The Iowa Stater
May 1996
Going for the gold
(silver and bronze)
Iowa State University has been well represented in the Summer Olympic Games. If you need a refresher on just how well- represented, ask students in Susan Rayl's history of sport and physical activity class.
Rayl, an instructor in health and human performance, wanted to give her 60 students a lesson on historical research, so she sent them out in small teams to write biographies of every Summer Olympian with an ISU connection. The students poured through old Bombs and ISU Dailies and interviewed coaches and athletes. They came up with 37 athletes.
"The students really had to struggle to find information in some cases, especially with athletes who competed in the 1920s," said Rayl, who has done extensive sports history research on the New York Renaissance, an African American basketball team. "Some of these athletes haven't been remembered. It's great that we now have this information compiled so we can remember them and claim them."
Here then, in chronological order, is a rundown of the athletes Rayl's students researched.
Ralph Simpson was a student at ISU in the fall of 1928 only and a member of the U.S. Olympic track and field team at the 1928 games.
Arthur Holding had never set foot on a wrestling mat before enrolling in Iowa State College, but he went on to become a premier wrestler. He was an alternate on the U.S. wrestling team in 1928.
Raymond Conger was a member of the 1928 U.S. Olympic track and field team. As an ISU middle distance runner in the early 1920s, Conger established several records and held Missouri Valley and National AAU tournament titles.
Robert Hess was one of Iowa State's best wrestlers in the early 1930s. He transferred to the University of Michigan in 1931, but was persuaded to return to ISU by Coach Hugo Otopalik, who had been selected to coach the 1932 U.S. Olympic wrestling team. Hess placed fourth in the 1932 games in Los Angeles.
Glenn Brand began his ISU wrestling career in 1946 as a heavyweight. During both his freshman and sophomore years, Brand was undefeated until NCAA tourna-ments, where he placed second. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic wrestling team in 1948 and won a gold medal. He was the first ISU athlete named to The Des Moines Register's Sports Hall of Fame.
Kent Townley, after an impressive stint as an ISU wrestler, went on to represent the United States in wrestling at the 1956 Olympics.
Ed Gagnier, the voice of the "Shoot Five for Five" contest during half-time at Cyclone home basketball games, was a member of the Canadian gymnastics team in the 1956 Olympic Games. His distinguished career with ISU athletics began in 1961, when he became ISU's first gymnastics coach.
Bobby Douglas became the first black American to wrestle in the Olympics in 1964, placing fourth in the 138.5 pound weight class. He also was an assistant wrestling coach for four U.S. Olympic teams, and, in 1992, was named head coach of the U.S. Olympic wrestling team. The team won six medals, including three golds. He became head coach at ISU in 1992.
Al Closter, a left-handed pitcher, played baseball at ISU from 1962 to 1964, when he was drafted by the N.Y. Yankees. He was a member of the U.S. Olympic baseball team in 1964.
Tom Peckham wrestled his way to Big Eight and NCAA championships in the mid-1960s while at ISU. He was a member of the U.S. wrestling team in the 1968 Olympics, placing fourth overall.
Dan Gable was a wrestling legend who chalked up one
championship after another as a Waterloo high school and ISU
wrestler in the 1960s. He won a gold medal in the 149.5 pound
class in the 1972 Olympics. Gable, head wrestling coach at
the University of Iowa, was head coach of the U.S. Olympic
wrestling teams in 1980 and 1984 and assistant coach for the
1988 games. He will serve as head coach for the U.S. Olympic
team in 1996.
Ben Peterson won several Big Eight and NCAA titles as a Cyclone in the late '60s and early '70s. At the 1972 Olympics, Peterson won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling. At the 1976 games, he earned a silver. He qualified in 1980, but the U.S. boycott of the games denied him an opportunity at a third title.
Chris Taylor transferred to ISU after two years at a junior college and the heavy-weight soon became a crowd favorite at wrestling meets. During his wrestling career at ISU, Taylor went undefeated and won two national titles. He repre-sented the U.S. wrestling team at the 1972 Olympics, and many felt poor officiating cost him a gold medal. He did win a bronze medal and went on to become a professional wrestler for several years before hepatitis and phlebitis forced him to retire. He died in 1979.
Mike Farina was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in the 1976 games. He wrestled at ISU from 1976 to 1979.
Clive Sands, an ISU sprinter, represented the United States in track and field in the 1976 Olympics.
