Dreams of Golden Years : Estancia’s Dorn May Have the Potential to Follow in Bob Mathias’ Footsteps

It is September, 1988, and in the Olympic Stadium at Seoul, South Korea, a surprising American youth is challenging the favorites from the Soviet Union and East Germany in the decathlon.

The American, Eric Dorn, a graduate of Estancia High School who would be beginning his junior year at the University of Nebraska, leads after the first day’s events. But the Eastern Bloc athletes begin coming on, and by the end of the second day of the grueling 10-event sport, the gold medal hangs in the balance.

With the setting sun in the Far East fading and the stadium lights on, Dorn lines up for the last event, the 1500-meter run.

At the crack of the starter’s gun, a small contingent of Americans in the corner of the stadium begin waving flags and cheering the pride of Costa Mesa, Calif.

The race begins, and following in the footsteps of Rafer Johnson, who won his gold medal in the 1960 Olympics at Rome based on his performance in the last event, the 19-year-old Dorn gives it his best shot.

Implausible? Maybe.

Impossible? No.

Many things will have to fall into place for Dorn to find himself in that position two years hence, but there is precedent for such an occurrence.

First, a teen-ager has won the decathlon before.

In 1948, Bob Mathias, a little-known 17-year-old from Tulare High School in the San Joaquin Valley, surprised the athletic world by winning the decathlon at the Olympics in London. Mathias also won the decathlon at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

And experience doesn’t seem to be as much of a requisite for the decathlon as in, say, gymnastics and swimming, where today’s gold medalists seem to start their training right out of kindergarten.

Dorn, for one, has never been in a decathlon before, but then Mathias hadn’t either up until his prep coach suggested he try out for it barely three months before the U.S. Trials in 1948.

And the first decathlon that Bruce Jenner saw also was the first one he competed in as an undergraduate at Graceland College in Iowa. Jenner set the school record the first time he tried it and won a gold medal and set a world record at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.

And, if it’s any comfort to Dorn, Jenner was relatively unknown outside of track circles coming out of his high school in Connecticut, much as Dorn is now.

Of course, we may be getting ahead of ourselves somewhat here, considering that Dorn is currently training for the CIF Southern Section preliminaries, held this weekend at Gahr High School. But great accomplishments often start with just such dreams.

Dorn, it seems, finds himself at the threshold of his dreams, with a future in track and field as bright as anybody else in Orange County, if we are to believe those who know and coach him.

An accomplished hurdler and long jumper, Dorn was the 3-A champion in the long jump (23-4) and high jump (6-8) last season and was eighth in the state meet in the long jump.

Dorn won four events at last week’s Sea View League meet, taking the 110-meter high hurdles, the intermediate hurdles, the high jump and the long jump.

Dorn’s time of 14.6 in the high hurdles not only set a league record but led a sweep of the first four places in the event by the Eagles. Teammates Doug Miller (14.9), Brian Sherrard (15.1) and Tom McCarthy (15.3) followed Dorn across the finish line.

For his efforts, Dorn recently was rewarded with a recruiting visit to the University of Nebraska, where the Estancia senior was offered a track scholarship by the Cornhuskers.

“A lot of people told me beforehand about what to expect, about it just being all farmland,” Dorn said, “but it wasn’t like that at all. They have great facilities there and the biggest weight room in the nation.

“It was real nice and sunny, too, about 75 to 80 degrees when I was there. It’s a good-sized campus, maybe about the size of USC.”

Should Dorn accept the Nebraska offer, the track coaches there would be wise to keep him out of the sight of Cornhusker football Coach Tom Osborne, whose brain would undoubtedly flash split end should he ever see the 6-foot, 5-inch, 185-pounder walking on campus.

Dorn was a wide receiver and safety for the Eagles.

Said former Estancia football Coach Ed Blanton: “With his size and speed, I’m amazed that people weren’t interested in him for football. He has just unlimited potential.

“We gave him the ball once on a reverse against Corona del Mar and he went 70-something yards for the touchdown. He looked like a big gazelle flying down the sidelines.

“And he’s a tough kid, too--he could take a hit.”

Dorn, however, sees his future on the track, and the suggestion by the Nebraska coaches that he take up the decathlon is an enticing one.

“I’d like to do it,” Dorn said. “But I’d really have to develop my strength to compete in the javelin, discus and the other events I’ve never done before.”

New challenges are something that Dorn, who would like a future in either broadcasting or business, is not afraid of.

As far as broadcasting goes, well, it’s Dorn who reads the daily announcements over the public address system at Estancia.

And as far as business goes, he just got some good pointers from the chairman of the Nebraska business department, who postponed his vacation so that he could be sure that Dorn was aware of all that the Cornhuskers have to offer in that discipline.

Business and broadcasting sound quite a bit like Jenner’s current resume, but it will probably be Dorn’s track spikes that carry him through all of these doors of opportunity.

Said Estancia track Coach Tom Fisher: “The biggest thing to remember about Eric is that he’s still only 17 years old and there’s a big difference physically between someone 17 and others he’ll compete against (in college) that are 18 to 20.

“His age is what makes him a big recruiting plumb. All he has to do now is to build his upper body some and he’ll make a great decathlete.”