Dave Davis (athlete)

Last updated

Dave Davis (born August 20, 1937) is an American Shot Putter. [1] He was on the 1960 United States Olympic Team. The circumstances of his failure to throw in those games are one of the quirky stories of the Olympics. Davis almost did not get to the Olympic Trials. As Cordner Nelson wrote at the time, he found himself 45 miles north of the Stanford University stadium at the time his event was about to begin. [2] This was not the first time he had gotten lost on the way to a big meet. Davis spent $18 to rent a seaplane to fly him to the Palo Alto harbor, where he convinced a city employee to drive him to the stadium while he changed his clothes. Arriving after the first two rounds had been completed, he took his qualifying throw with no warm up and made it to the final. In the final, he surpassed Bill Nieder's earlier throw to move into third place. Injured with his leg heavily taped, Nieder was unable to improve and was pushed to the "alternate" position, while the team was made up of three University of Southern California alumni (though Davis and Parry O'Brien were officially competing for the Southern California Striders). [3]

At the Olympics, it was Davis who was injured. Olympic Team coach Payton Jordan replaced Davis with the alternate Nieder. The Associated Press sent out a picture of Davis congratulating Nieder on his advancement to the Olympics when it was clear his injury would prevent his participation. [4] Nieder went on to win the gold medal and set the world record, leading an American sweep of the medals. [5]

Davis was a big, strong man, known for warming up by "calmly" lifting 350 pound weights, [6] techniques he later taught to Brian Oldfield. [7]

While competing for Canoga Park High School in 1956, Davis set the National High School Record for the shot put at 62' 7½" which lasted just 5 days. Two weeks later at the CIF California State Meet he easily won the 16 Lb. Shot Put event, at the time a separate event from the standard high school 12 Lb., but lost to high school version to a new national record by Homer Robertson. He also finished third in the discus throw. [8]

At USC, he won the 1958 NCAA Championship. In 1963 he won the United States championship. [9] He continued throwing until 1972 setting his personal best of 19.72 in 1967. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parry O'Brien</span> American shot putter

William Patrick "Parry" O'Brien was an American shot put champion. He competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals and one silver medal (1960). In his last Olympic competition (1964) he placed fourth. For all of these accomplishments, O'Brien was inducted into the IAAF and U.S. Olympic halls of fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Woods (shot putter)</span> American shot putter (1943–2022)

George Woods was an American athlete who mainly competed in the shot put. Born in Portageville, Missouri, he moved to Sikeston, Missouri, as a baby. As a senior at Sikeston High School, Woods became the first Missouri high school athlete to top 60 ft, setting a Sikeston school record that still stands to this day. He would go on to attend Southern Illinois University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bud Houser</span> American shot putter and discus thrower

Lemuel Clarence "Bud" Houser was an American field athlete. He won Olympic gold medals in the discus throw in 1924 and 1928 and in the shot put in 1924.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Nieder</span> American shot putter (1933–2022)

William Henry Nieder was an American athlete who mainly competed in the shot put.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallas Long</span> American track and field athlete

Dallas Crutcher Long is a retired American track and field athlete, who mostly competed in the shot put. Between 1959 and 1964 he set six official and five unofficial world records. His first was at the 1959 Santa Barbara Easter Relays, the last in 1964 in the USA vs USSR dual meet. Long attended the University of Southern California. He competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal behind fellow Americans Bill Nieder and Parry O'Brien. One of his coaches was Frantisek (Frank) Louda, an American-Czech who had held the European hammer throw record in the 1930s. Long returned four years later to Tokyo for the 1964 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal. Domestically he won the AAU title in 1961 and the NCAA title in 1960–62.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Brown Trafton</span> American discus thrower

Stephanie Brown Trafton is an American track and field athlete who won the discus throwing gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She is thus one of only three American women to have ever won the event.

