V 13 N. 48 Willie Deckard, Superb USC Anchor Man (1970's) R.I.P.

 Russ Ebetts from USC Trojan Force informed us of the passing of Willie Deckard from pancreatic cancer.

I did not know Willie's history, but Russ filled me in with the following:

                                                                       Willie Deckard

3x All-American

Anchored two NCAA winning 4x110 relays (’71, ’72)

PAC-8 100y & 220 Champion (’71); PAC-8 4x110 Champion (’72)

Best times of 9.2 100y; 20.2 220y

Graduated Dorsey High as a standout track athlete and ran at LA City College before transferring to USC. He was nicknamed “Mr Anchor” because whatever relay he ran on, no matter what place they were in he somehow secured the win.

Here are a few clippings I found on Willie Deckard.  He made it to the semis in the 1972 Olympic Trials and ran 9.9 but was eliminated.   That time won the finals.

the following O Trials results are oversized, but you can slide it back and forth using the grey bar

you see at the bottom of the page.  It makes it a lot easier to read the box score. (ed.)

If you are intrigued by what happened to Bobby Fisher,  Gary Andrus has the answer:

Thanks George,

BTW, Fischer did make it in time for Game 1 of the 1972 World Chess Championship

match (9 minutes late). He lost that game and then forfeited Game 2. Of course, he

won the match 12.5 to 8.5. We all know what happened after that.  

P.S. Fischer was kind of a clumsy runner, so not sure if he could take Spassky 

at 400 meters.

from Los Angeles Times  May 20, 1971