My mental timeline with him must be all skewed, because I'm very surprised he was only 76 years old

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Tbf Ryan Mathews and Melvin Gordon turned out to be not worth the contract

I watched Spanos waste Rovers' HOF career, capped off by fucking over the entire city and moving to LA where nobody cares. Dan Snyder gets all the press because he's a disgusting piece of shit, but if Spanos was actually a player he'd be right up there with Danny boy. I hope only bad things happen for Spanos until he unloads the team and the new owner takes them back to where they belong.

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A true legend.

True....thought of Don Garlits...put the motor behind driver in drag cars

Hey all,

I was fortunate enough to know Dick over the past year or so, by total happenstance, in a professional context. I was never a track and field athlete, and did not know who Dick "was" until somewhat recently.

In case anyone is curious, Dick Fosbury was one of the most intelligent, knowledgeable, and kind-hearted people I've ever had the privilege of working with. I knew him, essentially, as a city engineer and county commissioner, and his depth of knowledge on engineering, policy, and his love of the Idaho wilderness was second to none.

Most importantly, he was humble and kind. I was somewhat shocked to learn that he had any reputation, at all, let alone the possibility that he may have been "important to a sport" in any way.

I will miss working with him, and I hope that his humility, kindness, and dedication to helping others never goes unlooked. You occasionally meet someone that you know, immediately, is a "cut above" the rest of us, and Dick was that guy.

Rest easy, Dick.

I just had a memory. There was a rule in high school that if you could get off the pad before the bar dropped, it was a good jump. We all developed a way of bouncing and doing a reverse flip off the side of the pad. I rode the bar all the way around, but it didn't fall. I walked upright under the bar after I was sure it wasn't going to fall.

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I did the flop in high school. I cleared my height by 1/2 an inch. Condolences to Dick's family and friends.

Buzzkills

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It also went from 2.04 in '52 to 2.12 in '56. Then 2.16 in '60. They were getting some big gains.

Imagine a 3.2 inch increase over one Olympiad. That’s quite a bit.

'70s '80s **

Grew up in Medford, Oregon and learning the Fosbury Flop in elementary school PE class (late 70’s-early 80’s) seemed to be of utmost importance.

On top of that, we learned a great deal about the man behind the jump technique.

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Iconic guy. If you’ve got to revolutionise a sport, might as well do it his way (on the biggest stage, shoes unlaced, while being ridiculed throughout, getting the audience on his side and an Olympic Gold Medal).

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That's interesting, thank you. I still remember grade school when the flop was introduced.

I don't know that I would say that. The olympics before his was 2.16 and his was 2.24. A gain to be sure, but not multiples higher. Amazing achievement and innovator. It is interesting to see all the different techniques leading up to him, and since it has remained largely unchanged.

Fun little piece of trivia, they originally wanted to call it The Dick Flop but USA Track and Field stepped in and forbid it.

Few people had a larger impact in their sport than he did.