SOUTHLAND SNAPSHOTS

1910s

USC’s Fred Kelly becomes the first of 28 Trojan athletes to win an Olympic gold medal in 1912. Kelly, from Orange County, wins the 120-yard hurdles in 15.1 seconds.

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1920s

Charley Paddock of USC, at a USC-California dual meet at Berkeley in 1921, runs the 100- and 220-yard sprints in 9.6 and 20.8 seconds, and a San Francisco reporter dubs him “the world’s fastest human” in his story.

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1930s

At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, American black athletes step up to the world stage for the first time since Jack Johnson won the heavyweight boxing championship in 1908. Eddie Tolan wins both sprints, Edward Gordon wins the long jump and Ralph Metcalfe wins silver and bronze medals in the sprints.

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1940s

In the fall of 1947, Bob Mathias’ track coach at Tulare High suggests Mathias begin working on events other than the sprints and hurdles, with an idea of trying to qualify for the U.S. Olympic decathlon trials the next summer. At the time, Mathias had never competed in six of the decathlon’s 10 events. And 232 days later, in London, 17-year-old Mathias won the Olympic decathlon gold medal.

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1950s

On a sunny afternoon at the Coliseum during a USC-UCLA dual meet in 1956, a special mile race is run featuring the world-record holder, John Landy of Australia, and several outstanding milers. One of them is another Aussie, Jim Bailey, a student at Oregon. In a stunner, Bailey passes Landy in the stretch to win, in 3:58.6.

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1960s

The world’s two best decathletes, Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang, both from UCLA, battle each other in an exhausting, dramatic decathlon at the Rome Olympics in 1960. Johnson had a 67-point lead over Yang entering the final event, the 1,500 meters, an event in which Yang excelled. Johnson ran a lifetime best of 4:49.7 to win the gold medal.

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1970s

At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, Dwight Stones, the world-record holder, was a heavy favorite. The one-time UCLA athlete had won a bronze medal at the 1972 Games with a jump of 7 feet 3 inches. But it began raining during the event and Stones again could go no higher than 7-3 for another bronze.

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1980s

In the major competitions, no one in the 1980s outshone Evelyn Ashford. She won gold medals at the L.A. and Seoul Olympics and set world records in the 100 meters.

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1990s

In 1996 in Atlanta, Gail Devers became the first woman since Wyomia Tyus in 1968 to win the Olympic 100-meter final back to back. She also had one of the greatest of all Olympic comeback stories. She’d won it at Barcelona in 1992 but in between was so ill from a thyroid disorder that she couldn’t walk and at one point faced amputation of both feet.