Noting the passing of Brian Oldfield on March 26, 2017. Oldfield came from Elgin, IL and left the world from that same town. He was 71 years old. Competed for Middle Tennessee State. He survived a lot longer than most would have expected. He lived hard, played hard, and above all threw hard. Credited with developing the spin in the shot put, he threw an even 75 feet in 1975 although he wasn't given credit at the time due to his being considered a 'professional'. Today it wouldn't have mattered. Years of heavy lifting, and no doubt use of PEDs left him with a bad back, knees and other ailments that contributed to his last years being ones of pain and discomfort. His years of flamboyance probably brought more attention to the sport than might have been expected. Few could could call it negative attention, although Randy Matson supposedly said something like , "If someone like him beats me, I'll retire." I don't know if Randy's last meet was precipitated by that happening, but it certainly indicated that not everyone thought Oldfield was an asset. Sports Illustrated chose to recognize him with a cover issue.
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| 1972 Olympic Trials at Eugene, OR Brian Oldfield, George Woods, Al Feuerbach |
Oldfield's only appearance in the Olympics was 1972 where he finished sixth throwing 20.91. GB
I have two memories of Brian Oldfield, both from the '72 indoor nationals.
I had been late confirming, so I got the floor in the 17th floor room with Les Berman and I forget who, but obviously someone more important than I was. The AAU's choice of hotels had some miles on it. I remember standing at the top of the escalator and watching this guy - Oldfield - get bigger and bigger and bigger. By the time he reached the top, he was the most massive man I had ever seen.
The other memory was a couple days later, as the 40-50 So Cal athletes and coaches were flying back to LA. Oddly, LA was fogged in. We refueled in Las Vegas in preparation for repeated circling. A major character in this scene boarded. This hot babe in short, short, short cut off jeans got on. She was an advertisement for procreation. Beyond hot. She and Oldfield were on each other like butter on toast.
Three hours later, having been diverted to San Francisco for the night, the two, arms around each other, wandered off to the waiting hotel room. Debbie and I ran 11 miles around the airport before going to our rooms to find that we had missed the meal and had to settle for sandwiches.
My roommate that evening was Chuck Debus. I remember seeing him use a hairdryer - men didn't use hairdryers, actually they still don't - and thinking he was gay. Jesus, that was 45 years ago (just called Debbie to congratulate her on the anniversary) and I remember that like it was yesterday.
Wait a minute. That wasn't Oldfield - well, the elevator story was. That was Russ Hodge. As Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say, "Never mind". Roy
George:
I remember reading the issue of Sports Illustrated with Oldfield on the cover, or rather a part of the story about him. Funny what one remembers. The article included an alleged conversation that took place in the lobby of a hotel between two New England Patriots (one of whom was Sugar Bear Hamilton) and a hotel representative when Oldfield entered the hotel. The Patriots were in town for a football game perhaps.
Anyway, the dialogue went something as follows:
Hamilton: Who is that?
Representative: Brian Oldfield.
Hamilton: What does he do?
Rep: He’s a shot putter.
Hamilton: Why doesn’t he play football?
Rep: He doesn’t like football.
Hamilton and his teammate in unison: THANK GOD!
Like I said, funny what one remembers.
Regards,
Jim Allen
Top 25 Individual Men (Source Wikipedia)
- Accurate as of September 2016
Men[edit]
| Rank | Mark | Athlete | Nationality | Date | Place | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23.12 m (75 ft 10 in) | Randy Barnes |  United States | 20 May 1990 | Westwood | |
| 2 | 23.06 m (75 ft 7 3⁄4 in) | Ulf Timmermann |  East Germany | 22 May 1988 | Khania | |
| 3 | 22.91 m (75 ft 1 3⁄4 in) | Alessandro Andrei |  Italy | 12 August 1987 | Viareggio | |
| 4 | 22.86 m (75 ft 0 in) | Brian Oldfield | United States | 10 May 1975 | El Paso | |
| 5 | 22.75 m (74 ft 7 1⁄2 in) | Werner Günthör |  Switzerland | 23 August 1988 | Bern | |
| 6 | 22.67 m (74 ft 4 1⁄2 in) | Kevin Toth | United States | 19 April 2003 | Lawrence | |
| 7 | 22.64 m (74 ft 3 1⁄4 in) | Udo Beyer | East Germany | 20 August 1986 | Berlin | |
| 8 | 22.56 m (74 ft 0 in) | Joe Kovacs | United States | 17 July 2015 | Fontvieille | [12] |
| 9 | 22.54 m (73 ft 11 1⁄4 in) | Christian Cantwell | United States | 5 June 2004 | Gresham | |
| 10 | 22.52 m (73 ft 10 1⁄2 in) | John Brenner | United States | 26 April 1987 | Walnut | |
| Ryan Crouser | United States | 18 August 2016 | Rio de Janeiro | [13] | ||
| 12 | 22.51 m (73 ft 10 in) | Adam Nelson | United States | 18 May 2002 | Gresham | |
| 13 | 22.43 m (73 ft 7 in) | Reese Hoffa | United States | 3 August 2007 | London | |
| 14 | 22.28 m (73 ft 1 in) | Ryan Whiting | United States | 10 May 2013 | Doha | |
| 15 | 22.24 m (72 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | Sergey Smirnov |  Soviet Union | 21 June 1986 | Tallinn | |
| 16 | 22.21 m (72 ft 10 1⁄4 in) A | Dylan Armstrong |  Canada | 25 June 2011 | Calgary | |
| 22.21 m (72 ft 10 1⁄4 in) | Tomas Walsh |  New Zealand | 5 September 2016 | Zagreb | [14] | |
| 18 | 22.20 m (72 ft 10 in) | David Storl |  Germany | 9 July 2015 | Lausanne | [15] |
| John Godina | United States | 22 May 2005 | Carson | |||
| 20 | 22.10 m (72 ft 6 in) | Sergey Gavryushin | Soviet Union | 31 August 1986 | Tblisi | |
| 22.10 m (72 ft 6 in) | Cory Martin | United States | 23 May 2010 | Tucson | ||
| 22 | 22.09 m (72 ft 5 1⁄2 in) | Sergey Kasnauskas | Soviet Union | 23 August 1984 | Minsk | |
| 22.09 m (72 ft 5 1⁄2 in)i | Mika Halvari |  Finland | 7 February 2000 | Tampere | ||
| 24 | 22.02 m (72 ft 2 3⁄4 in) | Dave Laut | United States | 25 August 1982 | Koblenz | |
| 22.02 m (72 ft 2 3⁄4 in)i | George Woods | United States | 8 February 1974 | Inglewood |
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| The early years |
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