The celebrated sprinter and NFL wide receiver is being honored by family and friends in advance of a Miami City Commission meeting where the city is expected to recognize his athletic accomplishments.
Long before becoming an Olympic gold medalist and an NFL wide receiver, Gerald Tinker called Coconut Grove his playground. That’s where he grew up, and that’s where he played – on Charles Terrace in the West Grove.
“That’s the street that all the kids played on, especially him growing up,” said Charlie Coney, historian and board member of the Coconut Grove Sports Hall of Fame and a childhood friend of Tinker’s.
What better way then to honor a man who went on to win glory at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich than by designating Charles Terrace from Douglas Road to Jefferson Street as “Gerald Tinker Way.”
That’s what the Miami City Commission is poised to do next week, with a formal resolution that recognizes Tinker’s athletic achievements
Born January 19, 1951, Gerald Alexander Tinker spent his early life as a distinguished athlete in Coconut Grove and Coral Gables.
Coney recalls early memories of racing and playing football with Tinker while idolizing athletic superstars from what was then George Washington Carver High School.
“Gerald Tinker and I were best friends all of our lives – from the time that we were 4 years old, we played football and ran track in an area called ‘the muck,’” Coney said.
“The muck” was an open lot about a mile long and a quarter-mile wide that separated the white section of Coral Gables from the Black community of Golden Gate.
Inspired by their mentors on the Carver football team, young Tinker and Coney would often cross U.S. 1 at SW 32nd Avenue – a venture largely unheard of during an era when segregation still held firm – to “hunt for other athletes.”
In 1961, they were the first to integrate the Southwest Sports Club, where they joined the 10-and-under football team, Coney said.
Tinker went on to attend Coral Gables Senior High School, where he won two national titles in football and a state title in the 100-yard dash, a feat that earned him national attention. He was a member of the school’s 1967 football team and its all-black backfield, named “Team of the Century” by the Florida High School Athletic Association.
“It means a lot to say you got the best team in high school,” Coney noted.
After graduating in 1969, Tinker continued his athletic success at Kent State University in Ohio, winning the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship for the 60-yard dash in 1973.
A year earlier, Tinker won a gold medal running the third leg of the 4×100 meter relay race for Team USA. Tinker and his teammates – including his cousin Larry Black – not only won the race that day but matched the existing world-record time of 38.19.
Tinker went on to play in the NFL. He was drafted as a wide receiver in the second round of the 1974 NFL draft, and later played for the Green Bay Packers.
Coney’s efforts to honor his friend began about four years ago, when he proposed that Jefferson Street be renamed for Tinker.
Today, he says the tribute is long overdue and well-deserved – not just for Tinker, but for his entire family and their impact on the local community.
He called Tinker’s family “a treasure trove of nothing but all-star athletes” – including Larry Black, his cousin, and his sister Joyce Tinker, who he said was “known for her speed just as Gerald was.”
Reynold Martin, a classmate of Tinker at Coral Gables High, spoke in support of his friend last month before the Miami City Commission, in anticipation of the street designation.
“Gerald is a great friend,” Martin told commissioners. “We’ve known each other for a long time. His caring and jovial demeanor led him to develop lasting friendships, which I personally can attest to.”
A number of Tinker’s other friends attended the meeting as well, and Tinker himself was in the audience that day.
Martin called Tinker a “gifted athlete and a model and deserving citizen whose accomplishments on and off the track and field will serve as an inspiration to many.”
Anthony Witherspoon, co-founder of the Coconut Grove Sports Hall of Fame, also highlighted Tinker’s local impact. Tinker was one of over 30 athletes honored in the 2015 inaugural class of the Sports Hall of Fame.
“What was extraordinary about that induction was he went into the first class,” Witherspoon said. “That first class was always special.”
Witherspoon called Tinker a testament to the idea that outstanding athletes can come out of small communities like Little Bahamas, and also a reminder to young people that they can accomplish great things – achievements for which they will be remembered.
“Tinker is unlike many other athletes in that after his payday of legacy, he returned to the Grove, and he stayed in the Grove,” Witherspoon told the Spotlight.
Tinker now lives at Gibson Plaza on Grand Avenue. He was not available for an interview – friends say Tinker is experiencing health challenges — but Witherspoon said he knows about the Charles Terrace designation and feels honored.
“He’s aware of it, and he’s very proud,” Witherspoon said.
