He was 97. That mark (pending official ratification) surpassed his own previous five world records, all over 20 feet and all set since 2020. What Ive Learned in My First Hundred Years, that came out Tuesday. He continued participating in track and field events as he aged, joining the World Masters Games in quadrennial competitions popular with retired professional athletes and former Olympic competitors. ICMI Speakers and Entertainers truly represent the best of the best. Warmerdam, known as Dutch, might have been an odds-on Olympic favorite, but he never got to compete because the quadrennial Games were suspended in 1940 and 1944 for World War II, when he was serving as a Navy officer. The world record is held by Armand Duplantis, an American-born Swedish athlete known as Mondo, who on Feb. 25 vaulted 20 feet 4 inches. He was 97. Todays top male vaulters, with refined techniques and springy fiberglass poles that bow almost to U shapes, routinely soar over crossbars set above 19 feet. In his life after sports, Richards portrayed himself in a television biography, Leap to Heaven (1957); hosted a weekly childrens television program in Los Angeles; reported for NBC, CBS and ABC on the Olympic Games in Rome; Innsbruck, Austria; Tokyo and Montreal; and delivered some 12,000 motivational speeches to corporate sales forces, high school students and community organizations. Bob Richards, the only male two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, who in the 1950s became a hero of American Cold War competition with the Soviet Union and a breakfast-table hero to millions as the first champion on the front of the Wheaties box, diedon Sunday at his home in Waco, Texas. UU. Bob Richards is a Founder of the International Space University, Singularity University, SEDS, the Space Generation Foundation, Odyssey Moon, Moon Express and most recently, Artemis Music. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956. You don't beat these great ones until your form is perfect. 3. In his life after sports, Richards portrayed himself in a television biography, Leap to Heaven (1957); hosted a weekly childrens television program in Los Angeles; reported for NBC, CBS and ABC on the Olympic Games in Rome, Innsbruck, Tokyo and Montreal; and delivered some 12,000 motivational speeches to corporate sales forces, high school students and community organizations. He is in a better place now and at peace.". The world record is held by Armand Duplantis, an American-born Swedish athlete known as Mondo, who just this month vaulted 20 feet 4 3/4 inches, surpassing his own previous five world records, all over 20 feet and all set since 2020. After a year at Bethany Biblical Seminary in Chicago, he taught at Illinois and then joined the faculty of the Brethren-affiliated La Verne College, now the University of La Verne, in California, and was pastor of a Brethren church in Long Beach until his busy athletic schedule forced him to resign. He tallied about 66,000 votes out of 92.6 million as President Ronald Reagan and the Republicans trounced Walter Mondale, the former Democratic vice president and senator from Minnesota. Richards hugged him back, for which he was criticized by some American officials and members of the news media. Leadership, Sports, Hurt. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. And Richards made history, becoming the only male two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, and with another record: 14 feet 11-1/2 inches. His autobiography, Heart of a Champion, was published in 1959. It would be fair to say that his work's been very influential in developing the careers of countless people within the personal development industry, including Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy, Mark Victor Hansen and Anthony Robbins. One of the finest motivational speakers in history, Richards has delivered over 12,000 talks in his lifetime. His father was a telephone lineman. championships in indoor and outdoor vaulting competitions, and United States decathlon championships in 1951, 1954 and 1955. He married the college presidents niece, Mary Leah Cline, in 1946. Although he broke Olympic records and Russian hearts, and although he became one of Americas most lionized and familiar celebrities a motivational speaker and Wheaties pitchman who personified wholesome values and once ran for president of the United States on a third-party ticket Richards, even at the peak of his athletic power, was not the greatest American pole-vaulter of all time. The inspiration was Bob had seen Chris do a coach lecturing . Staggering snowfall in California mountains leaves residents trapped for days, Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Firefighter dies battling blaze in downtown Buffalo, mayor says, Several hospitalized after Lufthansa flight diverted to Dulles due to turbulence, Explosive found in checked luggage at Pennsylvania airport, feds say, Prosecution wraps its case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. "There will only ever be one Bob Richards. Be a model, not a critic. His hands were pointed toward heaven in an attitude of prayer.. "Make small commitments and keep them. Warmerdam, known as Dutch, might have been an odds-on Olympic favorite, but he never got to compete because the quadrennial Games were suspended in 1940 and 1944 for World War II, when he was serving as a Navy