The friendship between U.S. Olympic track and field star Allyson Felix and Cal State LA women’s basketball coach Torino Johnson dates back decades.

Johnson often attended local track and field meets to cheer on his cousin Carmelita Jeter, once dubbed the “fastest woman alive,” only to watch Felix blow by his cousin to cross the finish line first. It was at those meets that Johnson first got to know Felix, who has since gone on to become the most decorated track and field athlete in history.

“I’ve been watching her run since I was a kid, since she was a kid,” Johnson said. “We’re from the same age bracket, and she’s from South LA and I’m from South Central. I would say, ‘Oh, there’s that fast woman who keeps whoopin’ my cousin, who keeps whoopin’ everybody.’”

Johnson and Felix started off just “hi-ing and bye-ing” each other at the meets, but their friendship blossomed in recent years following an on-campus running club event attended by both Felix’s team and Johnson’s players.

When Felix found out that Johnson’s Golden Eagles did not have a shoe contract, she donated two pairs of shoes from her Saysh footwear brand to each member of the 2025-26 team at a cost that Johnson estimates at $10,000.

Johnson and his team reciprocated by arranging for Cal State LA to host Felix and her family for a special screening of her documentary, She Runs the World, at The Luckman on Tuesday, April 7. The afternoon event also included a discussion and Q&A session with Felix, her mother and Cal State LA alumna Marlean Felix, and her brother Wes Felix.

Felix hoped the documentary would be a source of inspiration for Cal State LA students.

“I never would have imagined that my life would go down this path,” she said prior to the screening. “I hope it encourages them to stay open. Their voices are powerful, and they are world-changers. I hope (the documentary) inspires them and pushes them.”

The same spirit of generosity and commitment to uplifting fellow athletes that Felix exhibited with her donation to the women’s basketball team is also the central theme of the documentary.

She Runs the World chronicles Felix’s dispute with her former sponsor Nike over maternal protections. At the height of her career in 2018, Felix became pregnant with her first child and asked the popular sportswear company to guarantee her salary after she returned to competition following the birth of her child.

Felix, at the time, was one of Nike’s most recognizable and marketable representatives, but at 32, she was close to the end of her career and had battled serious injuries. Even before her pregnancy became public, Nike had already proposed to slash her salary by 70%, although it planned to continue using her image.

Eventually, the company offered Felix a new contract with special protections for Felix’s pregnancy, but similar guarantees would not be made to other women under the Nike umbrella.

Felix left the new contract unsigned and parted ways with Nike, but the fight was far from over for her.

She had learned that it was standard practice for Nike and other companies to exclude maternal protections in the contracts of their female athletes. In the documentary, track and field legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee stated that pregnancies meant the end of careers for athletes from her generation and earlier.

In May 2019, Felix wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times detailing her failed negotiations with Nike. With the issue exposed, Nike would reverse course and revise its maternal policy.

Felix could have easily re-signed with Nike and continued collecting paychecks, but she took the less secure route in defense of her fellow athletes.

“This had been happening for a long time, and all of the women were under (nondisclosure agreements) and couldn’t share their stories,” Felix said. “I was in a unique position. I had just given birth to my daughter, which made me think of the next generation. If I had signed the contract, things would have stayed the same. It was worth a shot to expose what was really going on, knowing that things could improve for the next generation.”

Felix’s daughter Camryn is now 7 years old. She and husband Kenneth Ferguson also have a son, 2-year-old Kenneth III.

She Runs the World has been making the rounds at some of the country’s most prestigious film festivals, including the Tribeca Festival in New York and DOC LA, as well as college campuses.

“She discovered that that was a discriminatory practice that was baked into just about every female athlete’s contract,” Johnson said. “She attacked it as a systemic issue, as opposed to an individual one. Now, she’s changed the landscape of what these contracts entail when it comes to maternity leave.”

Said senior Golden Eagles guard Gabriella Rones: “The documentary was inspirational. I love hearing a woman athlete speak her truth and be able to talk about her struggles, what she’s been through, what she had to do to get where she is. I hope to become like her.”

Felix met with Johnson and the women’s basketball team prior to the film screening. The Golden Eagles proudly wore their Saysh shoes, which Allyson founded following her break from Nike and are the first shoes designed specifically for women.

Felix is a fan of the team and paid attention as the Golden Eagles captured their first California Collegiate Athletic Association this season and recorded a program-best 24-7 record.

“I’ve been following all along,” she said. “I’m really proud and excited for them.”

Felix is the most decorated athlete, men or women, in track and field history. She collected 11 Olympic medals (seven gold, three silver, and one bronze) over five Summer Games, and 20 World Championships medals (14 gold, three silver, and three bronze) before her retirement in 2022.

Allyson and Wes, who is also Allyson’s manager, both attended USC, but the family has strong ties to Cal State LA. Marlean graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in child development in 1977 and a master’s degree in elementary education in 1980. Their aunts, Melvina Jones and Eleanor Williams, also call Cal State LA their alma mater.

Allyson said the event felt like a homecoming for the family.

Marlean, a retired elementary school teacher, joined her children on stage for the discussion and Q&A session. She held up her green Cal State LA yearbook for the audience and fondly recalled her time on campus when she sported an “Angela Davis afro.”

“I can’t even articulate how exciting it is to be back on campus,” she said during a backstage interview as she stood beside her sister Melvina and family friend Linda Tatum, also a Cal State LA graduate. “I was a child development major, so Cal State LA had a big influence on how I raised my kids. It’s a thrill to be back here with my son and daughter.”

California State University, Los Angeles is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. Cal State LA is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, the University serves more than 22,000 students and has more than 260,000 distinguished alumni.