David Smith once accused me of not paying enough attention to the "field" part of "Track and Field." Well, I want to write a few words about Parry O'Brien, who passed away Saturday at the age of 75.
Parry O'Brien was a great athlete who became fascinated with the physics of the shot put, and invented the technique of facing the back of the circle, and then rotating through 180 degrees before releasing the shot. He won Olympic gold medals in the shot put in 1952 and 1956, a silver medal in 1960, and placed 4th in 1964. He set world records 17 times, and even after other surpassed his marks, he continued to improve, setting his personal best in the shot in 1966 at the age of 34. According to HickSports.com, he still holds the world record for the longest combined left-handed and right-handed shot put (106 feet, 10.5 inches, achieved with a right-handed put of 61-0.75 and a left-handed put of 45-9.5 inches).
He even made the cover of Time Magazine, a rare feat for any track and field athlete, let alone a shot putter!
According to some of the many obituaries, he loved competition. He died of a heart attack while competing in a masters swim meet. One of his friends talks about how this much-decorated olympic medalist would happily stand in line for several minutes earlier in the meet to collect a fifth-place medal from a swimming event.
Perhaps the most inspiring thing about Parry O'Brien was that he started out average. As a 19-year-old freshman at USC, before he revolutionized the event, his best in the shot put was less than 55 feet. The next year he would win Olympic gold. In 1954, two days after Roger Bannister became the first man to break 4:00 for the mile, O'Brien became the first man to put over 60 feet.
He took 150 practice puts a day and said, "I don’t quit until my hands bleed, and that’s the God’s truth."
Parry O'Brien: January 19, 1932 - April 21, 2007
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