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Home , Allen Woodring, Al Oerter, Brutus Hamilton, Helen Stephens, Jackson Scholz, Linas Kleiza

Swifter, higher, stronger

By Dustin Renwick From St. Louis and Sydney to Belgium and Beijing, 35 people with ties to Columbia have sprinted, jumped, dribbled, skied and wrestled with the best athletes in the global pageantry of Olympic competition. Although the games have caused heartbreak for many mid-Missourians, 14 athletes have returned with the most cherished prizes: Olympic medals.

100 July 2012 INSIDE COLUMBIA george (1900-1970) massengale John Nicholson (1900-1988) (1889-1970) 1920: (SILVER), pentathlon 1920: 200-meter 1912: 110-meter hurdles, high jump 1924: pentathlon George Massengale qualified for the Olympics at According to the Olympic report from that year, through rutus Hamilton — Olympic officials ordered a age 19. On the voyage to , the MU student the preliminaries John Nicholson “cleared the hurdles with the grew up in rural recount to verify the winner. was sidelined with AS, or ankylosing spondylitis, most exquisite technical skill.” The reigning Amateur Athletic Peculiar, Mo. A As good as he was in a disease that causes inflammation of the joints. Union champion won both his preliminary heats, but racing farming accident competition, Hamilton also Alternate of Pennsylvania, who stride-for-stride with two others in the final, the Mizzou grad nearly severed his excelled at teaching track and would go on to compete for Syracuse University, fell at the eighth hurdle and did not finish the race. B foot when he was 6 years old; field — after a brief coaching stepped up and won the gold. doctors didn’t think he would stint at Westminster College in ever walk properly. Instead, he Fulton, he left to coach at the ran track and played football for University of Kansas, where Mizzou. Hamilton even caught several of his KU athletes would Jackson two touchdown passes in a go on to win Olympic gold charles n. 1921 Homecoming victory over medals. Hamilton soon headed Scholz Oklahoma. west to coach at the University proctor (1897-1986) In the summer of 1920, he of California, sporting his (1906-1996) ↕ 1920: 100-meter, traveled to Antwerp, where he trademark suits and fedora. He 1928: cross country skiing, 4x100 relay (GOLD) led for nine of the 10 events also served as athletic director in the decathlon. Decathletes during his 30-year tenure in ski jumping, Nordic combined 1924: 100-meter Joseph are often called the “world’s Berkeley and coached runners Charles A. Proctor (SILVER), 200-meter greatest athletes” for their such as , the first (GOLD) was a graduate student abilities to compete across American to break the four- at the University of Charles 1928: 200-meter (1868-1950) the full range of athletic minute mile. Hamilton served on Missouri when his son, is the most decorated Columbia Olympian. challenges: sprints, distance, the coaching staff for the 1932 Charles N. Proctor, was 1904: tennis He competed for the University of Missouri track team and jumps, throws. Helge Løvland and 1936 Olympic teams. His born in 1906. Soon after, Joseph Charles, who was remains the school’s only individual gold medalist. At several of Norway passed Hamilton in decathletes swept the podium the family moved to born in Boonville, played both points throughout his career, he held or tied world records in the 1500-meter run, the final in ’36. As head coach for the Vermont. The younger singles and doubles. At age various sprint races, and he was the first man to qualify for a event, in a come-from-behind 1952 men’s Olympic team, his Proctor grew up on the 36, Charles was the oldest sprint final in three separate Olympiads. finish. Because fewer than four track athletes brought home 14 slopes, and in 1925, won participant on the team, which The 1981 film “” depicts the 1924 100-meter points separated the two — a gold medals. Hamilton has been the first slalom race in played on dirt courts in St. final, when Scholz finished second to of remarkably close finish in a inducted into several athletic the on Louis during the first modern Britain. series of events where each and coaching halls of fame, and a course designed by his father, who was by then Olympiad, held as part of the Scholz graduated from the MU School of Journalism in 1920 individual time, distance and is considered one of the greatest a professor at Dartmouth. Three years later, he 1904 World’s Fair. and later wrote 31 sports novels. A man of a different era, he height are scored and added coaches. traveled to St. Moritz, Switzerland, to compete in the competed on cinder tracks and smoked cigars. He died in 1986 winter Olympics. Proctor later served as the director and is a member of the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame. of ski operations in Yosemite National Park.

