Four of our own whose Olympic dreams were taken away by
politics
There are
nearly 60 California community college track and field Olympians. Four of them were denied the
opportunity to compete in Moscow in the ’80 Olympiad.President Jimmy Carter
declined to send the 1980 USA Olympic team to Russia because that country had
invaded Afghanistan and the Olympics were part of Carter’s boycott plan. At the
’80 USA Trials the following former California community college athletes
qualified for the 1980 team: Gwen Gardner (West LA), John Powell (American
River), Dan Ripley (Cypress), James Robinson (Laney).
The
1980 track and field Olympians will be honored in a variety of ways in Eugene
by Nike, the Oregon governor, and the US Olympic Committee over two days. They
will participate in opening ceremonies of the Trials June27.
Following
are career highlights of our four CCC 1980 Olympians:
Gwen Gardner
LA Crenshaw HS / LA
Mercurettes / West LA / Hawaii
USA Champion, Olympic Trials Runner-up
’82 SoCal, State 400-200 double wins;
West LA takes SoCal
Crenshaw
HS: USA Jr.
Championships-3rd 53.47; ran briefly on a Summer European tour.
1979: Mt. SAC Relays 200-1st 23.03, 400-1st 52.22
(*beat 4 Olympians in the two wins-a breakthrough–still in high school)
1980
Olympic Trials: 400-2nd
51.68 (semis-51.94, heat-52.28)
’80 Summer
European Tour:
Stuttgart-2nd 51.99
West LA
CC-1981: State meet
400-2nd 54.35, *also breaking state meet record of 54.89, 200-2nd
24.20, anchored 4x1 relay to 2nd place
1982:
So Cal Finals 400-1st
53.14, 200-1st 23.78,* meet record, 100-2nd 12.07; West
LA won the SoCal team title; State meet 400-1st 52.69, 200-1st
23.69
1982
USA Nationals: 400-meter champion-52.68
John Powell
American
River CC / San Jose State
Four-time
Olympian, former world record-holder
From
6th in state to international icon in the event
John Powell worked his way from sixth place in the
’67 state cc meet to making four Olympic teams and setting world and American
records in the event. Patience, determination, belief, constant analysis
of his event, and tenacity-that was John Powell.
American
River: Powell threw
160-4 ½” for 6th in the ’67 state meet. He was 4th in the NorCal Finals.Al
Baeta was Powell’s coach at American River.
San Jose State-1968: NCAA-11th168-8; AAU
Nationals-16th175-1;1969: NCAA-4th
183-7; AAU Nationals-8th187-11.
’72 Munich Olympics: 4th 206-1(qualifying 194-6
½)
1975:*World record 226-8; Pan Am
Games Champion
’76 Montreal Olympics: 3rd 215-6
’80 Olympic Trials: 2nd 223-1; ’80 Moscow Olympics: USA did not
send a team.
’83 USA/East Germany Dual: 1st 218-4
1984-Personal best:233-9
’84 Olympic Trials:1st 220-3;’84 Los Angeles Olympics:3rd214-9
’87 World Cup: 2nd 217-3(40-years old at
the time)
USA
National Championships: 1974, 1975, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987
Honors: Powell made the front cover of Track &
Field News in June 1975. He is a member of the California Community College’s
Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Dan Ripley
Cypress / San Jose State
From state champion to indoor world
records
Cypress-1973:
State Champion 16-0
(Cypress no longer has a t&f program-it is in the same district as
Fullerton College.)
San Jose
State: 1975-Saskatchewan
Indoor meet: Ripley had cleared 17-6 in practice before traveling to
Canada. Ripley ended up the surprise of the meet with a 17-9 ½ winning vault
that set a Canadian indoor all-comers record. Weeks later at the
Los
Angeles Indoor Games (Sports Arena) Ripley set the world indoor record at 18-½.
