Trojan Olympian Offered Some Costly Advice

Former USC high jumper Bob Van Osdel, who died this week in Los Angeles at age 77, played a major role in one of the more compelling stories of the 1932 Olympic Games at Los Angeles.

Among the high jump entries was Duncan McNaughton, a native Canadian who was a teammate of Van Osdel’s at USC, where both were coached by Dean Cromwell.

McNaughton had not distinguished himself with the Trojans that year and was not named to Canada’s Olympic team. When the Canadians arrived here, however, he kept pressuring them until they added him to the team.

In the Olympic high jump at the Coliseum, Van Osdel, McNaughton and two others tied at 6-5 1/2. To break the tie they held a jump-off, raising and lowering the bar until only one man was left.

Before McNaughton’s last jump, Van Osdel approached him and said: “Get your kick working and you will be over.”

The advice worked. McNaughton won the gold, and Van Osdel took the silver.

The punch line: Under today’s rules, in which ties are broken by least number of misses, Van Osdel would have won the gold and McNaughton the bronze.

Trivia Time: What track and field coach, in addition to Dean Cromwell, coached Olympic gold and silver medal winners in the same event from two different countries? (Answer below.)

40 Years Ago Today: On April 9, 1947, Brooklyn Dodger Manager Leo Durocher, who had been suspected of associating with gamblers, was suspended a year by Commissioner A.B. (Happy) Chandler for incidents detrimental to baseball. Durocher was replaced by Burt Shotton, who thus became Jackie Robinson’s first major league manager. Shotton also is the last National League manager to manage in street clothes.

Six years ago today, Fernando Valenzuela made his first major league start, throwing a five-hitter as the Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 2-0.

Add Durocher: When the Dodgers threatened to strike before the 1947 season because of Robinson, Durocher told them: “I don’t care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a (bleeping) zebra. I’m the manager of this team, and I say he plays.”

Of the nine famous “doctors” who honored Julius Erving Monday at Madison Square Garden, the one who made the biggest impression on Dr. J was Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

“She was by far the funniest and most outgoing,” Erving said.

“First of all,” he said, “she called me handsome.”

What’s-in-a-name dept.: Former Cleveland Indian pitcher Herb Score, now an announcer for the club, has three daughters and a son. He calls the son, who is the youngest, “The Final Score.”

San Francisco has become a “humm baby” town with more and more citizens adopting the favorite expression of Giants Manager Roger Craig.

Wrote Stan Isaacs of Newsday: “It’s so popular that Craig’s daughter tried to get ‘HUMM BABY’ license plates for his car. She couldn’t get it, or anything like it, because it and related spellings like ‘HUMM BEBE’ have been taken by hip fans.”

Trivia Answer: UCLA Coach Elvin (Ducky) Drake coached Rafer Johnson of the United States and C.K. Yang of Taiwan, one-two finishers in the 1960 Olympic decathlon at Rome.

Quotebook

Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls, on a bet he made with Olympic teammate Steve Alford: “I owe him $100 now because I told him I never thought he’d stay four years with Bobby Knight.”