Bob Seagren

Bob Seagren
Personal information
Born (1946-10-17) October 17, 1946
Pomona, California, United States
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Sport Pole vaulting
Club Southern California Striders, Anaheim

Robert "Bob" Seagren (born October 17, 1946) is a retired American pole vaulter, the 1968 Olympic champion.

A native of Pomona, California, Bob Seagren was one of the world's top pole vaulters in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He won six National AAU and four NCAA titles indoors and outdoors. Indoors he posted eight world bests between 1966 and 1969. He was also the Pan American Games champion in 1967. He jumped his first world record (5.32 m) in Fresno on May 14, 1966, followed by his world records 1967 in San Diego (5.36 m), 1968 in Echo Summit near South Lake Tahoe (5.41 m) and 1972 in Eugene (5.63 m). See the Eugene record jump Video on YouTube @ 19:20.

In 1968, Bob Seagren participated in his first Olympic Games in Mexico City. In an exciting contest, he won the gold medal with the top three vaulters, including silver medallist Claus Schiprowski (West Germany) and the bronze medal winner Wolfgang Nordwig (East Germany) reaching the same height (5.40 m).

Four years later, in Munich, he's best remembered for the Olympic gold medal he didn't get. In the 1972 Summer Olympics, a last-minute ruling barred the new banana-Pole from Olympic competition, forcing some vaulters, including Seagren, to compete with unfamiliar poles. East German Wolfgang Nordwig didn't use a Cata-Pole and won the gold medal, with Seagren coming second. It was the first time an American had failed to win the Olympic gold medal in the pole vault. In fact, no American would again win a gold medal in the pole vault until Nick Hysong won in 2000.

A 1968 University of Southern California graduate, Seagren took a try at professional track[1] and later he started his career in television and movies as a show host and soap opera actor.[2]

Seagren won the inaugural American Superstars sports competition in 1973 as well as the first World Superstars in 1977, his lone victories in both events.[3] He was able to enjoy the spoils from these competitions because he had become a professional athlete having signed to join the International Track Association (ITA) tour. On the ITA tour he renewed his very personal antagonistic rivalry with fellow American pole vaulter Steve Smith.[4]

Bob Seagren went on to become an actor, appearing in several movies and television shows, including the controversial sitcom Soap in 1977 in which he played Dennis Phillips, a gay football player in a relationship with Billy Crystal's character Jodie Dallas. He appeared as a guest star in an episode of "Charlie's Angels" in 1976, called "Toni's Boys" as a son of a friend who was a colleague of Charlie and also in the detective business. He was referred to in the episode as an "Olympic Champion" although he played a fictional character. He also guest starred on the tv series "Wonder Woman" in the episode called "The Man Who Could Not Die". And he played himself, serving as an LAPD youth camp counselor on the "Camp Two" episode of Adam-12.

Today, he is CEO of International City Racing, which specializes in the development, management, and implementation of road racing, endurance, and fitness events, including the Long Beach International City Marathon. He is also an active supporter of the Commission on Athletics of the California Community Colleges.

He was named to the inaugural class of the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame.[5] In 1986 he was inducted into the USATF National Track and Field Hall of Fame.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bob Seagren.
  1. Ballard, Chris (April 23, 2001)"Bob Seagren, Pole Vaulter". Archived from the original on June 14, 2012. Retrieved 2015-01-28. . Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Retrieved on August 4, 2014.
  2. Bob Seagren at the Internet Movie Database
  3. Bob Seagren. Sports-reference.com.
  4. "Pole-vaulters Seagren and Smith: Champions and Competitors, Yes—but Chums? No Way", People, Vol. 3 No. 21, June 2, 1975.
  5. Bob Seagren. Mtsacrelays.com. Retrieved on August 4, 2014.
  6. Bob Seagren. USATF. Retrieved on August 4, 2014.

External links

Records
Preceded by
United States Fred Hansen
Men's Pole Vault World Record Holder
May 14, 1966 July 23, 1966
Succeeded by
United States John Pennel
Preceded by
United States John Pennel
Men's Pole Vault World Record Holder
June 10, 1967 June 23, 1967
Succeeded by
United States Paul Wilson
Preceded by
United States Paul Wilson
Men's Pole Vault World Record Holder
September 12, 1968 June 21, 1969
Succeeded by
United States John Pennel
Preceded by
Sweden Kjell Isaksson
Men's Pole Vault World Record Holder
July 2, 1972 March 28, 1975
Succeeded by
United States David Roberts
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Sweden Kjell Isaksson
Men's Pole Vault Best Year Performance
1972
Succeeded by
United States Steve Smith
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.