102 July 2012 INSIDE COLUMBIA INSIDE COLUMBIA July 2012 103 Richard “Dick” Cochran (1938-) (1918-1994) 1960: discus (BRONZE) 1936: 100-meter (GOLD), Unity fuels the Olympic spirit, but for MU alum 4x100-meter relay (GOLD), discus , sharp contrasts exist between his larry trip to and the games today. “It was totally different than what you see now,” he says. “I don’t young know whether it’s good or bad, but it was just (1943-) different. We were truly amateurs.” Sponsorships were unheard of, and 1968: 50-kilometer his per diem allowance race walk (BRONZE) was only $2. The 1960 1972: 20-kilometer were race walk; 50-kilometer the first televised live race walk (BRONZE) worldwide, but TV cameras claimed a hen race- kangaroo leather flats with the white dick ault sparse presence. walked his way into the Puma racing stripe on the side. (1925-2007) During the opening stadium Although he’d medaled in Mexico ceremonies, Cochran in 1968, the hairs City, Munich presented a new 1948: 400-meter hurdles and his teammates Wraised on the back of his neck. A packed challenge for Young. He had trained wore white pants and crowd, which included many Americans, harder, averaging 100 miles per week, Dick Ault, a Mizzou track star, missed the bronze medal blue wool jackets — not ideal for a hot Italian cheered for him, a guy who’d only but so had the Europeans. by two-tenths of a second at the 1948 London games. The summer, so the throwers, who were competing been in the sport for three years. “I was much more competitive that following year, however, he tied the world record in the 440- soon, sat in the stands. elen Stephens’ nicknames included “Popeye” “I wasn’t even on the map,” he year. I really thought I had a shot at yard hurdles. He went on to coach — track, cross-country, golf One night, a man in a dark suit showed up (because she stood 6 feet tall as a teenager), “The says. “I wasn’t even considered a dark gold. Then I found out when I got over and swimming — at Fulton’s Westminster College for 29 years. at Cochran’s door. He was from the U.S. State Missouri Express” and “The Fulton Flash.” Stephens horse.” He won the first and only U.S. there that the Europeans were putting Department. “The lead guy walked up and got possessed an unheard-of talent in both sprints and medal in the 50-kilometer race walk, in about 30 miles more per week than right in my face, and he said, ‘We want you to H throws, and claimed 1936 AAU titles in the , discus but his unknown status caused his I was.” understand that the Russians are not to get any teammates to call the success a fluke. Despite the perceived disadvantage, and 100-meter dash. Dan Pippin became a star at medals. Do you understand?’ The 1936 Olympics took place in Berlin, under the specter Mizzou long before his Olympic “We were about two steps away from bombing Unknown to him, Young had entered Young repeated as a bronze medalist. of Adolph Hitler’s Nazism, but even the shadow of the coming debut. As a freshman in 1943, he each other,” Cochran recalls. “There was a lot of the tight-knit club of race walkers. This time, the stadium was empty world war could not darken the sparkle of ’ was 17 and thus, too young for pressure on the United States athletes to do well If track and field is a fringe sport, because the race finished so late in four gold medals in track and field. Stephens brought home the wartime draft. The Big Six against the Russian athletes. Frankly, we found the race walking lies in the proverbial the day. Officials postponed the medal two gold medals to mid-Missouri, a feat made even more All-Conference player carried Russian athletes to be a great bunch of guys.” weeds. “We’re the ugly ducklings ceremony until the daytime so the incredible by the fact that women were