David Korir, a middle distance Cyclone during the late 1970s and early 1980s, qualified for the 1980 Olympic track and field team, which did not compete due to the U.S. boycott.
James Moi, a native of Kenya, still holds long jump and triple jump records at ISU. He qualified for the 1980 Olympics U.S. track and field team but was sidelined by the U.S. boycott.
Ron Galimore transferred to ISU in 1978 after meeting ISU gymnasts while attending a camp in Wisconsin. He was a member of the U.S. gymnastics team in the 1980 Olympic Games.
Sunday Uti, who graduated from ISU in 1987, represented his native Nigeria in the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympic track and field competitions. The quarter-miler won a bronze medal in 1984.
Ed Banach, a gold medal winner in wrestling at the 1984 Olympic Games, became an assistant wrestling coach at ISU in 1985. He later became a student-athlete counselor, working primarily with Cyclone football players.
Nawal El Moutawakel-Bennis broke several records and earned numerous titles while a member of the ISU women's track and field team. Representing her native Morocco in the 1984 Olympics, Moutawakel-Bennis set a new Olympic record and won the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles. She was the first Iowa State track athlete to win a gold medal and the first Moroccan Olympian to win a medal.
Danny Harris was the spotlight of the 1984 ISU track
season, winning at the Texas Relays, Drake Relays, Big Eight
Championships and NCAA Championships in the 400-meter
hurdles. He captured a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic
Games.
Moses Kiyai, a native of Kenya, had a successful career as an ISU triple and long jumper, earning two Drake Relays titles and a Big Eight championship. He competed for the Kenya track and field teams in the 1984 Olympics, in the long jump and triple jump.
Bob Verbeeck, a Belgium native, held records in the mile and two-mile relays, and the 5,000 and 10,000 meter open races as a Cyclone. He also was a two-time Big Eight champion in the 1,500 meter run. He represented Belgium at the 1984 Olympics.
Alen Zachariason won the Big Eight championship in steeplechase in 1979 and represented his native West Germany in track and field at the 1984 Olympic Games.
Henrik Jorgensen, a native of Denmark, entered ISU in 1982 as a Cyclone distance runner, but an injury hindered his ISU track career. He ran the marathon for Denmark at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.
Nate Carr, who had an outstanding career as an ISU
wrestler in the early 1980s, won a bronze medal in the 1988
Olympic Games.
Jeff Grayer, ISU's all-time leading scorer on the
basketball court, was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic
basketball team that brought home a bronze medal. He went on
to play professional basketball for the Milwaukee Bucks,
Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers.
Raf Wyns, a distance runner in the early 1980s, earned several titles, including MVP at the Big Eight Indoor Track and Field Championship and the Drake Relays' collegiate 1,500 meter champ in 1985. A native of Belgium, Wyns was a member of the 1988 Olympics track and field team for that country.
Edith Nakiyingi, a native of Uganda, was a middle and
long distance specialist as a Cyclone. The All-American and
10-time Big Eight champ ran in the 1988 Olympics.
Joseph Kipsang was a distance runner, All-American and two-time Big Eight champ while competing as a Cyclone from 1981 to 1984. He represented Kenya in three events in the 1988 Olympics.
Patrick Sang competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics as a member of the Kenyan track and field team. In 1988, he placed seventh in the steeplechase. In 1992, he won a silver medal in the steeplechase.
Yobes Ondieki, a Kenya distance runner, earned four Big Eight titles while attending ISU from 1981 to 1985. In 1988 and 1992, he was a member of Kenya's Olympic track and field team.
Curt Bader was a member of the 1988 Olympic kayak team and an alternate on the 1992 team.
Jacqueline Parker, an English hurdler, began her ISU career in 1986 and com-piled 24 wins in track and field competition. She graduated in 1990 and went on to become a member of England's track team in the 1992 Olympics.
Maria Akraka, a native of Sweden, broke several
records and was a Big Eight cham-pion in the 800 as a
Cyclone. She com-peted for Sweden in the 1992 Olympics.
Kevin Jackson, a former Iowa State All-American, won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in the 1992 Olympics. Jackson is an assistant wrestling coach at ISU.
And, finally, here's one Rayl's students missed:
Sheila Strike, the ISU Foundation's director of special programs and major corporate accounts, was a center on the Canadian women's basketball Olympic team in 1976. Her team placed sixth.
-- Steve Sullivan, News Service
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