Beginning our 14th year and 1,200+ postings. A blog for athletes and fans of 20th century Track and Field culled from articles in sports journals of the day, original articles, book reviews, and commentaries from readers who lived and ran and coached in that era. We're equivalent to an Amer. Legion post of Track and Field but without cheap beer. You may contact us directly at irathermediate@gmail.com or write a comment below. George Brose, Courtenay, BC ed.
To me this is one of the great sports viewing weekends all year. NBA playoffs with Boston staging an incredible comeback against Miami, Diamond League in Rabat, Monaco Gran Prix, Indy 500, nascar in Charlotte, PGA golf, some baseball, Giro D'Italia, and Ryan Crouser upstages it all with a phenomenal shot put.
Crouser set his personal best and of course a world record out there again at Drake Stadium in LA yesterday. Saying the result is due to a technique improvement crossing the circle, he basically created his own event and no one is left to challenge him. Joe Kovacs is still capable of some phenomenal throws as well, but he's a few steps out of Crouser's league these days. Here is a description of yesterday's meet from The Guardian.
George-how that giant of a man can do the dance in that very confined area is simply amazing. Looks like they are going to be required to add another three feet to the landing area at which ever venue he chooses to participate in! Nice meet and great coverage on the tube!
Sometimes things pop into your head and they need to be written down before they disappear back into the folds of the cerebral cortex. Here's one of those memories.
Dennis Weaver who played Chester in the 1950s TV series Gunsmoke, was a very good athlete at the University of Oklahoma. He placed 59th in the NCAA cross country meet in 1946. In 1948 he participated in the US Olympic Trials in the decathlon and placed 6th. The meet was held in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and Dennis being a Fine Arts major with a bent for acting had gone across the Hudson River the day before the decathlon and walked the streets of Manhattan looking for opportunities to break into the profession. Back at the track next day he paid a price for that day on his feet in the big city and performed somewhat beneath his ability. Didn't make the team, but he was back on the streets next day where his career got underway. He was also the principle actor in Steven Spielberg's first full length film Duel. We covered this story a few years ago. See link: Two Runners Who Kicked Butt on Stage and Screen
What stimulated this entry was remembering a quote from Chester in one of the episodes of Gunsmoke. The simple line was: "You won't lose weight, eatin' at Ma Smalley's". Ma Smalley was the proprietress of a boarding house in Dodge City where the show took place. Sarah Selby played the role. (see bio below). Well, the real life Ma Smalley was the head cook at the athletes' dorm at the U. of Oklahoma where Dennis often dined in his undergrad days. He was able to use his artistic license to get Ma Smalley a mention in the show. I still remember the next day after that episode where Dennis gave her immortality. She was just beaming behind the serving line filled with grits and gravy, okra, collard greens, white gravy and biscuits for 'soppin', and chicken fried steak. It was definitely true that you would not lose weight in that chow line.
Bill Weaver had the following performances at the 1948 trials.
100M 11.6, BJ 6.21 , 20' 4 1/2" Shot Put 15.47, 50' 9" HJ 1.73, 5' 7" 400M 53.9
(any errors in conversion are mine G.B.) His shot put is remarkable, and his 1500 was best in the top eight competitors reflecting that cross country background. Not bad for a guy with a stiff leg.
Dennis Weaver bio from Dennisweaver.com
Dennis Weaver, athlete, Navy pilot, actor, humanitarian and passionate environmentalist, leaves behind a long legacy of helping people and helping the planet. Dennis dedicated 175 acres with spectacular Rocky Mountain vistas for a wildlife preserve and recreation area along the Uncompahgre River. Today that land incorporates RiverSage, an eco-friendly real estate development surrounded by 130 acres of green open space and the spectacular, 60-acre Dennis Weaver Memorial Park, in Ridgway, Colorado, honoring his memory and many accomplishments.
Dennis grew up on a Missouri farm during the Depression. He served as a Navy Pilot during WWII, then returned to college, graduating with a degree in fine arts in theater from the University of Oklahoma. In 1945, he married his childhood sweetheart, Gerry Stowell; they had three sons: Rick, Rob, and Rusty. Dennis was also a fine athlete. in 1948, Dennis was a decathlon finalist in the United States Olympic trials.
From his earliest years, Dennis had always wanted to be an actor. He made his acting debut on Broadway which led to a contract with Universal Studios in Hollywood, where Dennis played various characters, mostly in westerns. His big break came when he was chosen for the role of Chester Goode in “Gunsmoke,” which ran for nine years, and for which Dennis won an Emmy. He later played the sexy McCloud in a television series (of the same name) which ran seven years and earned him two Emmy nominations.