allowed to compete the Tigers to a third-place finish After several throws in the finals, Cochran was of track and field,” Young says. crowd would be there. in only six track and field events: 100-meter, 80-meter in the NCAA tournament and in fifth place. He stepped into the circle on his Competitors must maintain contact Bernd Kannenberg, gold medalist hurdles, high jump, discus, javelin and the 4x100-meter relay. led the 1943-44 team in scoring. next-to-last throw and thought to himself: You’re with the ground at all times, and in the 50k, pulled Young and silver not going to get a medal. You’ve got to do something Stephens described her semifinal run “before an endless mass Like several of his teammates, he judges watch technique in every race. medalist Veniamin Soldatenko up to different. You’re going to let your school down, let of humans — over 100,000 people” in her diary. The following left school the following year and These aren’t casual events. The U.S. the top podium as the West German your parents down, your country down. day she wrote of “the thrill of seeing the American flag raised served two years of military service road record for the 50-kilometer (31- anthem played. The news media A man sat in the stands 60 yards away as for me & the crowning of the victors was marvelous.” before returning to Columbia. He mile) race works out to 7:21 per mile. questioned the gregarious German Cochran prepared. “To this day, I have no idea Few doubted her victory in the dash, but host graduated as the school’s all-time In 1971, a race-walking buff, about the move, but according stood as a favorite in the relay. The Americans ran second ↕ who this guy was,” he says. “I remember clearly Columbia College President W. Merle to Young, Kannenberg “thought leading scorer. Pippin took a job hearing him say, ‘Cochran, throw the shit out of behind the Germans through three legs, but the women from Hill, called Young to offer him a their races were so great that they in Peoria, Ill., with Caterpillar and the thing.’ And I did. And I beat the Russians, and Deutschland bobbled the baton on the final exchange while scholarship. Young moved out of his deserved to be up there, too.’” played for the city’s AAU the Russians just went ape.” Stephens anchored the Americans to victory. even dan parents’ house to Columbia, where With his second Olympic medal team. When the Olympics rolled Three American flags rose above the podium requested a personal meeting with Missouri girl. The Missouri he trained with several other race in hand, Young returned to his dorm pippin around, he was named captain that year as Cochran took bronze behind Rink State Historical Society keeps many materials from her life — walkers on the track team. and greeted his teammates. “I walked (1926-1965) and played all eight games in an Babka’s silver and Al Oerter’s gold. “I don’t think Prior to the 1972 Olympics, Young in the door, and they were all sitting trophies, her Olympic diary, correspondence between her and undefeated campaign. The United anybody stands on that stand, particularly when flew to Europe to consult with Puma there with their Champagne glasses, fellow Olympians. More Olympic memorabilia resides in her 1952: basketball States beat the USSR twice in that all three of you have won medals, that tears don’t namesake athletic complex at her alma mater, William Woods (GOLD) tournament, the second time to come to your eyes when you hear the national on a new race-walking shoe. The and I said, ‘Well, there’s another University in Fulton win the gold medal. Pippin’s medal anthem play.” company cranked out a pair of red fluke.’ ” stands as the most recent gold won And for all the differences, some Olympic by a Columbia-area athlete. experiences don’t change.

