Ralph Harold Boston (May 9, 1939 – April 30, 2023) was an American track athlete who received three Olympic medals and became the first person to break the 27 feet (8.2 m) barrier in the long jump.

As a student at Tennessee State University, he won the 1960 National Collegiate Athletic Association title in the long jump.

[1] Boston won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) national championship in the long jump six times in a row from 1961 to 1966.

At the 1968 Olympics, Boston watched his pupil obliterate the tied world record by jumping 8.90 m (29 ft 2+1⁄4 in).

[6] A Los Angeles Times article on Boston from August 2, 2010, coinciding roughly with the 50th anniversary of his initial world record, described him as a divorced great-grandfather who was writing an autobiography.