Bud Greenspan RIP

Youtube some of "16 Days of Glory."

Greenspan was one of the guys that made me fall in love with the Olympics.

True. His decision to leave a camera on Moorcroft was inspired, and the Ovett/Coe footage is breathtaking.

Bud loved track and field.

I have a wonderful memory of Mr. Greenspan:

About 20 years ago I was talking with him at the Millrose Dinner (previously held the night before the meet). I was telling him about one of my class discussions about the fastest any man has ever run. Of course up until that time it was Bob Hayes' anchor on the 4x100 relay at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. I told him that I have never seen a good video of that relay. He proudly said that he had one and he would be more than happy to send it to me.

In addition, all of the videos of Beamon's historic jump was shot head on - not showing the magnitude of the performance. He said he had that one and would send it as well.

Two days later two VHS tapes arrived at my school with a note from Bud.

The video tape with Hayes included the 100 meter gold medalist of every Olympic Games from 1896 - 1988!

RIP Mr. Greenspan

What a wonderful Jew producer. I love his documentaries and have a file cabinet full of his DVDs.

Bud's films are absolutely important contributions to the Olympic greatness.

Okay, gotta ask - did he ever actually use his glasses? He was The Olympic Chronicler!

His work may have made the Olympics more marketable, but for those of us who want more action and less fluff during Olympic broadcasts he really screwed things up.

Bud Greenspan's documentaries are the Death Certificate of hate-based nationalistic cults like Nazi Germany and Nazi Israel. How many of us can say our work helped to fundamentally change the world for the better ?

The track world lost some real giants in 2010. I am really in mourning at this time because our sport is in trouble. First we lose Doug Speck from Dyestat in early Spring. Speck was a giant in Southern California preps track. He was the catalyst for the Arcadia Invitational, and he was a huge supporter of track and cross country in the state of California.

Next, we lose Scott Davis, voice of the UCLA Bruins and various other national and international meets. Davis authored many track books and was considered one of the top 10 foremost track and field experts in the entire world.

Finally, we get word that Bud Greenspan passed away this week on Christmas day at the age of 84. Greenspan had the best Olympic documentary films ever. I met Greenspan after the 1984 Olympics at the premier of his great Olympic documentary 16 Days of Glory.

Bud and his wife Cappy started the film company called Cappy Productions. Cappy died in 1983 at the age of 51.

The sport of track and field has lost some real giants during the last few years. I worry that there won't be anyone to replace these icons of our sport. We need more people with the passion and dedication for the sport that these men had for the sport of track and field. These people lived their lives for track and field and running. I want to say thank you to all three of these men for their amazing dedication and love for our sport. Thanks guys!

David Katz wrote:

The video tape with Hayes included the 100 meter gold medalist of every Olympic Games from 1896 - 1988!

As moving pictures were being developed around this same time I find it interesting someone thought to capture the first modern Olympic Games on film. Perhaps you will post upon Youtube the video footage of the 1896 Olympic 100 metre final. Please provide the link.

His "Olympiad" series in the '70s was brilliant, and so inspirational to me as a young runner. His coverage of the distance events, and the marathon in particular, made a huge impression on me. Perhaps my favorite segment was his coverage of John Stephen Akhwari, the last-place finisher in the 1968 Olympic marathon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUvsbvwJ-zI

R.I.P. Bud.

I think I have several of the "Olympiad" series on VCR tape. Maybe PBS re-ran them at some point.

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

I think I have several of the "Olympiad" series on VCR tape. Maybe PBS re-ran them at some point.

ESPN also reran a lot of them in the early 90s. I am in the process of moving some of those from VHS to my computer hard drive. Slow going.

Bud was a great man indeed and good for the sport of T & F.

I agree that I dont see a "man or woman in the wings" for what any of these men represented to step out on the stage and continue what they started.

He leaves behind an inspiring body of work & legacy.

Respect.

They just mentioned during the football game that NBC Universal is going to be showing all of Bud Greenspan's olympic documentaries starting on Saturday. Unfortunately I don't get NBC Universal but for those who have not seen these films I highly recommend you watch them.

Did he happen to die in slow motion with drums?

They show NBC-U here free on an OTA side channel, but it's small and NTSC sized. Pretty crappy. The Euro T&F meets they show have stupid sounding english homosexuals announcing dippy trivia on European from england.