104 July 2012 INSIDE COLUMBIA INSIDE COLUMBIA July 2012 105 yusuf alli (1960-) henry amike A second wave of Nigerian- Nigeria (1961-) 1980: born speedsters called 1984: long jump 1984: 400-meter hurdles Columbia home and reset the 1988: 4x400-meter relay record books at Mizzou. Yusuf godwin 1988: long jump Alli, Henry Amike and Victor “After the Olympics, Edet joined Chidi Imoh and I was offered full isiaq finished fourth in the 1985 obasogie NCAA 4x100. During the same Nigeria (1954-) scholarship to study at the University of Missouri, U.S., in 1981,” adeyanju time, Imoh, Edet and Isiaq 1976: 100-meter hurdles Yusuf Alli recently told NigerianBestForum.com. Nigeria (1956-) Adeyanju collected a string of six straight 100-meter wins at “I started working with the best coaches in a 1984: 4x100-meter relay relaxed but highly competitive atmosphere. I the Big Eight Championships worked very hard and by 1982, I was ranked 1988: 4x100-meter relay, from 1983 to 1988. Amike is now the president of nat page among top 10 in the world.” Alli currently works 100-meter, 200-meter (right) on a committee to oversee the Nigerian track the Nigerian Olympians ed ofili team’s preparations for the 2012 London games. Association. Adeyanju still Nigeria (1957-) His best finish was ninth in 1984. victor holds the MU record for the outdoor 200-meter dash. In 1976: 200-meter, edet 1988, Edet held facility records 4x100-meter relay Nigeria (1966-) for the 100-meter at both

1988: 4x100-meter relay Kansas and Baylor. ajayi agbebaku Nigeria (1955-) dele udo (1954-2002) 1984: Nigeria (1957-1981) 1980: discus triple jump 1976: 400-meter, This Mizzou grad 4x400-meter relay still holds the Nigerian nat page record for triple jump 1980: 400-meter, (1957-) at 17.26 meters (56 chidi 4x400-meter relay 1980: high jump feet, 7.53 inches), which he set in 1983, imoh The U.S. decision to boycott the 1980 Olympics eople often remember the United States the longest-standing Nigeria (1963-) directly affected two Columbia athletes, both members of boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in the record in the country’s the Mizzou track team. Following the games, Ben Plucknett 1984: 100-meter, former Soviet Union, but more than 20 African track and field history. broke the discus world record twice in two months in 1981, 4x100-meter relay nations pulled out of the Montreal games four but his marks were later revoked after he tested positive for years earlier. Nigeria decided to withdraw its 1988: 100-meter steroids, the first time a track record had been thrown out athletes two days before competition. African countries P due to a positive drug test. 1992: 100-meter, were protesting the International Olympic Committee’s Nat Page also had his Olympic opportunity dashed by the 4x100-meter relay refusal to ban after the Kiwi rugby team controversial solidarity of skipping the Moscow games. Page, pam page (SILVER) played a circuit in South Africa, a nation barred from who still owns the indoor and outdoor high-jump records for (1958-) Olympic competition since 1964 for its apartheid laws. rguably the most athletically successful of Mizzou’s Nigerian athletes, the Tigers, now coaches jumps and hurdles at Georgia Tech South African athletes would not compete until the 1992 1984: 100-meter hurdles Chidi Imoh owns the school’s 100-meter record and recorded back- University. Olympics. Pam Page competed in one of the closest races to-back runner-up finishes in the event at the NCAA championships These three athletes represent the beginning of Mizzou in the history of modern track and field. At the in 1985 and 1986. Seven All-American finishes as well as four track and field’s phenomenal sprinting corps of the late consecutiveA Big Eight titles in the 100-meter added to his collegiate accolades. Olympic trials, Page reeled in the leaders with a 1970s to mid 1980s. Many of the athletes hailed from olumbia claims connections to not furious comeback over the last few hurdles. She Imoh ran as part of two school-record relays: 4x100 (Edet-Alli-Amike-Imoh) Nigeria, and their names pepper the top 10 lists of all-time only athletes but also support crews and three other runners crossed the finish line and 4x200 (Abebaku-Edet-Amike-Imoh). He is considered one of the most performers in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter that in the visual performances within 1/100th of a second of each other: four recognizable athletes in Nigeria behind former NBA star and MVP Hakeem sprints and relays. C during the Olympic Games. Two Stephens runners in search of three places on the Olympic Olajuwon. The 1992 silver-medal relay set an African record. Recently, he has Sadly, Dele Udo was shot and killed at a police College graduates have played behind- team. Officials finally determined Page had placed spoken out as part of a growing collection of athletes who have questioned their checkpoint in his home country in 1981. the-scenes roles. Anne-Louise Wallace third and qualified. “I think more people know me home country’s commitment to international track and field success. served as a stage manager in 1988, 1992 from that race at trials than as an Olympian,” she and 1996. Scott LeGrand helped in the 1996 later told the Times. TV special of the opening ceremonies as an 106 July 2012 INSIDE COLUMBIA INSIDE COLUMBIA July 2012 107 assistant lightning director. wu dan China (1968-) cantwell 1988: volleyball (BRONZE) (1975-) 1992: volleyball wefwafwu 2000: shot put 2000: volleyball Teri Steer was twice an NCAA national

