V 19 N. 60 Otis Davis , R.I.P.

               Otis Davis Takes the 400 Meters World Record Over Karl Kaufmann at Rome  44.9 

Former World Record Holder at 400 meters, Otis Davis of the University of Oregon has passed away at the age of 92 .  I saw the news yesterday on Walt Murphy's   "This Day in Track and Field" today.  Walt is always on top of Track news.  Otis Davis ran that astonishing 44.9 to win the Olympic gold medal in Rome in 1960. It was only his 11th 400 race of his career.   He was an Air Force veteran who initially went to the U of O to play basketball, then walked on to the track team and became arguably Bill Bowerman's greatest ever coaching achievement.  He was the first Duck ever to win an Olympic gold.  He also anchored the US team to a win in the 4x400.  

Here is a piece we have in this blog talking about all time great walk ons:

Rick Lower suggested that  Otis Davis should be considered a walk on.
Otis Davis transferred over from basketball at U. of Oregon to the track program and went on to win the Olympic 400 meters in Rome in World Record time in only the tenth 400m of his career.

the following from wikipedia
 at the age of 28, Davis made the U.S. Olympic team. He ran his fastest time to date one week before participating in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome as one of the oldest members of the track team, where he was nicknamed "Pops" by his teammates. According to Davis, "I was still learning how to turn with the staggered starts and all. I was still learning the strategy involved. I was still learning how to run in the lanes."   Wiki also relates that on his first day on the track he high jumped 6'0' and long jumped over 23'.  Won the PCC meet that year in the 220 and 440. 

  No info whether he was on an athletic scholarship coming from basketball to track, but it is likely his being a four year Air Force veteran, he was probably getting G.I. Bill money and it cost neither the basketball program nor the track program very much if anything.  

Here is a youtube link to that 400m in Rome:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_dHu-X9KtE

The only video I could locate on the 4xx400 race does not play well and could cause your computer to have some restart problems, 

Our colleague Roy Mason wrote this synopsis of the 4x400 relay at Rome based on the T&FN story.

4 X 400 FINAL

A light rain is falling as the teams line up. South Africa is in lane one, Germany in two and Switzerland in three. The US is in four and Great Britain in five. On the outside is the West Indies with a team composed of American college students. Trials winner Jack Yerman will lead off for the US, followed by 400 sixth place finisher Earl Young. Intermediate hurdle champion Glenn Davis will take the baton for the third tour of the track and 400 meter champion and world record holder Otis Davis is on the anchor leg.

Yerman, who has been ill and ran poorly in the 400 semis, is the potential weak link. If he runs another 48, what looks like a sure US victory will be in serious doubt. His performance on the opening leg casts those reservations aside. He powers down the straight to give the US the lead at the exchange. It is a come through 46.2 by the Cal Bear.

The margin is three meters over the West Indies’ Mal Spence, but more importantly, it gives the US a seven meter lead over Germany, their prime competition.

The second leg belongs to Germany’s Manfred Kinder who closes on Young with a brilliant 44.9 carry, negating Young’s 45.6 and putting the Germans only a meter back at the exchange.

Glenn Davis on the third leg is money in the bank any day and today is no exception. After gaining a couple meters on the exchange, he allows Johannes Kaiser to come up on his shoulder and attempt to pass on the backstretch. The double gold medalist holds the German off around the curve and then turns it on up the straight. The gap opens, one meter…..two.....three…..four and finally five at the exchange. Davis has run 45.4 to Kinder’s 45.9. Unnoticed behind them, Nebraska hurdler Keith Gardner runs a surprising 45.8 to move the West Indies into medal position over South Africa.

Now it is the match up that everyone has been waiting for, the dual of the 400 gold and silver medalists, the co-world record holders at 44.9, Otis Davis and Carl Kaufmann. The US adds a meter at the exchange and Davis is flying. But so is Kaufmann. In the middle of the final curve he is on Davis’ heels. Cordner Nelson writes, “Davis made one of the quickest pick-ups in quarter mile history.

