RIP Horace Ashenfelter - America's only men's steeplechase champ has died at 94

Gold medalist wrote:

Why no front page for this guy, an Olympic champion?

He wasn't a woman a member of an "historically aggrieved group". Hence no front page. lol

That's a beautifully written article by Robert McFadden in the New York Time. He's got the gift--as did Horace. There's also a great article about Horace Ashenfelter in Ron Clarke's book, "The Lonely Breed." Think I'll read it again tonight.

I don’t know when I first learned of Ashenfelter, probably sometime in high school because I was voracious consumer of running history and stats at that time. He was on this poster I got at the 2008 Olympic Trials that features American running legends. A few of the guys on the poster were signing it a local running store in Eugene. I had signatures from Bob Schule, Wes Santee, and maybe another legend. Ashenfelter is an American running legend and sad to see him pass.

After the race, a sportswriter quipped, "that's the only time an FBI agent has ever allowed a KGB agent to

trail him"....

Amateurism was proposed by the rich who became the power structure in the sport in the late 19th Century. In Europe and I'm sure in the U.S. people bet on who was going to win the race. The rich despised what they called "the riff-raff" who made these bets. Also there was a "class thing" about mixing with the working class. To insure "purity" one had to be an amateur. They knew that for the most part only the well-to-do would have time to train for a sport, particularly track and field. There were some club runners who weren't rich but for the most part our Olympic teams in the first half of the 20th Century was comprised of college runner or those not long out of school.

What upset the apple cart were the athletes from the Communist bloc. Their leaders saw sports as a way to project their nations. In a socialistic society one served the government in the best way that they could. If one had talent in track and field that is what they did and they were well rewarded for their achievements.

Our present system isn't perfect but it has given the opportunity for many who under the old system would have never gotten the opportunity to compete.

Could you explain your thinking here:

"Our present system isn't perfect but it has given the opportunity for many who under the old system would have never gotten the opportunity to compete."

I competed under the old system and never knew of anyone who didn't have the opportunity to compete? It is true that the sport was much smaller so there were many places you could live where you'd need to travel quite a way to find a race. But any of us then who wanted to compete could do it.