The University of Texas Athletics site posted the following on Eddie Southern.
From Earl Young: "Eddie and I first met in 1960 at Mt.SAC. We were teamed up on a 4x440 that night at a meet to tune up the Olympic Team. We never competed against each other. He was an alternate that year in the 400 hurdles I believe . We set a WR that night. Eddie lived in Dallas so we spent many a time together especially related to our Olympic Alumni Chapter."
"Proud to have called him Friend."
AUSTIN, Texas — One of the legendary figures in Texas Track & Field and Longhorn Athletics history, Eddie Southern passed away on Wednesday. He was 85 years old. A state of Texas prep phenom, 1956 Olympic silver medalist, and Longhorn Legend, Southern was born on January 4, 1938 in Dallas. He will be buried at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Grand Prairie, the date and time of the graveside service are pending.
"Eddie Southern was a truly amazing runner and competitor," said longtime Texas Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds, who ran against Southern as a collegian at Kansas State. "You'd simply be in awe watching him, he was so smooth and strong, almost motionless in how steady he ran. I've never seen anything like him. He was an absolutely phenomenal runner and a really great person too. I was fortunate to get to know him even more during my time at Texas, and he loved the Longhorns, was a proud Texan, and just an extraordinary man. He'll be dearly missed."
During his days on the track, few of the worlds great runners excelled in as wide a variety of races as the versatile Southern did. With his fluid, long and graceful strides that were described as satin smooth, he had tremendous success, set numerous records and was victorious in events ranging from the 100-yard dash to the 440-yard hurdles, and everything in between. He set UT records in the 100 (9.4), 200 (20.5), 440 (45.8), the short and long hurdles, and nearly every relay race there was. As a matter of fact, he not only held a combined 10 Longhorn individual and relay records at the conclusion of his UT career, he ran a leg on multiple world-record setting relay quartets as well.
"I consider Eddie to be the finest track athlete at Texas in terms of the many running events and relays he competed in," said his attorney, longtime friend and UT teammate Shelby Sharpe. "He dominated the sport, not only here at Texas, but nationally as well. Our friendship goes back to when we first met in a government class at UT, I trained with him that same summer before I joined the track team and we've been friends ever since. As his lawyer and friend for all these years, I can say with all that success, he was so humble, he was a fierce competitor, but just a good, good human being."
Southern's track and field success story began early and was launched on the cinder ovals of his hometown of Dallas and across the great state of Texas. He made his mark as a young sprinter at Sunset High School, where he had a historic prep career. He won four individual state titles, sweeping the 220 and 440-yard dashes in 1954 and 1955. In a memorable senior year where he brought home victory again in those two events at the Texas state meet, Southern added icing to the cake as he set national high school records in the 220 (20.7) and 440 (47.2) in the process.
Transitioning from high school to college, and following a year on UT's freshman squad, Southern made a critical decision that would cement his legacy on the world stage. He elected to utilize his unique skill set and take up the hurdles where he quickly thrived in the one-lap (400m/440-yard) variety.
"The story goes, Eddie went to his Young Life leader as a freshman, who was Cleburne Price, and talked about his dreams of trying out for the Olympics, but as a young quarter-miler was concerned that he was not as strong as the more experience and mature people in that race," Sharpe said. "Coach Price said, 'why don't you do the intermedia hurdles. You're a good hurdler, a good quarter-miler, and I think you'd be great at that race.' Well, I'd say it worked out and the rest is history. He took right to it. Three career races in and he makes the Olympic team, and after just five races, he's in another country breaking the Olympic record in his new event. And, if not for clipping the last hurdle in the final, he wins the gold medal and he probably breaks the world record."
That race was the culmination of a sensational year for the 18-year-old UT freshman. He finished second to one of America's legendary 400-hurdlers, Ohio State's Glenn Davis, at both the U.S. Olympic Trials and the Olympic Games. At the trials as the runner-up, he clocked the second-fastest time ever (49.7) in that event. Facing a field of 28 competitors from 18 nations that included two of the finalists from the 1952 Games, Southern cleanly cleared 400-meters of hurdles to win his first-round heat, then set an Olympic record of 50.1 in the events prelims at the Melbourne Games. In a tightly contested final, he went on to finish second to Davis to secure the silver medal. Davis tied the UT freshman's Olympic record time of 50.1 in winning that race, while Southern fought to the finish, just at step behind at 50.8.
