RIP: Milt Campbell

[tandfman]

I've seen about a half dozen tweets this morning, most from reliable sources, reporting that the 1956 Olympic decathlon gold medalist has passed away. I can't find any confirmation on the web. Google shows nothing yet.

[DoubleRBar]

I talked with Milt last June at the Olympic Trials and he seemed pretty weak. He was in a wheelchair, but in good spirits.

[tandfman]

I've met him a couple of times. Didn't talk to him at the Trials, but I saw that he was in a wheelchair. He was a great athlete and a terrific guy.

[bambam]

He died on 2 Nov 2012 in Gainesville, Georgia

http://www.accessnorthga.com/access/obi ... l&id=46086

Great, great athlete

[DoubleRBar]

Certainly one of the best decathletes ever and a very nice person.

[tandfman]

Obit from the Newark Star Ledger now linked on front page.

[kuha]

Sad to hear this news. That whole generation is rapidly disappearing.

[user4]

The absolute greatest athlete of the 20th century, only Thorpe comes close.

[bambam]

The absolute greatest athlete of the 20th century, only Thorpe comes close.

Really? Expand on that, user4. Not many others on this board would pick him. He was great, but among decathletes, I would have Thompson, Mathias, Rafer, and Thorpe ahead of him (and maybe Eaton someday).

[cullman]

Nice story on Milt Campbell's high school swimming and wrestling career: http://www.ishof.org/black_history/pdf/ ... mpbell.pdf

[tandfman]

A nice tribute to Campbell now appears on the front page.

And here's another one:

http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2012 ... ere_w.html

[paw]

Has anyone a link to Milt Campbell's last hurdles race before he got professional! :

I've always wanted to see the 120 yards hurdles race from Compton Invitational May 31, 1957, where Milt Campbell and Elias Gilbert sets a 'new world record' in 13.4 and Lee Calhoun came in third.

If anyone are interested I've a newreels with another great hurdles race of Campbell from 1957, where he beats Lee Calhoun:

00570524-Coliseum – 100y Bobby Morrow 9.4, Orlando Hazley 9.5, Mike Agostini - 120yH Milton Campbell 13.6, Lee Calhoun 13.7 – HJ Charles Dumas 2,07 – PV Bob Gutowski 4,72 – 1 mile Mervyn Lincoln 4:01.0, Brian Hewson 4:01.4, Laszlo Tabori 4:01.6

Here You can see all the disciplines of the decathlon in the olympics, Milt Campbell took part of, from 9:54 to 12:00:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpszsVffQYk

[bf]

If today's scoring tables had been used at '56 Olympics, Campbell would have set a WR.
Using his auto(FAT?) times (10.91, 48.83, 14.12), he would have outscored Johnson's record
7618 to 7608. Too bad there couldn't have been financial incentives to keep him going 'til 1960 (age 26), for a great 3-way battle for medals with Johnson & Yang in Rome.

[tandfman]

New York Times obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/05/sport ... at-78.html

[user4]

If today's scoring tables had been used at '56 Olympics, Campbell would have set a WR.
Using his auto(FAT?) times (10.91, 48.83, 14.12), he would have outscored Johnson's record
7618 to 7608. Too bad there couldn't have been financial incentives to keep him going 'til 1960 (age 26), for a great 3-way battle for medals with Johnson & Yang in Rome.

Do these adjustments account for the dramatic change in the pole in the polevault event ? Something tells me that the era of Campbell is not being fairly compared to Eaton's.

[tandfman]

Frank Zarnowski's tribute:

http://decathlonusa.typepad.com/files/v ... v12012.pdf

[Jackaloupe]

Milt Campbell and Elias Gilbert sets a 'new world record' in 13.4

Great recollection of that memorable evening at Compton. I was there, "catching" (back then athletes were allowed to finish exhausted) Elias Gilbert, an old pal from NJHS (he from Linden, I from Matawan, Group I Champs), who ran 13.5 in my recall, but I'll check that.

Elias said, "Time comes to just let it all out", or some such.

Milt was my first and most enduring hero, as an early-50s NJ Decathlete--before it was called that or the event was contested at NCAA. I even copied Mitt's Bunch Start, if not his Western Roll--which likely limited his HJ to just under 2m, even if he cleared ~6'4" in HS.
For me, his most spectacular event was the Low Hurdles (low 19s for 180 yds.), which he'd step right over as he strove to keep from "chopping" stride.

BTW, While Milt did use a Wheelchair (and a Golf Cart to circuit the Eugene Track), he did walk--with a spiffy cane.