Valerie Brisco-Hooks back with the gold

• Posted By: Scott Harrison
• Posted On: 12:28 a.m. | August 1, 2012

Oct. 8, 1984: Triple winner Valerie Brisco-Hooks shows off her Olympic medals to students and staff at West Athens School in South Los Angeles.  She is holding her son Alvin Jr., 2.

In the Oct. 10, 1984, Times View Section, staff writer Lynn Simross reported:

Olympic triple gold medalist Valerie Brisco-Hooks is not accustomed to public speaking, but she got her message across to youngsters at her old elementary school anyway – set your goals early and start trying to attain them.

“I never thought that I would be back here speaking to you and I never thought that I would be here as a three-time gold medal winner,” runner Brisco-Hooks, 24, told about 1,000 students at West Athens School in South-Central Los Angeles during their Monday morning assembly. She graduated from West Athens in 1972.

“When I was here, I didn’t have goals,” she said. “My dream back then was being able to get a dollar so I could get some candy or something. But you guys are young and should set your goals now, being good students and working for what you want. I don’t have that chance again, but you do.”

Dreams, though, changed for Brisco-Hooks, once she began running competitively in 1975 at Locke High School. By 1984, she had a chance at the Olympics and she took it, in style.

At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Brisco-Hooks won the 200 and 400 meters and won a third medal as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.

Brisco-Hooks participated in the 1988 Olympics, winning a silver medal on the 1,600-meter relay team.

This photo by former staff photographer Penni Gladstone accompanied Simross’ story in the Oct. 10, 1984, Times View Section.