April 2010

Dick Fosbury is known for breaking the Olympic record in the summer of ‘68, but comedy legend and fellow high-jumper Bill Cosby wants to know, “What made you dare to change the world?”

Interview by Bill Cosby, Robert Witkowski & Colin W. Sargent

Make a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. The year was 1968, and change was in the air. So was Dick Fosbury, changing the high jump forever by setting an Olympic record of 7 feet, 4¼ inches (2.24 meters) at the Mexico City Olympics by flying over the bar on his back–head-first–with his unique Fosbury Flop style.

His iconoclastic, defiantly original manner fit the times, when all of the old templates were being smashed: Tanks in Prague, assassinations and riots, Apollo 8 circling the dark side of the moon, the summer of love. The whole world had decided maybe we could do things a little differently. If there were a horoscope for the year 1968, it might have been “hang on.”

So we weren’t the least bit surprised when Bill Cosby, a closet high jumper himself (he jumped for Temple–“I’m not telling you how high–it’s like asking a woman her age–I’m just not going to tell you”), minutes after we emailed him to ask for a little help interviewing Dick Fosbury, who’s coming to Maine this summer to host the Dick Fosbury Track Camp at Bowdoin College, called us up. At 5:15 p.m.

“Ask him, ‘Do you remember being on the Tonight Show?’” Cosby says. “I think in those days they did it in New York City. I don’t remember if I was the host or it was Johnny. I don’t remember anyone else high jumping on the Tonight Show [in fact, both Cosby and Johnny Carson jumped right on stage] because he was brilliant on the Tonight Show–he was this new guy who cleared seven-foot-something…that’s a tough thing to do–the surface was linoleum or something.”

Dick Fosbury: Of course. It was a highlight of my life, to jump with you and Johnny. It was in Burbank Studios, and Johnny cleared 4 feet even. After you jumped, I took my mark, ran at the bar, and fell on my butt. Johnny was petrified, but I dusted off my shoes with a damp rag and then cleared 6’8″ in sweats. Johnny felt so guilty he let me stay on the couch for most of the show, with Raquel Welch, Carol Burnette, and Rod Serling. It was memorable, even being a ‘Flop.’

The next week, I was jumping on the Merv Griffin Show, outside on the streets of Philly. Merv jumped 4′ 1″ to beat Johnny. We needed a jump-off!

Bill Cosby: Ask him, ‘tell us about the way you changed things.’ Historically, his ability, his style–it was determined in those days what anatomical part of the body could go over first so the bar was legally cleared. When you read that description, it did not allow for the clearance Dick was doing–you were not allowed to clear the bar head-first; he had to modify how he did it. So…’how did you modify it?’

Fosbury: You’re remembering the old rules from the ‘40s, which restricted the jumpers’ style clearing the bar. That was why Babe Didrikson got silver at the Games when she cleared the winning height but it was disallowed. I never had those restrictions by the time I came along.

Cosby: People were trying to jump like Dick early on but had been disqualified. Ask him, ‘Were there people who tried to declare you non-gratis while you were climbing and going higher and higher? Were there people saying to you that you were doing it illegally?’

Fosbury: Some of the old coaches were checking the rulebook and asking the judges for an opinion, but I was OK. The only rule was that the jumper could only jump off one leg; still true today.

[By the way,] Bill Cosby’s no closet track star, as anyone knows who has been to the Penn Relays, or who reads Track & Field News. He’s a great fan, loves the sport.

It’s great that you’re making a stop in Maine this summer from June 17 to July 1 to run the “Dick Fosbury Old School, New Era Track Camp” at Bowdoin College. How’d this popular annual event come about?

Well, Peter [Slovenski, Bowdoin College track coach] called me. Willie Davenport had come the year before, and Willie had recommended me. We talked on the phone, Peter gave me his pitch about the concept of the camp, and I was sold. I’d always done clinics since coming home from the Games in ‘68, so the only thing new was to stay for a week and work. Once I made it through that first week, I was hooked…It was a working vacation for me, and we all got along really well. Plus, [Peter and his brother, Paul,] let me sing in the band–the “Party Killers,” singing the classics from the 50s and 60s.

I had no preconceptions about Maine before I first came here. Maybe ‘the Maine woods.’

We all stay at the dorms at Bowdoin, or at Slovenski’s home. I’ve been to [DiMillo’s in Portland, Cook’s Lobster House on Bailey Island,] “Bah Harhbuh,” [and] water skied on many ponds around Lewiston-Auburn.

How do you stay fit as an engineer?

You don’t, excepting working on big projects out of doors. I’m a licensed surveyor and used to hike and climb a lot in the local mountains, carrying equipment. That works. Otherwise, I go to the gym.

When was the last time you ate your Wheaties? More specifically, do you have a special diet that you follow?

I have eaten cereal since I was a child; I can’t go without it. Hot or cold.

Today, I pay attention to a balanced diet; vegetables, meats or other proteins, and fruits. I have a Jack LaLanne juicer that I love, when I can’t get enough veggies (carrot/apples/celery/beet/ginger). And I love my local roasted coffee.

Any sense of depression or anticlimax after achieving your wildest dreams? How did you effect your emotional recovery?

I was attending Oregon State University, studying engineering for a career, when I returned home from the Games. I refocused on getting my degree and went to work after school. Our great fortune is that we always have new games to play; for me, mountain biking, roller blading, snowboarding. This is what motivates me to stay in shape so I can try the next new thing. It’s ‘re-creation’.

What did you personally think of the fists raised in the air on the awards podium in Mexico City in 1968?

I was surprised and startled, it was such a dramatic and bold act. Oh yes, after forty plus years, it’s still being discussed. And my friends, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, have dedicated their lives to being educators of our youth. They are fine men.

You’re an icon for daring to be different. Did that ever get politicized? Did it ever get under people’s skin?

Not really. But I was told by several coaches from the communist regime that my technique would never work, I would never win.

Did [Soviet high jump star] Valeriy Brumel ever say anything memorable to you after you rewired the universe he used to preside over?

Yes, he told me if he hadn’t crushed his legs, he might have been able to try my technique and beat me with my own style. We both laughed when I challenged him to “just try!”

Right now, if I were to give you a set of high-jumping shoes, what could you clear?

Nothing. I had a spinal fusion two years ago to remove a lymphoma tumor, which I’ve survived. I’m starting over to walk, jog, and snow shoe in the winter, and feel blessed I’m still vertical.

Do you ever jump in your dreams?

No, but it’s funny. I dreamed I was running gates in a slalom course on my carving board last week. It must have been triggered by my visit to the Winter Games in Vancouver.

Have you ever considered the Fosbury Flop your intellectual property?

Well, I did get to name my style, and it stuck. That was clever.

What’s your best straddle jump [using the pre-Fosbury style]?

I cleared 6′ 6″ at our training camp in South Lake Tahoe, the summer of ‘68. Never in competition though.

What’s the highest jump you made during practice that nobody ever saw?

Doesn’t matter if nobody saw it.

–Bruce Poliquin (R)

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