1976-Indoors-New
York City: 18-3 ¼ new
world indoor mark; 1976 USA Olympic Trials: no height
1978
Outdoor Nationals-1st17-8
1980
Olympic Trials: 2nd
tie 18-2½
1982
Outdoor Nationals-1st18-9½
*personal best
Indoor
National Championships:
1979, 1981
1986 USSR/
USA Indoor Meet (7th in the series): 18-5½ world indoor record
USA
Rankings: ’75-2nd
;’76-3rd; ’77-3rd; ’78-2nd; ’79-2nd;
’80-4th; ’81-9th; ’82-3rd; ’83-5th;
’84-8th
Honors: T&F News Cover-April 1979
Coaching
career: As a community
college coach Ripley also left a legacy. At Mt. SAC his women’s team won the
1986 state track and field team title, at Long Beach CC Ripley’s women won
three more state team titles in 1995-96, 1999
James Robinson
Laney
CC / UC Berkeley
Two
state titles, two *national records, seven USA titles
Two-time
Olympian, 1:43.92 in ’84
Laney
CC: 1973: 880-yard
state champion at 1:48.0 *national record; Robinson lowered the state meet
record by 1.5 seconds-a mark that stood until four-time Olympian Johnny Gray
(Santa Monica CC) ran 1:47.44 in 1980. 1974: State
champion-1:49.2. After the JC season Robinson lowered the *national JC
800-meter record with a 1:45.7 on UCLA’s track (6/22/74); AAU Nationals-3rd
1:45.7.
UC Berkeley: Robinson emerged into the national
spotlight winning the 1976 USA
800-1:46.63.
He also won consecutive PAC-8 titles in ’75-76.
’76 Trials/
Olympics: 2nd-1:45.9
’76 Olympics: 5th non-qualifying semis-1:46.4
*Post
collegiate: Robinson
never won an Olympic Trial race or a USA indoor title, but in the USA national
outdoors he shined-seven titles between1976-84.
’80 Olympic
Trials: 2nd
-1:45.58
’83
European Circuit: France-2nd
1:44.47, Belgium-1st 1:44.32,
USA
National Titles: 1977-82,
1984 (Three of the wins were under 1:46.0)
USA
Rankings: ’75-2nd;’76-3rd;
’77-3rd; ’78-2nd; ’79-2nd; ’80-4th;
’81-9th; ’82-3rd; ’83-5th; ’84-8th
World
rankings: 1978-4th;
1979-3rd; 1980-5th; 1981-2nd; 1982-3rd;
1983-6th; 1984-9th
She knows!
She’s not just a talking head … During the Olympic Trials / Olympic
Games television coverage (go to Eugene 08 website for details) Carol
Lewis will be doing commentary and interviews for NBC. She has some
creditability. She won four consecutive Mt. SAC Relays long jump titles in the
mid-80s with a best of 22’10 ½.
Lewis’world rankings in the long jump were 4th in ‘82; 3rd in ‘83; 7th in ‘85;
8th in’ 86.Yes, she is the sister of Carl Lewis, the legendary sprinter-long
jumper of world, Olympic records.
World records at the
Trials
There have been many world records equaled or set at the USA
Olympic Trials. Our California community college alumni left their mark on the
world lists as follows:
Eddie Hart ran a 9.9 100
meters at the Olympic trials to set a world record.
1936 –HJ-Cornelius Johnson (Compton) 6-9 ¾” tie
1956 –HJ-Charles Dumas (Compton) 7-0 ½” (first 7-ft. jump)
1960-200-Ray Norton (Oakland) 20.5 equaled WR
1968-400-Lee Evans (San Jose) 44.0
1968-IH-Geoff Vanderstock (Mt. SAC) 48.8
1968-PV-Bob Seagren (Mt. SAC) 17-9
1972-100-Eddie Hart (Contra Costa) 9.9 equaled WR
1972-PV-Bob Seagren (Mt.SAC) 18-5 ¾”
A Sad Trials for Cali
JC sprinter
Houston McTear
Baker HS, Fla. / Santa Monica CC / Cerritos CC / Muhammed Ali TC
Florida prep sensation loses spot due to injury
Baker HS: 1975: USA Jr. Championship: 10.2-1st
place, 10.0 in a heatfor a world, American, national high school record;
10.0-meters- Siena,Italy-(7/16/75) 1976 Indoors: High School national records:
5.1-50yards, 5.9 twice over 60yards
’76 Olympic
Trials: McTear proved
his was real finishing second in 10.16m for a high school national record. He
suffered a hamstring injury in the race and was replaced on the team by Texas
high school sensation Johnny Jones.
1977-Santa Monica: 10:13-national JC mark –Cologne,
Germany (2nd fastest in world at
the time)
1978-Cerritos: South Coast Conference title/*national record-10.0 at Santa
Ana College;
*McTear appeared on the April 1978 T&F News front cover
False starts
Editor’s error: The late Jim McKay did his first ABC-TV Wide
World of Sports program from the Penn Relays in Franklin Field, Philadelphia in
1961. The USA/USSR dual meets began in 1958 and alternated annually between the
countries.