Conor McCullough is an American hammer thrower. He is a two-time medalist at the World Junior Championships. While competing for Chaminade College Preparatory School he set the US high school record at four contested hammer weights - 11 lb, 12 lb, 13.2 lb and 16 lb. He also set the record in the Indoor Weight Throw at 93' 3¼". He set his personal best 78.12 m (256 ft 3 in) using the senior implement on his final throw while winning the 2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

George Mattos was an American pole vaulter. He competed for his native country in two Olympics, 1952 when he finished 9th and 1956 when he finished 4th, both times behind American teammate Bob Richards.

Andrew Bloom is an American former Olympic shot putter, two-time national indoor shot put champion, World University Games shot put champion, and NCAA champion in both discus and shot put.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Whiting</span> American shot putter (b. 1986)

Ryan Keith Whiting is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and has a personal record of 22.28 meters outdoors and 22.35 meters indoors. His biggest international senior success to date is first place at the 2012 World Indoor Championships. He represented the United States at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, 2013 World Championships in Athletics, 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships and the 2012 London Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Day-Monroe</span> American heptathlete and high jumper

Sharon Day-Monroe is an American heptathlete, pentathlete and high jumper. She is the 2011, 2013, and 2014 national heptathlon champion.

Tia Ra'shone Brooks is an American shot putter. In 2011, she placed second in the shot put at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. In 2012, she won both events before competing at the US Olympic Trials. At the Trials, she placed third in the shot put and qualified to represent the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She placed 19th at the Olympics. Also in 2012, she was a Bowerman Award semifinalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Obera</span>

Irene Romona Obera is an American track and field athlete, specializing in sprinting events. Over an extended career, she has set numerous world records and has won numerous world championships. She is currently a member of the W70 world record holding 4x100 metres relay team. She also holds the current American record in the W60 and W75 100 metres and the W75 200 metres.

Natalie L. Kaaiawahia is a retired American track and field athlete, known for her exceptional ability in throwing events while in high school.

Kurt Roberts is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put. He set his personal record for the event in 2014, throwing 21.50 m to take second at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The 2005 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was organised by USA Track & Field and held from June 23 to 26 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The four-day competition served as the national championships in track and field for the United States and also the trials for the 2005 World Championships in Athletics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Kovacs</span> American track and field athlete

Joseph Mathias Kovacs is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and has a personal record of 23.23 meters outdoors and 22.05 meters indoors. He won gold medals at the 2015 and 2019 World Championships. He won silver medals at the 2017 World Championships, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. His personal best of 23.23 metres makes him the second best competitor all-time in the shot put event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Crouser</span> American shot putter, discus thrower (b. 1992)

Ryan Crouser is an American shot putter and discus thrower. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and Olympic record holder. Crouser is the current world record holder in the shot put, both indoor and outdoor. On May 27, 2023, Crouser reset his outdoor world record with a throw of 23.56m bettering his previous world record by 7.48 inches/19 cm. In 2021, at the U.S. Olympic Trials he threw 23.37 m to break Randy Barnes's 31-year-old record of 23.12 m by almost 10 inches (25 cm). Crouser is also a two-time World Champion and the World Championship Record holder in the shot put 23.51m, just 2+1⁄2 in off his world record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darrell Hill (shot putter)</span> American shot putter

Darrell Hill is an American track and field athlete known for the shot put. On July 1, 2016, at the 2016 Olympic Trials, Hill threw a new personal best of 21.63 m to finish third and qualify for the 2016 Olympics. His previous personal best of 21.16m was set just two weeks earlier at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.

Felisha Nayomie Johnson is an American track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put. She was the 2015 national indoor champion in the weight throw. She won two NCAA collegiate titles in that event for the Indiana State Sycamores.

References

  1. 1 2 "Profile of Dave DAVIS | All-Athletics.com". Archived from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  2. ↑ "Sign up | LinkedIn".
  3. ↑ https://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf Archived 2012-06-20 at the Wayback Machine [ bare URL PDF ]
  4. ↑ "1960 Press Photo Bill Nieder Dave Davis shot put Rome | Historic Images". Archived from the original on 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  5. ↑ "Schenectady Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
  6. ↑ LIFE. Time Inc. 1960-06-27.
  7. ↑ "安全检测".
  8. ↑ "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-06-19.
  9. ↑ http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/USA-Champions/USAOutdoorTF/men/SP.aspx
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.