He Keeps Carrying Decathlete’s Burden : Blockburger One of Best, But Life’s Still Tough

Sheldon Blockburger is finding success to be difficult.

Things are going well for him, but for the life of a decathlete of national stature is not always that easy.

Blockburger, 24, is possibly the best decathlete to come out of Orange County.

At The Athletics Congress Outdoor Track & Field Meet in June he set the record for most points (4,453) on the first day of the decathlon.

The next day, he finished second to Dave Johnson with 8,248 points--tying the 10th-best performance by an American.

The 8,248 points were a career best, although they will be recorded as being wind-aided because three of his events--the 100-meter dash, the long jump and the 110-meter hurdles--were aided by winds stronger than the four-meters-per-second limit.

Even so, those points would have been good enough for a gold medal at all the Olympics through 1968. Although the points would not have earned him a gold in any of the Games since then, they would have earned him a bronze at Moscow.

He is one of the two top decathletes in the United States--representing the U.S. national team with Johnson--and is training for the World University Games at Duisburg, West Germany, Aug. 20-25.

According to Track & Field News, Blockburger is No. 5 in the world, based on total points earned at meets this year.

But that does not make life easy.

He and his girlfriend, heptathlete Kym Carter, must work part time to support themselves in Eugene, Ore., where he is training with pole vault coach Andrzej Krzesnski.

“If I had a choice to do it all over again,” Blockburger said, “I probably wouldn’t do track because it’s a hard life and it’s a poor life style.”

It’s not so much the hard workouts and the long travel.

“I make nothing a year. I live in a 20-foot by 15-foot room. I could long jump across it one way and broad jump across the other way.

“It’s about like that for all athletes--living in a hut.”

Unlike higher-profile athletes, decathletes often do not get appearance fees. Decathlete Daley Thompson, the world-record holder and gold medalist in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, is one of a very few decathletes who can count on appearance fees.

Many people believe decathlons do not draw well because the competition spans two full days.

Blockburger, who went to Newport Harbor High School, set school records at Orange Coast College in the long jump, with a mark of 25 feet 2 inches, the triple jump (49-7 1/2) and in the decathlon (7,361 points).

And it bothers him “to see guys with half my talent being paid millions of dollars a year and being pampered playing football and baseball.”

That kind of talk isn’t unfounded, others say.

“(Blockburger’s) not a negative person, in fact I enjoyed having Sheldon around--he was kind of fun,” Orange Coast track and field Coach Fred Hokanson said. “No one likes hearing about quarterbacks getting millions. Quarterbacks are so specialized and they don’t do half the work a decathlete does.

“When I talked to him about six weeks ago,” Hokanson said, “he said he was going to give it one more shot and if he didn’t finish in the top three at TAC (he finished second), he would give it up and look for a job that paid. I think he was right at the end of his rope.”

Dan Pfaff, who coached Blockburger in college at Louisiana State University, agrees that Blockburger is not as negative as he might sound.

“I think all decathletes have the idea that they work harder and get less respect than other athletes do. Decathletes tend to be very emotional and when they get a chance to air their gripes, they often will,” Pfaff said. “You have to be a Jackie (Joyner Kersee) or a (Carl) Lewis to survive. These guys struggle unbelievably--he’s number two in the U.S. and he can’t get shoes.”

Blockburger admitted being one of the best isn’t so bad: “I enjoy the decathlon. It isn’t fun trying to make ends meet, but the meets are fun.”

Some track and field athletes have private sponsors, which allows them to practice full time. But there are many variables off the track that keep good athletes from getting that type of financial backing.

“(The decathlon is) not a glamour event,” Blockburger said. “No one cares about the decathlete in the U.S. Decathletes only do three or four meets a year at most, (so) it’s hard to get anyone involved in it.

“To get sponsored, you have to be one of the top five decathletes in the world. Or you have a government that is really supportive.”

A teammate at LSU, Mikael Olander, received a $16,000 grant from Sweden, which is disconcerting to Blockburger.

“That ($16,000) is unheard of (in U.S. track and field). That’s why other countries give better support. In the U.S., athletes have to scramble--in other countries they have it made.

“More decathletes have quit before they have had to quit because of lack of financial support. I can promise you that.”

Decathlete Steve Odgers agreed.

“As outspoken as Sheldon is, he’s not deceiving either,” said Odgers, also a former standout at OCC and later at UC Irvine. “It’s all pretty accurate. (The financial problems) are all true. I’ve come pretty close to quitting because of it myself.”

Things seemed a little easier for Blockburger in 1985 when he was voted the South Coast Conference Track and Field Athlete of the year. He won the state title in the decathlon that year and was headed for LSU with a partial scholarship.

“He’s probably the most talented athlete we ever had,” Hokanson said. “He was injured for a couple of years, otherwise he could have made the Olympic team . . . We really push the decathlon, so when we saw Sheldon and that talent, we wanted him to try the decathlon.

“He was the hardest worker we’ve ever had--we literally had to chase him off the field.”

Indeed, if there is bitterness off the field, there is immense pride on it.

“I’ve always been the hardest worker wherever I’ve gone. I feel I’m the most dedicated athlete in the United States,” Blockburger said.

“I do small details in my practice: Everything I do is for a reason, whether it’s extra sit-ups or whatever. I’m confident that I’m the one who’s in the best shape at the meet.”

It is that type of conditioning that helps Blockburger jump out to large leads on the first day of the decathlon. The first-day events are the 100-meter dash, long jump, shotput, high jump and 400-meter dash.

“I always have a first good day, because they are easy events (100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter dash),” Blockburger said.

“The second day is Man’s Day: the discus, pole vault, (110) hurdles, (1,500 meters run, and javelin)--I really haven’t mastered second-day events.”

Of course, he plans to fix that.

“In two years, I’ll have mastered my second-day events. My pole vault is coming around. Pole vault and discus are the two hardest (in terms of strength). Hurdles and javelin are hardest technically.

“Once I learn the discus and pole vault, no one in the world will be able to beat me. I will have no weaknesses. But I have holes right now.”