RIP Dick Fosbury

I was an OSU student in 1968 and of course Fosbury was a campus celebrity.

I'll never forget standing next to him at a great rock music show (either the 'Festival of Life', or the 'Trips Festival') and taking note of the fact that we were similarly enjoying the show in "true" late '60's fashion (no details needed).

Also, harkening back to that same period (though I just read about this a few minutes ago), two of the only prominent white athletes at OSU that did NOT stand in support of FB Coach Dee Andros in his suspension of African-American FB player Fred Milton (1969, during the off-season) for wearing a moustache and goatee - were Bill Enyart and Dick Fosbury.  Andros action set-back OSU recruitment of black athletes for years*. Dick Fosbury was ahead of the times in many ways, both on and off the track.

*from The Oregon Encyclopedia (on-line): "The consequences for Oregon State University were severe. Of the fifty-six or fifty-seven Black Student Union members enrolled for the winter term, only eighteen registered for the spring term. Of the five Black athletes on the football team, only two turned out for spring practice, and the coaching staff was unable to recruit any Black players that year. “Recruiting black players,” sports historian and OSU professor Michael Oriard has argued, “would remain more difficult for years to come."

There's an error in that story in the quote from Bob Welch.  Fred Speigleberg was not the track coach at Medford.  The head track coach was Dean Benson.  

Dean was the one that replaced the sawdust pit with foam so Dick would have a softer landing pit for his new style.

It sure would be nice if a men's T&F team could be started again in honor of the Foz and see his dream completed.