103 Today!

[Double R Bar]

That's not the temperature in Death Valley, but it is how many years ago this Olympic champion was born. He was born in the only U.S. state capital with three words. This Olympic champion died some 39 years ago. He competed in two Olympic Games and won the gold medal in the first of his two Olympic Games.
Our birthday boy went to USC and after he won his Olympic gold medal, he set a world record in his event.
This Olympic champ even performed his event in a Hollywood movie.
Do you know who this man is with a birthday on July 16?

[Jack Slocombe]

BTW......103 in Death Valley is a cool day. 120 is a hot day.

[lonewolf]

That would be Salt Lake City but I don't have a clue who the athlete is.

[noone]

I have no idea either. A wild guess: Glenn Morris (about the right age, and he did play Tarzan in the movies)

[huntinwr]

103 today!

Lee Barnes

[Double R Bar]

Glenn Morris is a very good guess, but the correct answer is Lee Barnes. Nice job, huntinwr. Of course Lee Barnes (USC) won the pole vault in the 1924 Paris Olympics (Chariots of Fire Olympics). He placed fifth in the 1928 Olympics. In 1928 he set a world record (before the Games) and yes, he vaulted in a silent film. I believe he stood in for Buster Keaton for that vault.
By the way, the low tonight in Death Valley is 94 degrees (high today was 121).

[huntinwr]

103 today!

I owe it all to USC website and Wikipedia!

[dukehjsteve]

Re: 103 today!

I owe it all to USC website and Wikipedia!

tsk tsk, huntinwr, you broke the "rules" of trivia here.... no looking up stuff ! But at least you admitted your transgres :lol: sion.

[Double R Bar]

I wouldn't expect too many people to get Lee Barnes without looking something up for help. No problem with me.
By the way, Lee was in Buster Keaton's "College" in 1927. If you ever get a chance to watch it (it's on dvd), you might be amazed at how athletic Buster Keaton was. A lot of the scenes were filmed in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

[imaginative]

Point of order: Looking a specific athlete up to verify or rule out a
plausible guess is one thing. Deliberately googling, going through year lists,
and similar, is another.

Too lax rules would move the skill involved from knowledge to Internet-savvy.

I, e.g., typically have no problems identifying the (many) athletes I give
up on via the Internet.

Let us keep it straight and give due props to the gurus who actually _know_
their history. I certainly do (give props), well-knowing the limitations of my
own historical knowledge.

[Pego]

Point of order: Looking a specific athlete up to verify or rule out a
plausible guess is one thing. Deliberately googling, going through year lists,
and similar, is another.

Too lax rules would move the skill involved from knowledge to Internet-savvy.

I, e.g., typically have no problems identifying the (many) athletes I give
up on via the Internet.

Let us keep it straight and give due props to the gurus who actually _know_
their history. I certainly do (give props), well-knowing the limitations of my
own historical knowledge.

I am frequently humbled on this forum as well.

[huntinwr]

103 today!

I apologize. When the question came up I went through a lot of names. I deduced from the birthdate of 1906 it was probably someone who competed in 1928-1936 era. I ran through some names I knew; Glenn Morris, Charlie Paddock, Eddie Tolan, Ralph Metcalfe, and then looked up birthdates. I was stumped so I started looking for names on the USC website. I then came across Lee Barnes, who I had honestly never heard of.

In the future, I'll just make an honest guess like everyone else.

Thanks

[dukehjsteve]

Re: 103 today!

I apologize. When the question came up I went through a lot of names. I deduced from the birthdate of 1906 it was probably someone who competed in 1928-1936 era. I ran through some names I knew; Glenn Morris, Charlie Paddock, Eddie Tolan, Ralph Metcalfe, and then looked up birthdates. I was stumped so I started looking for names on the USC website. I then came across Lee Barnes, who I had honestly never heard of.

In the future, I'll just make an honest guess like everyone else.

Thanks

huntin, please note that I had a smiley in my post. We are all friends here !