of boards and organizations -- STAR, Norwalk Senior Center, Rotary Club president, YMCA, to name just a few.
And she still volunteers once a week at the Norwalk Library in the Historical Room.
Which seems fitting for someone who has been a big part of Norwalk's history.