Wu Dan excelled at Columbia College in 1995; she was champion at Southern Methodist University in a conference MVP, first-team All-American and on the addition to being an eight-time All-American. Prior national tournament all-tournament team. She was no to the Olympics, she threw for bronze in both the stranger to athletic success, having competed for her home 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the country before coming to Missouri. Although China had won 1999 . Steer married fellow the 1984 Olympic gold, the team faced tough competition in Olympian in 2005; the couple 1988 from the Soviet Union and up-and-comer Peru. With makokha lives in Columbia. Dan on the team, China secured a bronze medal behind Peru’s silver and the USSR gold. Four years later, Dan tested positive for strychnine, typically a poison but used in small amounts as a stimulant. She had taken herbal capsules for fatigue without notifying derrick team doctors. Per International Olympic Committee rules, Dan was only removed from the 1992 Olympics because peterson officials ruled the misstep as unintentional. (1977-) natasha 2004: 800-meter

obunaga Derrick Peterson, a kaiser-brown Mizzou alum, remains (1967-) the American collegiate 1992: 400-meter, 4x400-meter relay (SILVER) doris wefwafwa record holder for the (1967-2007) indoor 800-meter run at atasha Kaiser-Brown, a nine-time high school 1:45:88 and is the only champion in Iowa, followed up her prep career by 2000: volleyball Big 12 athlete to sweep becoming a six-time All-American at Mizzou; she indoor and outdoor was named Big Eight female athlete of the year crowns in one event in all four years of eligibility. Nin 1989. Still, Olympic dreams didn’t occupy Kaiser-Brown’s jacqueline He is a former assistant track coach at Mizzou. mind. She lived with a more practical outlook. “The goal was to run fast, and if it turned out I made it, great.” makokha Even after she qualified in the trials, she refused to call Kenya (1974-) herself an Olympian. “I needed to run on the Olympic track in 2000: volleyball the Olympics,” she says. Only a day prior to the 4x400-meter hans uldal relay, the coach told Kaiser-Brown she would be leading off the Norway (1982-) relay in the finals. She’d never run first. “You’re completely alone,” says Kaiser-Brown, who was used rose Obunaga 2004: decathlon to anchoring relays. “It’s a weird, awkward moment because Kenya (1973-) Hans Uldal holds the normally your team’s there. And they’re not. It’s just you. Once 2000: volleyball MU school record for the gun goes off, and the crowd is screaming, and all you hear 2004: volleyball the decathlon, and he is is clapping and screaming and flashes going off, that part is the only Mizzou multi- priceless. Then, you hand off, and the dream’s over.” his trio of athletes from Kenya played for Columbia event athlete to break Rochelle Stevens anchored the relay. The runner from the kareem streete- College in the mid-2000s. They raked in awards and the 8,000- barrier. Unified Team, composed of former Soviet states, passed led the Cougars to two national tournament runner-up Stevens in the homestretch, and the United States missed gold thompson finishes. They currently hold many of the top spots by three-quarters of a second. Cayman Islands (1973-) forT single-season and career records All three were named “When you run track, you’re a winner or a loser, which 1992: 100-meter, long jump first-team All-Americans in their stints at the college, with linas kleiza is kind of tough,” she says, adding that the women were all Jacqueline Makokha garnering the honor twice, in 2004 and Lithuania (1985-) exhausted so the medal itself held importance. “I don’t think 2000: long jump 2005; she was a being a national all-tournament team selection anybody was really upset that it was just a silver.” 2004: 100-meter, long jump in those years as well. Doris Wefwafwa died unexpectedly in 2008: basketball Kaiser-Brown has coached track and field for more than Former Rice University sprinter Kareem Streete-Thompson 2007, a week before she was to graduate from Campbellsville Linas Kleiza played two seasons at MU before a decade at Drake University. “I’d rather be coaching than keeps rare company as the only person other than University in Kentucky. Stephens College hired Rose Obunaga as becoming a first-round NBA draft pick in 2005. running,” she says. “Mentally and emotionally, it’s easier.” to long jump farther than 28 feet and run the 100-meter the volleyball coach and assistant athletic director in March. He played on Lithuania’s national team that lost to dash in less than 10 seconds. He is currently an assistant Argentina in the 2008 bronze-medal game. Kleiza track coach at Mizzou. now plays for the NBA’s .

