When Men Were Men

I was interested in track and field from an early age because my father was always a track official specializing in the high jump. One of the other stories that drew me to track and field was the epic duel between UCLA teammates and friends Rafer Johnson and C. K. Yang (from Formosa, part of Taiwan) at the 1960 Rome Olympics recounted in books and magazines and those great Olympic movies from back in the day.

As I review this story, I am amazed at how chiseled and "in shape" these two gentleman were. Weightlifting had already seen the introduction of steroids by Bob Hoffman at York Barbell in the 1950's, but I'm pretty sure it had not infiltrated track and field by then.* These guys were truly remarkable, and the 1500 run by Rafer Johnson was one of the best performances anyone could ever witness. He had to stay within 10 seconds of the previously much faster Yang, which he did. Decathlon expert Frank Zarnowski still counts these two in the top echelon of decathlon glory.

The PSU Track Season Begins this weekend with the Blue/White Meet. Go Blue?

* Use of steroids in Track and Field probably began in the early 70's and only in the Soviet Bloc countries.