Dennis was involved in television and motion picture industries for many years, playing leading roles in 40 movies, starring in several successful TV series, and directing some of the episodes. He was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1973 to 1975, and has his star on the Hollywood Star Walk.
A talented musician and entertainer, Dennis released several country western albums. In his one-man Shakespearean show, he played 19 different characters. With his wife Gerry and singer/songwriter son Rusty, Dennis performed in a family comedy/variety stage show. He also wrote poetry and published the autobiographical. “All the World’s a Stage.” Dennis Weaver passed away in 2006.
Ma Smalley's alter ego Sarah Selby from Wikipedia:
Selby was a character actress who played minor roles for the most part – usually a town gossip, maiden aunt, or teacher. Beginning her career as a radio actress, she made her screen debut voicing one of the elephants in Disney's Dumbo (1941). She was best known for her recurring role as Ma Smalley, the owner of a boarding house on TV's Gunsmoke (1955).[1] She had recurring roles on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, initially as Gracie's friend Mamie Kelly, and then a recurring role as Lucille Vanderlip the society hostess wife of banker Chester Vanderlip. In 1964, she appeared with Jackie Cooper in an episode of the Twilight Zone (S5E32 - “Caesar & Me”).
She starred in numerous films from 1941 to 1978. In her first role, she voiced[2] the elephant Prissy in the movie Dumbo.[3]
A few days ago we published a brief account of the passing of the football legend, Jim Brown. We put that on this track blog, because Jim Brown had competed in the national AAU Decathlon in 1955 and finished 5th. That said, we got a number of interesting comments from people who had some interesting things to say about that meet and set us looking for other track connections in Brown's career, if there were any. What also came up was that Stan Huntsman, later to become an outstanding track coach also competed in that decathlon finishing 10th. We were able to find a few things about that meet but could only find two events in which Brown was in the top five. So we are still hoping someone comes up with his times and distances in all ten events. Below are the comments that came in and also a number of newspaper clippings from that time describing the event which was held in 90 degree weather and started at 1:00PM each day. Brown's two best events were the discus which he won at 143 feet 4 1/2 inches.
It all got started with Geoff Pietsch's comment about growing up in a neighboring high school to Jim Brown's Manhasett HS.
Geoff Pietsch said...
The T&FN 1955 issue shows there were cactually 10 competitors in that decathlon. And 10th was Stan Huntsman, about 400 points behind Brown. (correction there were about 27 competitors).
Jim Brown graduated from Manhasset H.S. in 1953. I graduated from Roslyn H.S., 3 miles away, in 1955. My vague recollection is Brown scored 5 or 6 touchdowns when they beat us his senior year, but I didn't go to the game. He was great and at that point we were so weak that the school dropped football for a year, the following year. Which actually helped our Cross Country team since two of my friends who played football ran XC for a year and made our top 5. I also missed the basketball game between Manhasset and Roslyn though I was well aware of how great he was. His 38 points per game was legendary and was the Long Island record until Art Heyman, later a star at Duke and then the #1 pick in the NBA draft broke it. My old guys recollection is that another of my friends, on our baseball team, said baseball was Brown's weakest sport since he couldn't hit the curve. No idea if that was true.
Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN hosted the Wabash Relays for many years, which I ran in two years, and eventually had Coach Rob Johnson who was also an Olympic sprint coach in 1984. His Olympic teams actually got the baton around the track, unlike so many which followed. I suspect very few places volunteered for a marathon (Boston & Yonkers) or a decathlon in those days so Wabash got the meet and only 6 showed up. Bill Schnier
Bill, Didn't Stan Huntsman's father coach at Wabash in the 1950's? George
You are so right. I forgot that. He was a legendary coach and Stan simply expanded on what he had done, just had more advantageous schools. Even in the 1970s there were very few decathlons around. Steve Price hosted one at Wayne HS (Dayton) and Phil Scott participated in that one.. Recently Fairmont HS (Kettering, OH) has hosted many thanks to Neal Charske. Bill
Bill, I remember Phil Scott talking about doing a one hour decathlon on the beach in southern California when he spent a summer out there. George
George:
One of the reason's that Wabash College's coach was Owen Huntsman. Stan's father. He was a legend at Wabash. He had coached at Earlham College in Richmond Indiana before going to Wabash. Stan his son was a great athlete at Richmond HIgh School who followed his dad to Crawfordsville and was a football, javelin thrower, as well as a decathlete. Owen had sponsored several decathlon's at the time in the 50's. His experience led to him hosting the Olympic Trials. A lot of great decathletes came out for small schools where they were often competing in many events in the dual meet season. Stan went on to get a GA position at OHio University for football as well as coaching track.
