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.
Once Upon a Time in the Vest
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
V 13 N. 52 That 1955 National AAU Decathlon
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.
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