Southern's performance was monumental in Longhorn lore as he became the second Texas Track & Field standout to win an Olympic medal, and the first to earn one in an individual event. In fact, he was just the fourth Longhorn in any sport to ever secure an Olympic medal, the third in an individual event.
One of the world's top track & field performers, Southern's Longhorn career carried high expectations running for legendary coach Clyde Littlefield. After making a splash competing in freshman events in 1956 when freshman weren't eligible to participate at the varsity level, he lived up to the high hopes and more, continuing to produce records, victories and honors for the Longhorns from 1957-59. He still hurdled, more in the shorter, high hurdle race, but turned his primary focus to the 440-yard dash. As a team captain in 1959, he won the NCAA title in the 440 (46.4) as a senior after finish second as a junior.
And, when it came to conference competition, no matter what he ran, he was unbeatable, never losing a Southwest Conference race. He won three-straight SWC titles in the 440-yard dash and mile relay events, while leading the Horns to conference team championships all three years as well. Southern also registered first-place finishes at the SWC Championships in the 120-yard high hurdles in 1957 and the 100-yard dash in 1958. He was the high point scorer at the 1958 SWC meet.
Southern was a key leg on historical relay efforts from coast-to-coast during his time at UT as well. He was a member of the Longhorns 880-yard relay team that set a world record (1:22.7) at the 1957 Texas Relays. They made their mark on the east coast, winning the 440 and 880-yard relay crowns at the Penn Relays that year too. And, as the anchor of the mile relay team at the Kansas Relays in 1958, he became the first person to run the quarter mile in under 45 seconds. Southern also was a part of 440-yard relay team that set two world records during his time with Texas as well, initially becoming the first-ever to break 40-seconds in that event posting a 39.9 at the 1957 Kansas Relays and again eclipsing the world mark with a 39.6 clocking at the 1959 California Relays.
"That 39.6 world record was remarkable," Shelby added. "It came two years after Eddie led our squad that was the first to break 40-seconds at a time when we had a quite a rivalry with Abilene Christian. The ACU squad was led by the great Bobby Morrow and they tied our record in 1957, then dropped it to 39.7 in '58. But, even more impressive with that 1959 record-breaking mark was that Eddie and our team were facing a San Jose squad of much faster sprinters individually, with a couple who ran 9.3. We broke that record because of teamwork, and handoffs. Clyde Littlefield teams never dropped handoffs and worked diligently on the speed of the exchange, which Eddie was as good as anyone at. Watching the relays he was on was a sight to behold."
Along with magnificent achievements at premier events like the Drake, Penn and Kansas Relays, Southern was well known for thrilling races on his home turf at the Texas Relays, then held on the track surrounding the Texas Memorial Stadium football field in his days. That actually began when he was a high school sensation winning back-to-back 120-yard hurdles events at the Texas Relays in 1954 and 1955. He then helped the Longhorns win the 4x400m relays all three of his years at UT (1957-59). On the heels of victories in the 4x200m and 4x400m relays as well as individually in the 120-yard high hurdles, Southern played a key role in the Horns claiming the prestigious Texas Relays Most Outstanding Team in 1957. He returned to the Texas Relays after his collegiate glory to win back to back 440-yard hurdle crowns in 1960 and 1961. When he lined up for that race in 1960, it was the first time since the 1956 Olympics that he'd run a 440-yard hurdle race and his victorious 51-flat effort did not disappoint.
"Back in the day, some of the relays used to give watches to their champions," said Sharpe. "Eddie won so many, he'd share those with his friends and teammates. He always said, 'why do I need more than one'. He was so generous, caring, giving, and wanted everyone to be happy."
A 1959 Texas graduate with a business degree, he competed for his final time internationally that year in the Pan American Games, winning a silver medal with the USA's 4×400m relay team. And to further illustrate the immense talent he had, even though he didn't play football at Texas, Southern was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 29th-round of the 1959 NFL Draft, but passed on the opportunity to play in the league.
Southern served in the Air Force after his time at UT followed by a career in the restaurant business in the Dallas area. He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1969, Texas Athletics Hall of Honor in 1973, Texas Track & Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013 and also is a member of the Sunset High School and Drake Relays Hall of Fames.
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