Almost instantly Davis added two yards to his lead and before Kaufmann could rally, Davis added another yard for a four yard lead to hold down that long, long stretch. Now it was up to Kaufmann and the Brooklyn born German”…(who knew?)… “was game, but he couldn’t cut the US victory margin.” Davis is clocked in 45.0 with Kaufmann tying teammate Kinder for the fastest split of the day at 44.9.

The Germans have taken over a second off Jamaica’s WR, but have only silver to show for it. The US has the gold and a new world record, 3:02.2. Germany is timed in 3:02.7. George Kerr’s 45.4 carry is more than enough to hold off South Africa’s Mal Spence’s 45.6 and the West Indies takes the bronze 3:04.0 to 3:05.0.

This note came in from 400  and relay teammate Earl Young:   

I heard of Otis passing just a bit earlier today. I probably could identify Otis from the back quicker than from the front. We had some great races and he difinently was my superior. RIP Otis!

Earl Young

Saving the best for last another memory of Otis Davis came from the late Jon Hendershott, who allowed us to publish a work about his most memorable track and field moments.   Jon you may recall was a long time writer and  editor of Track and Field News.   Here is his very personal memory of Otis Davis.

Like many other of life’s firsts—first love, first kiss, to name two—for a track fan like me (lifelong, in other words), meeting one’s first Olympic champion is always ultra-special.

For me, that moment came in late June of 1961 in Everett, Washington. As a 15-year-old hyper-fan, my dad and a friend had ventured north of Seattle to the Pacific Northwest AAU title meet, precisely because the 220 was going to feature none other than 1960 Olympic 400 champion Otis Davis.

Otis Davis

Davis was an early hero of mine, being a graduate of the University of Oregon (my dad’s alma mater;  he pole vaulted for coach Bill Hayward in the late 1930s) and also because he won a pulsating Rome final the previous year in a World Record 44.9—at age 28, ancient for world-level competing in those days.

In the waning twilight in Everett, Davis easily won the district AAU 220. I believe his time was in the mid-21s but I am relying for that stat on my memory (also waning).

After the race, my friend Fletcher and I ventured onto the infield and approached Davis, who was sitting on the grass and pulling on his warmup flats.  We congratulated him, he said thanks and we were thrilled to speak with the Olympic champion, however briefly.

Flash forward 55 (really) years to the summer of 2016.  I was a guest at a banquet of many Olympians attending the Olympic Trials in Eugene. Included among the plethora of athletes was, yes, Otis Davis. Even at age 84, Davis still was trim and erect.  He looked like he could almost challenge some of the younger sprint stars in attendance.

After many of the younger Olympians had paid their respects to Davis, I approached him as he stood on a patio overlooking beautiful vineyards in the hills west of Eugene.  I introduced myself and briefly told him of the 1961 race in Everett and having shook his hand those many years ago.

Otis Davis

He smiled and replied simply, “That’s nice—but did I win the race?” I said he did indeed win and he said, “Ah, good.” Ever the competitor.

From Jack Yerman:

Otis Davis Story

Otis showed up at University of Oregon at 27, fresh out of a tour in the Army.  He went out for the basketball team, his sport.  It was soon apparent that it wasn't going to work out.  Otis was too fast and upset the plays called.  The coaches said try the track team.  

The first meet came up soon and Otis was to run versus Terry Tabacco.  Terry was an Olympian and Champion of Cananda.  Otis, who had never run a race asked Coach Bowerman, "how do I run the 400 meters?".  Coach said "Tabacco will be in lane 5 and you in lane 8".  You need to watch him all the way to the end.  Otis did just that, looking behind him, running his first 400 m and winning easily.  Two years later he set the world record in the 400 m and won two gold metals.  

Terry Tobacco, mentioned in Jack Yerman's story was from the village of Cumberland on Vancouver Island about 7 miles from where I live.   George Brose