The Ohio U. coach left (not sure of the circumstances) , but Stan was given the position of carrying track forward and was then hired as the full time coach. He was there several years with much success and a couple of Olympic Sprinters. They in 1969 he was hired as the Tennessee Coach. There, they were 94' National Champs and many SEC Championships. He later went to Texas and coached the Longhorns. Stan was one of the coaches in the '76 Olympics. He was supposed to coach in 1980, but we boycotted the Moscow Olympics. He was again of the staff in 1984 followed by being the Head Olympic Coach in 1988 in Seoul.
Another sidelight about Stan. When his dad was the track coach at Earlham College, Stan was a senior at Richmond HS and was a classmate of JIm Jones. (The guru who lead this flock to Georgetown, Guyana where he led the mass suicide that occurred there). Some time I will relate the story of one of the high school athletes that I coached at John Marshall High School (Indianapolis) whose family followed Jones to the suicide. He and his father escaped the suicide as they were away buying supplies a the time. He later married Jim Jones' daughter.
In any event, just thought I would relate to you what I knew about Wabash College and the decathlon.
Joe Rogers (former Ball State and US Military Academy track coach)
That was really a complete description of Stan. What a great guy and enjoyable coach. He coached Lamar Preyor and Gary Loe from TMHS. We had many IU / UT contests while I was at IU. We always went to the Dogwood Relays / Sea Ray Relays / Tennessee Relays. Always a good time. Stan and Sam Bell were not only contemporaries but close friends. Stan married a girl named Sylvia from Yorktown, OH, on the West Virginia border near Wheeling and Steubenville. She was an exceptionally nice person as well - a real coach's wife. Bill Schnier
Geoff, I did a search this morning. Found some results for top five each event but only for day 1. The same paper, Indianapolis Star did not see fit to print a box score for second day. Brown won the discus the first day with
143' 4 1/2" throw. Seems to be only event he made top five on day one. I've attached a number of clippings. Stan Huntsman being a local boy got lots of ink. Palladium Item is the Richmond, Indiana paper from where Huntsman attended high school before his dad became coach at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN. George
Actually the page Richards, Rivals Make Decathlon Quite a Show has all the second day events plus the total scores of all 27 entrants.
I'm surprised that Brown didn't make top 5 in any second day event except the discus. He got beaten in the Shot by some skinny runners and was apparently well below his high jump best of 6'3" from high school.
93 degree temps plus humidity. Nasty. Welcome to a midwest summer. Geoff Pietsch
Stan Huntsman being a local boy and his dad coach at host site got lots of local ink. Another getting a lot of attention was Dick Stillwagon a nineteen year old from Muncie, Indiana who finished 9th. Neither Stillwagon nor Huntsman were in next year's Olympic trials. Stillwagon was a freshman football quarterback recruit at Purdue that fall of 1955.
George
Huntsman was my freshman swim coach.
Dave Costill
Dick Stillwagon 19 year old from Muncie, IN got lots of notice from his local papers for finishing 9th in his first decathlon. He had won the Indiana state meet that year in both the 120 yard high hurdles and the pole vault. Also had time to get in a bit of recruiting controversy travelling to U. of Miami in Florida at expense of an alum, but he was cleared of wrongdoing. Two weeks after the national decathlon while working on a golf course at Lafayette, IN (already at the Purdue campus) he had to have an emergency appendectomy. See articles below.
Stillwagon's career in football at Purdue does not appear to have taken off. Should have stayed with the Decathlon.
Pretty interesting stuff. This started as a quest to find out more about Jim Brown, but ended by uncovering other names, local and even national, most notably Stan Huntsman. Why did Jim Brown enter? No real idea other than he envisioned himself as being an all-around athlete and felt that the decathlon best expressed that. That was also about the time that Jim Thorpe had been named the athlete of the half-century and I suspect that Jim Brown wanted to go on record as being in the mix for athlete of the next half-century (1950-1999) and probably of the entire century. Part of the reason he was so successful was that he was absolutely sure he was better than the other guys, never more obvious than when Franco Harris was about to eclipse his NFL career rushing yards. Jim threatened to come out of about a 20-year retirement just to stay ahead of Franco, but that never happened. Jim's athletic record stood on its own merit and he didn't have to try the decathlon or threaten to come out of retirement, but he had such pride that he probably felt compelled to do so.
Under the radar in the past few days since his death was his relentless struggle for civil rights and the betterment of Black people in inner cities. For many people this was a blemish on his football record by those who just want athletes to shut up and run. Jim was instrumental in the proposed boycott of the 1968 Olympics and many other similar events even in the recent past. He was much like Bill Russell, but without Russell's winning ways., hence the small amount of coverage of Brown in comparison to Russell. His entire life was Jim vs. the World. Bill Schnier
Just below: Russ Reabold (Track Attic) sent us the 1955 AAU results out of the 1956 AAU Handbook.
