Rodney Milburn

Milburn first ran hurdles at J. S. Clark because coach Claude Paxton moved him there. At Southern University, mentored by Willie Davenport, he went undefeated in 1971, ran the 120-yard hurdles in 13.0 and won the Pan American Games. His Munich gold in 1972 came in 13.24 seconds, logged as a tie of the 13.2 world record. Turning professional in 1974 cost him the 1976 Olympics, and the 1980 boycott cost him another. He coached at Southern from 1984 to 1987 and died in 1997 after falling into a tank at a pulp mill.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Le Vieux Village and the Venus House — steps away
  A heritage park in Opelousas built around the Venus House of about 1791, the home of a free Creole woman of color, Marie Francois Venus, with an old schoolhouse, Methodist church and the visitor center's zydeco music exhibit.
• Prairie Acadian Cultural Center — 21 mi
  A National Park Service center in Eunice on the Cajun prairie, with exhibits on the Acadians who settled the prairies, a Courir de Mardi Gras display, free music and cooking demonstrations, and the shuttered Liberty Theatre nearby.
• Vermilionville — 22 mi
  A living-history village of about 23 acres on Bayou Vermilion in Lafayette, opened in 1990 to interpret the Native peoples, Acadians, Creoles and people of African descent of the Attakapas region.
• Atchafalaya Welcome Center — 25 mi
  A state welcome center inside the Atchafalaya Basin, the nation's largest river swamp, with exhibits on Basin history and life, a film, a crawfishing boat and French-speaking staff.

More markers nearby

• J.S. Clark High School — steps away
• The Opelousas Post Militia of 1779 — steps away
• Opelousas Firsts and Famous / Hall of Fame — steps away
• La Chapelle House — steps away