All around athlete extraordinare

[lagster]

This person's list of accomplishments include:

led major collegiate conference in batting average one year and made all conference
played college football
set world hurdles record
played baseball, football and basketball in high school
champion speed skater as youth

Despite all the achievements listed above best known for some other athletic feat.

Who am I?

[Marlow]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

relay gold and 100 silver?

[lagster]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

Marlowe - You are right on the money.

[KDFINE]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

I'd say Dave Sime but the relay gold doesn't quite fit.

[Marlow]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

I'd say Dave Sime but the relay gold doesn't quite fit.

That's my coulda-shoulda-woulda - we crossed the finish line first but were DQed for passing out of the zone.

[lagster]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

The answer is Dave Sime who in addition to all his athletic accomplishments must have been a pretty good student as he went on to be an eye surgeon.

[dukehjsteve]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

And despite all Duke's great basketball players, (and some from other sports as well) about 6 years ago Dave Sime was chosen, by Blue Devil Weekly, as Duke's Greatest-Ever Athlete.

[bambam]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

This person's list of accomplishments include:

led major collegiate conference in batting average one year and made all conference
played college football
set world hurdles record
played baseball, football and basketball in high school
champion speed skater as youth

Despite all the achievements listed above best known for some other athletic feat.

Who am I?

Champion speed skater??? Never heard of that. And my Dad would have known about it since he was a speed skater (48 Olympic Trials) and grew up in Paterson, NJ, where Sime was from (and I was born).

[lonewolf]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

Aha!!! Embellisher Beware. You will be outed on the forum.

[bambam]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

Aha!!! Embellisher Beware. You will be outed on the forum.

Not saying he is wrong, lonewolf. It just took me by surprise because I know Sime a little bit and know a lot about him, as we have connections - same POB, same college, same profession. He might be right but it was new to me. Certainly never heard of it before.

[Master Po]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

This 1956 article from the Sports Illustrated vault mentions Sime's speedskating:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

stating, "He won a Silver Skates speed skating championship at Madison Square Garden when he was 14."

And this 2008 profile of Sime from the ACC Web site mentions the same:

http://www.theacc.com/sports/c-track/sp ... 08aaa.html

stating, "Sime's first competitive sport was speed skating. He won several significant events in the New York area in his early teens but gave up competitive skating while in high school."

Not saying any of this is accurate -- I have no way of knowing -- but the story has been out there for while, and is reported in sources that I would accept as being generally reliable.

[bambam]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

This 1956 article from the Sports Illustrated vault mentions Sime's speedskating:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

stating, "He won a Silver Skates speed skating championship at Madison Square Garden when he was 14."

And this 2008 profile of Sime from the ACC Web site mentions the same:

http://www.theacc.com/sports/c-track/sp ... 08aaa.html

stating, "Sime's first competitive sport was speed skating. He won several significant events in the New York area in his early teens but gave up competitive skating while in high school."

Not saying any of this is accurate -- I have no way of knowing -- but the story has been out there for while, and is reported in sources that I would accept as being generally reliable.

OK, looks correct. Silver Skates was a big competition in the metro New York area back then.

[bambam]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

The Sports Illustrated article really interests me because of my Dad and a quote about Sime's Dad - "Charles J. Sime, who is now a night guard at the Wright Aeronautical plant in Ridgewood, N.J. but was once a semipro baseball and basketball player" We lived right next to Ridgewood and Fair Lawn, and Dad worked for Wright Aeronautical. Dad also played a little semi-pro baseball in northern Jersey when he was young. I would guess they knew each other - wish I could ask him.

[lonewolf]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

Aha!!! Embellisher Beware. You will be outed on the forum.

Not saying he is wrong, lonewolf. It just took me by surprise because I know Sime a little bit and know a lot about him, as we have connections - same POB, same college, same profession. He might be right but it was new to me. Certainly never heard of it before.

I did not intend to imply that the report was Simes skating history was not true...just a generic observation that someone on this forum will usually ferret out the truth of unusual or outlandish claims.

[bambam]

Re: All around athlete extraordinare

Aha!!! Embellisher Beware. You will be outed on the forum.

Not saying he is wrong, lonewolf. It just took me by surprise because I know Sime a little bit and know a lot about him, as we have connections - same POB, same college, same profession. He might be right but it was new to me. Certainly never heard of it before.

I did not intend to imply that the report was Simes skating history was not true...just a generic observation that someone on this forum will usually ferret out the truth of unusual or outlandish claims.

You are right about that