As many of you know the decathlon is an Olympic track and field event in the modern Olympic Games but over the years was dropped from the list of events. Then, 1948 it was reinstated as an official Olympic event. A young high school athlete named Bob Mathias from Tulare, California won the event for the USA in London that year. The events are 100 meters, long jump, high jump, 400 meters, shot put, discus, pole vault, high jump, 120 meters high hurdles, and javelin. There is an official scorebook for this two-day event for granting points for each individual’s best in these 10 events.
As an all-around high school track and field athlete I had very much-admired Bob Mathias’ achievement and really wanted to give the event a try. At 5’10 and 150 pounds (then😊) I was far too small to ever do well in the event, but I dreamed of competing in it. In 1954 I was in college in Southern California, the mecca of track and field champions, and my coach found out there was to be a decathlon event in Pasadena soon and asked me if I wanted to give it a try. I did, and so I finally got to compete in a decathlon.
There were about 20 of us, and I was by far the smallest. There were also several worldclass athletes who were entered: The Reverend Bob Richards, world record holder in the pole vault, Fortune Gourdine, the world record holder with the discus, and my friend Sam Adams from the University of California, a truly great all-around athlete. The rules state that if a contestant breaks a world record in their specialty and they have competed in at least five of the events, the world record stands. Both Richards and Gourdine hoped to do just that. Neither did.
Sam Adams had tried to help me get ready for the competition, and although he helped me a great deal with the weights, when it came to the pole vault, I was pretty hopeless. I did OK in the running events and the long jump, my specialty. I knew how to put the shot and throw the discus, so it went OK with them. Not so much with the javelin. Much to my surprise I did my lifetime best in the high jump at 5’9 and 3/4. When all was said and done, I finished 11th out of 20 competitors.
Bob Richards won the decathlon, pole vaulting well over 15 feet. Gourdine won the discus but did not break a world record. Sam Adams came in a close second overall. All in all, it was a fantastic thing for me just to compete in this event, and especially with so many great athletes. Later that year Sam finished fourth in the Olympic trials and so did not quite make the Olympic team.
That was pretty much the conclusion of my track and field career. I avoided killing myself in the pole vault, even though I came down on my head in the sawdust pit several times. I vaulted a dismal 9 feet. I am so glad I finally got to compete in a decathlon even though I was disappointed that I did not do so well. However, that experience greatly contributed to my being a better college and high school track and field coach several years later. I knew a lot more about most of the events because I had actually competed in them.