Decathletes Who Played A Professional Sport

[dbirds]

American Football - Rohn Stark, Jay Novacek, Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Glenn Morris, Muhammad Oliver

Basketball - none that I can think of - although Rick Wanamaker certainly could have

Soccer - Daley Thompson

There have been several decathletes that became bobsledders

Who am I missing??

[KDFINE]

Missing? Milt Campbell!

Wasn't Don Shy a mid-7000 performer as well as a brief footballer?

[indigo]

Wasn't Don Shy a mid-7000 performer as well as a brief footballer?

I believe he was the Mt Sac Record Holder in the Decathlon prior to Mark Anderson.

[marknhj]

Categorizing Daley as a professional football player is stretching it to Great Wall proportions...

[no one]

nolan cromwell

[dbirds]

Cromwell...good one!

read where Isiah Mustafa - the Old Spice guy who played on some NFL practice squads did a few back in 1993 and 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Mustafa
http://articles.latimes.com/1994-05-22/ ... rk-college

[noone]

A bit off topic -- but I read recently that Joe Tofflemire died aged 46. The obituary said he played in the NFL as a linebacker but I remember him as a javelin thrower, and he would have made a fine decathlete.

[Bruce Kritzler]

thought Cromwell ran the 400h ?

[mrbowie]

I thought Wilt Chamberlin did some decathlons.

[jhc68]

His first year at USC, Sam Cunningham -- no doubt the best fullback in New England Patriots history -- ran a decathlon and scored in the mid-6,000 pt. range with no major preparation (see http://functionalpathtraining.blogspot.com/2006/08/before-bo-jackson-sam-cunningham.html)

Cunningham was the CA State Meet shot champion and at his league championship in his senior year ran a 9.7 100 yards (hand-timed) and threw the shot 62 feet-plus on the same day.

[dbirds]

Cromwell and Cunningham both did decas in the 1970s - not Chamberlain. Anyone have or know where I can find the complete results for both?

[Bruce Kritzler]

Cromwell won AAU Jr. Decathlon with 6806(according to Wiki and Google).
440yd hurdle best of 49.47.

[BusterZanga]

USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Champions according to usatf.org:
Decathlon
1975 Tony Hale
1974 Russell Fritts
1973 Craig Brigham
1972 Not held

Where's Cromwell?

[gh]

at this point, the thread title for this has morphed into "Professional athletes who tried a decathlon"; we're no longer talking about real decathletes here.

[cullman]

I think there may be more decathletes turned Hollywood actor than decathletes who played a pro sport. Woody Strode and Glenn Morris did all three.

cman

[dj]

I think there may be more decathletes turned Hollywood actor than decathletes who played a pro sport. Woody Strode and Glenn Morris did all three.

cman

I don't have info at hand, but I'm not aware of the Woody Strode-decathlon connection.

[gh]

but any guy who scored in the California state meet in the 220 lows and shot the same year.....

[cullman]

Hey, I got it from the National Enquirer with Wikipedia and Wilt Chamberlain as my back up sources.

[no one]

via google and per http://www.varsitykansas.com/2011/07/21 ... ansas.html

site identifying top 150 athletes in Kansas hx - he was 12th

Cromwell’s athleticism as a teen _ AAU decathlon champ, All-State in football, all-class basketball _ made him a valuable addition to the KU football and track teams.

Cromwell played safety for two Jayhawk seasons, then switched to quarterback, where he was named Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year in 1975 (on a fourth-place team). That season included 294 rushing yards (then an NCAA QB record) against Oregon State and ending Oklahoma’s 28-game winning streak.

His other season was on the track, where Cromwell set school records in the 400 meters, 600 yards and decathlon.

An 11-year NFL career, all with the Los Angeles Rams, included four Pro Bowl appearances, one Super Bowl and 37 interceptions at safety.


from Sports Illustrated: October 26, 1981

As a member of the Kansas track team Cromwell ran the indoor 600 in 1:10, just 2.4 seconds off the world best. He had a relay quarter-mile split of 46.5. He was the Big Eight champion in the intermediate hurdles, and his time of 49.5 qualified him for the 1976 Olympic Trials. And once, just for kicks, he entered the decathlon and scored 6,806 points. "With practice I probably could have gotten up to 7,500," Cromwell says. Others suspect he could have gotten close to 8,000.

If memory serves his main event was the 400ih (49.5 as noted). The AAU jr decath championship is being more elusive to pin down. My memory does remember various 'who's the best' athlete 'debates' in the 70s/80s and recall Cromwell's name coming up. He was often/frequently/all the time mentioned as best/most versatile athlete in NFL ranks.

I'm curious now if the 6806 is the total he had in AAU meet ... or if that is documented anywhere.

[Pego]

Bill Schroeder - UW La Crosse/GB Packers

[BusterZanga]

TFN forum topic: NFL/decathlete
Post by decafan, Feb 24, 2004
"That is not true. Bill COULD have been a good decathlete, but never did one. Bill likes to perpetuate that decathlon myth though. He did a Pentathlon in '93 and scored 3,933 pts. The laCrosse decathlon record is 7030, set by someone else."

[dbirds]

Cromwell scored 6628 (85 tables) in 1974 as a 19 year old! Not bad. This is in Frank Zarnowski's new book. It's in this link:


http://decathlonusa.typepad.com/files/f ... d-book.pdf

[Daisy]

Categorizing Daley as a professional football player is stretching it to Great Wall proportions...

Are you saying that Mansfield Town only signed him to get bums on seats?

[dr ngo]

Jim Thorpe also played Major League Baseball, IIRC.

[dr ngo]

And he didn't play professionally, but Rafer Johnson started for John Wooden's basketball team, which was pretty good (though not as good as a few years later, when they began to win everything in sight).

[Master Po]

Jim Thorpe also played Major League Baseball, IIRC.

Thorpe's MLB stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ji01.shtml