Ken Noel

Ken Noel

Ken is a longtime social activist and activism advocate who recently (2022 and 2023) delivered keynote speeches at San Jose State University’s annual Smith/Carlos Legacy Week Celebration and a gathering of Regional Special Olympics Organization administrators and staff.

In the ensuing years, when not editing this dual autobiography (Brothers of the Wind), he has advised and secured vital oral history contributors for San Jose State’s History of Civil Rights and Campus Protest project.

As Co-Organizer of the Olympic Project for Human Rights (1967–1969), Ken has been the main conduit between the OPHR’s principal strategist and its principal actors for 56 years.

Ken is a candid and honest speaker who is inspiring, brutally real, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at the same time.

A thrilled observer of Ken in action remarked as follows:

“I just finished watching your talk — it was so honest, thoughtfully constructed, and really powerfully delivered. You taught us so much about your role in shaping the protest movement at SJS in the 1960s, the Olympic Project for Human Rights and UBSA, and also explained how and why (without saying so directly) mentoring students like Aquila, John, Tommie, Lee, etc., and leading social justice campaigns became part of your life's work I am very glad that you decided to train as hard at academics as athletics! You and Dr. Edwards remain intellectual champions with such a lasting impact on the field of athlete activism, which continues radically transforming student lives.”

Neal Chappell

Neal led the first group of American athletes coming under the coaching influence of Hungary’s Mihály Iglói at the University of North Carolina in 1957, and still follows Iglói’s training methods after sixty-six years. He is a former national age-group running sensation with a slew of national cross-country and road racing championships and two world record relays featuring him on the anchor legs. His running interest began with his older brothers encouraging him to take up the sport and finding enjoyment in the competition and having teammates. His leaving boarding school, coming to West Chester High and running brought an intense focus on track and cross country. Neal’s desire to extend experiences with running fostered a need to continue by getting a college education (helped by athletic awards). Also, it gave rise to connections with healthy living and related activity.

From his teen years onward, success playing poker was his primary source of income until dedication to being as healthy as possible led to opening health food stores and joining a Chinese herbal product company. From childhood, gambling was customary for many family members and friends. As he matured, Neal discovered even more lucrative poker possibilities in college games! Gambling eventually led to him living in Nevada, where he became a renowned character as Tahoe Slim. He runs daily, managing his health-food and real estate businesses and finds additional income in low key gambling enterprises.

Later, life became even more exciting when he helped start the Las Vegas Track Club and joined the West Valley Joggers and Striders in Saratoga, California to engage in national age-group competitions.

They dedicated each achievement to the memory of Mihály Iglói (1908 —1998).