INSIDE COLUMBIA July 2012 109 ben askren (1984-) 2008: freestyle wrestling oes watching the Olympics make you want to ell-known in the wrestling world, Ben Askren sprint around the ? Attempt a backflip off compiled a 153-8 record in four years with the diving board? Turn cartwheels down your W the MU Tigers and won back-to-back NCAA driveway? If your competitive juices are flowing, championships his junior and senior years. Additionally, he register for the 28th annual Show-Me State balanced his studies and his takedowns as both a four-time DGames, an Olympic-style competition right here in Columbia. All-American and Academic All-American. At the Beijing The concept for statewide games began in New York in games, Askren won his 1978 as a way for the Empire State’s best amateur athletes first match and lost his to compete in Olympic-style events; Missouri joined the second, finishing out movement in 1985. Today, the Show-Me State Games of the medal round. He competition attracts 26,000 athletes of all ages, plus now competes in mixed thousands more spectators and volunteers. martial arts and is the “We are the largest in the nation as far as participation of Bellatore welterweight athletes for state games,” says Emily Lorenz, marketing and champion. media coordinator, “I think that says a lot about Missourians and their emphasis on sports and physical fitness.” On July 20, the games kick off with an opening ceremony at the Hearnes Center that includes the Parade of Athletes, the Oath of Athletes, the lighting of the torch and a special guest speaker. Past speakers have included Olympians such as decathlete Bruce Jenner, soccer player Mia Hamm and boxer George Foreman. Other Olympic traditions for the Show-Me State Games include handing out gold, bronze and silver medals to the top male and female finishers in each event. “It is fun to see people excited about having their christian name announced and winning a medal,” says Lisa Wells, commissioner for the road race and race walk, which took cantwell place June 29 in Bethel Park. (1980-) Athletes of all ages can participate in more than 40 sports ranging from basketball to ballroom dancing. Lorenz says 2008: shot put (SILVER) she has seen 2-year-olds run races and swimmers in their Eldon native Christian Cantwell 80s compete. Participants must reside in Missouri for at left Mizzou as a six-time Big 12 Show-me least 30 days prior to the date of the competition, attend a champion and tied Chidi Imoh Missouri college or be stationed on a military base in the state. with seven track and field All- state games Alternatively, athletes or their parents must earn a living in American honors, the most in Missouri. Athletes register individually but must sign up as a school history. He has won three As the world gears up for London 2012, team for team sports. gold medals in the IAAF world Columbia prepares for its own Olympic- Even nonathletes have plenty of opportunities to contribute. indoor championships in 2004, “We try to find something to get everyone involved, whether 2008 and 2010. style event. that is participating as an athlete or as a volunteer, or simply In 2008, he won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics, By Mattie Schuler // Photo By Daniel Brenner coming out and cheering on people,” Lorenz says. shooting from fifth to second place on his last throw. “I am Wells says the best part about being involved in the sports pretty easy with my medal,” he says. “For weeks, it was in festival is the opportunity to work with other people in the my truck. My wife [Teri] has made a little mantel for it and it The Show-Me State Games community — the staff, the volunteers and the athletes. “Putting together the games is a lot of work and there are hangs there.” occur throughout the year, The decorated world-class athlete is firmly planted in the so many nice, hardworking people in Columbia that come heartland. “I can’t say enough how fortunate I am to say I but the majority of events take together to make it happen,” Wells says, “I enjoy being a part represent the United States of America, Missouri, and more place July 20–22 and July 27–29. of that.” n specifically Columbia. I have seen many places on earth, and Check out www.smsg.org for this is one of the best places to call home.” more information on dates, 110 July 2012 INSIDE COLUMBIA locations and registration. INSIDE COLUMBIA July 2012 111