officer. Bob Richards, byname of Robert Eugene Richards, (born February 20, 1926, Champaign, Illinois, U.S.died February 26, 2023, Waco, Texas), American athlete, the first pole-vaulter to win two Olympic gold medals. #Bob Odenkirk. These people who want to wave the flag and play the band, thats not the real spirit of the Olympics, he told The New York Times years later. Cold War tensions again played out in the 1956 Melbourne Games. Required fields are marked *. Love Does has worked with Uganda's judiciary in bringing over 200 cases to trial, as well as . Enthusiasm gives energy. Jim Rohn. He married the college presidents niece, Mary Leah Cline, in 1946. Richards himself never vaulted more than 15 feet 6 inches. Robert E. Richards, an ordained minister nicknamed the Vaulting Vicar, won Olympic gold medals in 1952 at Helsinki, Finland, and in 1956 at Melbourne, Australia, using aluminum poles to clear bars set at just under 15 feet. Bob Richards, a two-time. He retired to a ranch in Waco, where he owned a golf course. an accomplishment he parlayed into a successful career as a motivational speaker, died Feb. 26 at his home in Waco, Texas. Soviet athletes won the medals competition, 98 (37 gold) to 74 (32 gold) for the United States. He also ran for president on the far-right Populist Party ticket in 1984, espousing a platform that called for abolishing personal income taxes, cutting the federal budget in half, repudiating the national debt, deporting immigrants in the country without legal permission and denying the right to vote to anyone on welfare for more than a year. She died in 2019. His son Paul confirmed the death. He received the Sullivan Award in 1951 as the nations best amateur athlete. Cold War tensions again played out in the 1956 Melbourne Games. Bob Richards Quotes - BrainyQuote. Bob Richards is shown during a training session in 1952, the year he won his first Olympic gold in pole vaulting. In 1951, he was named the country's top amateur athlete by the AAU. The Suez crisis and the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution led some nations to withdraw in protest. These people who want to wave the flag and play the band, thats not the real spirit of the Olympics, he said. But he escaped the street life into religion and athletics. Warmerdam, known as Dutch, might have been an odds-on Olympic favorite, but he never got to compete because the quadrennial Games were suspended in 1940 and 1944 for World War II, when he was serving as a Navy officer. In fact, as a youth Richards, the son of a broken home, had run with a gang of thieves and brawlers, and five of his friends went to prison for robbery. He also was the first athlete to appear on a box of Wheaties cereal. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. He earned a bachelors degree in 1947 and a masters in 1948. By ROBERT D. McFADDEN Alex Traub contributed reporting. In 1970, he bicycled 3,300 miles from Los Angeles to New York to promote fitness. Everything that happens to you can happen for good if you have this spirit. In 1946, he was ordained and transferred to the University of Illinois. Be a light, not a judge. WASHINGTON Veterans can now access their disability benefit claim decision notice letters electronically on VA.gov, empowering them to quickly and easily see their disability decisions. Goals give purpose. The 1952 Olympic Games were a symbolic watershed in the Cold War. He received the Sullivan Award in 1951 as the nations best amateur athlete. His image was on Wheaties boxes from 1958 to 1970, and from 1958 to 1972 he was a ubiquitous presence on television and radio and made numerous national tours, speaking to school and community groups, presenting awards at athletic banquets and generating torrents of publicity. Richards was elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 after being inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1975, according to U.S.A. Track and Field. Bob Richards, the only male two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, who in the 1950s became a hero of American Cold War competition with the Soviet Union and a breakfast-table hero to millions as the first champion on the front of the Wheaties box, died at his home in Waco, Texas. American pole vaulter Bob Richards, left, talks with Brazilian pole vaulter Helcio Buck-Silva during a break in a training session in Helsinki, July 11, 1952. He won a bronze medal in his first Olympic go-around, followed by back-to-back gold medals. In 1946, he was ordained and transferred to the University of Illinois. The pole-vault competition lasted more than four hours. When Richards finally triumphed with an Olympic record of 14 feet 11-1/4 inches, a defeated Soviet rival, Viktor Knyazev, clasped him in a bear hug. [1] He won gold medals in pole vault in both 1952 and 1956, becoming the only . J.R. Eyerman/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Shutterstock, In 1958, Richards became director of the Wheaties Sports Federation as well as the face and voice of the cereal known as the Breakfast of Champions.. "We lost a national treasure today," Brandon Richards wrote Sunday on Facebook. From dazzling entertainers creating unforgettable events to grounded wellbeing experts equipping organisations to be the best versions of themselves, you will find the perfect match for . 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