Any oldtimers remember the MVP Games? Dave Wottle Versus Jim Hershberger

Apparently his daugther is pretty interesting herself.

She's the most in-deman hair stylist in New York and has worked with Kate Moss and others. She refused to write her dad while in jail.

http://cityfile.com/profiles/sally-hershberger

so i wanna know how fast was this guy? what were his high school, college, post-collegiate, masters times? any accolades in track?

I was there at Hershberger stadium during the events. Its been so long ago. I ran with jim a few times, he always wore that band around his knee. I was in my early twenties at the time, I was one of the better runners at the time. I remember when he had that 50th birthday event, it was televised locally. He really did like to stand out. I been to his house one time, the one over by Towne East Square. Yeah his daughter goes back and forth between LA ,and NY. The whole family had fancy cars, fancy everything. But they were really nice.

He and I were about the same speed in cross country workouts when I was in high school and he was 40. I was a 10:30 two-miler at that time. He ran a 59:27 10 mile at age 43, which was a state age-group record at the time. I was mostly a pole vaulter in high school. He was at our practice one evening when I broke a pole. The school was out of track budget money, so without hesitation Jim gave me the money (which he had in his locker) to go buy a new one. Regardless of anything else, that was an act of generosity that I won't forget.

old kansas man wrote:

I was there at Hershberger stadium during the events. Its been so long ago. I ran with jim a few times, he always wore that band around his knee. I was in my early twenties at the time, I was one of the better runners at the time. I remember when he had that 50th birthday event, it was televised locally. He really did like to stand out. I been to his house one time, the one over by Towne East Square. Yeah his daughter goes back and forth between LA ,and NY. The whole family had fancy cars, fancy everything. But they were really nice.

But how could he possibly beat Dave Wottle in anything? I mean he is close to 20 years older than Wottle.

rojo wrote:

But how could he possibly beat Dave Wottle in anything? I mean he is close to 20 years older than Wottle.

Disqualified, or something.

Oh hey I think on the home page you spelled his name wrong.

You have, Hershman, its actually Hershberger.

Thanks

I heard this weekend about the mvp games and heard that Bruce Jenner and some other former studs participated in the games. It would be cool to hear exactly what the events were. He definitely lived large. He'd throw big parties and fly in famous entertainers from NY/LA. He was pretty dramatic and supposedly would always complain about his knee or other injuries to embellish his accomplishments. He was an even bigger legend in his mind apparently. This SI article is about the games he first competed in when he basically created it for himself. The MVP games came a few years later and he'd paid guys to come in. I heard it was televised, but I can't find anything online.

Hershberger Games - 50th birthday

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1124881/1/index.htm

The range of sports may be one way he beat Wottle and some of the others.

Here is another SI article that talks about his private jet and recruiting for KU - sounds like a violation. Someone turn them in!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1083649/index.htm

Don Kardong wrote about one of Hershberger's "MVP" competitions in his book "Hills, Hawgs, and Ho Chi Min". Here's a description of the event:

"there's the Jim Hershberger MVP (Most Versatile Performer), involving golf, racquetball, basketball, cycling, pitch-pass-kick, blockade-and-calisthenics, swimming, kayaking, jet skiing, and cross country running"

Running was just a part of it.

I remember going to these with my dad. I'll have to ask him to make sure I'm not leaving anything out, but the one time I remember him getting cheated was on the jet ski race competition. He got one that stalled out at the starting line due to the previous competitor using the jet ski incorrectly. When my dad went to do his, it stalled and they would not give him a different jet ski. I think it was enough to get him not to win. He did win one year, though. I'll ask him if there were other incidents of cheating that I don't remember.

I was in the MVP all 4 years; Bruce Jenner wasn't in the MVP, Bob Seagren Pole vault, and actor (Soup) would be the one you heard about. Each year Jim tried, and sometimes had the top athletes in America at that time in the MVP. I would love to find the old television coverage of the MVP; it needs to be on line. They had NBA All-Stars, Super Bowl MVP's, and top athletes from past Olympic. I was not one of the top athletes; I was one of the amateurs to compete with Jim in the amateur division.

Dave was/is a great all around athlete; that why he won the MVP the 3rd year I think. The year you are asking about Dave would have been the defending champion, and Jim was a great athlete also, and very competitive. To answer your question; politics, and rules interpretation by local volunteers, and friends. Both men were in top form that year, and as we all know things happen, and life isn't always fair. As a side story the first year of the MVP I know Dave was injured, but still competed in all events (as was the rules). I tell the story that I once beat Dave Wottle in a 2000 meter race. The facts that he was injured is not important to the story; just the results.

Did Seagren win? He was an all-around badass.

It probably had something to do with the fact that Wottle barely ran at all between '74 and '86

I remember watching these on local TV. Darnell Valentine won the first one. Not sure it was even called MVP at that point. I was cheering for Darnell as I followed him in high school and at KU. But the most vivid image in my mind was Nolan Cromwell on the obstacle course. He couldn't win the overall championship but his run on the obstacle course is something I wish we could see on YouTube. He hit a series of balance beams and just leapt from one to the other to win the event. It was epic. If anyone has access to that video please post it!!!

rojo wrote:

I was reading some interesting articles tonight on the life of Jim Hershberger. The guy sounds like quite an interesting character to say the least as one article was entitled: "Kansas oilman, athlete, philanthropist and convicted fraudster Jim Hershberger dies."

I was reading the Wichita Eagle's article on him and it mentioned that he founded the MVP Games where he competed against and beat Olympic stud Dave Wottle. Apparently, he cheated Wottle out of the winnings.

[quote]Wichita Eagle wrote:

Witnesses also said that some of Hershberger’s widely accepted accomplishments weren’t quite what they seemed. Dahl testified that Olympic runner Dave Wottle was disqualified in the 1988 MVP Games so Hershberger would win and not have to pay out the prize money.

Since you mention hokey, staged "athletic" events, ESPN Classic is showing repeats of "Battle of the Network Stars." It is truly awful and yet it ran from 1976 to 1988.

Local kids were picked to essentially carry the athletes bags and assist them throughout the competition. I was one of those kids. A buddy got paired with John Riggins from the Redskins, another friend got Wichita State All American Cliff Livingston... I didn't know anything about Wottle but he was friendly and it was a cool experience. I remember Hershberger falling to the street in front of me (crashed bike or slipped on run... don't recall.) He let loose with an expletive and my eyes went wide. As a kid I think we were just wanting to see the "big names" like Riggins. Hershberger simply seemed like he cared too much. Wish I'd appreciated who Wottle was.