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Letter from Bob Mathias Bob Mathias Olympic Decathlon Champion 1948 and 1952 The 1948 Olympic Games in London were fast and furious for me since I was only seventeen years old and had only heard what a decathlon was three months before the Games started. The 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki were even more exciting than London since I was then an old guy of twenty-one years and knew a lot more about the decathlon than I had four years before. I got a chance to meet a lot of great athletes from all over the world from just about every Olympic sport. I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know all of the great track-and-field athletes on the USA team. One of these newly met friends was a great sprinter from Texas—Dean Smith. It was a real pleasure to watch him run with his graceful and even stride and knowing that his speed was equal to that of the best sprinters in the world. Dean had a wonderful Texas personality that went along with his big Texas smile that made everyone like him from the very start. That included me. So it was a sad time when the 1952 Olympic team left Helsinki, and we all went our separate ways. I went back to Stanford University for my senior year and then spent two and half years in the Marine Corps. I then had a chance to join a Hollywood production company by the name of Batjac. The owner of Batjac was a former USC football player by the name of Marion Morrison —also known as John Wayne. I was getting ready to be in a Batjac movie called China Doll that starred Victor Mature when I got a call from my Olympic friend Dean Smith. He was in town, and of course we got together. One day we went to Batjac, and he met all the nice people there, including Bob Morrison, John Wayne’s brother, and Michael Wayne, John’s son, and many others who were involved in John Wayne’s previous cowboy movies. From these contacts and others Dean soon became one of the best stuntmen in Hollywood. He stood in for many of the leading Western heroes doing dangerous and difficult stunts for them. What I admire about Dean Smith is that he put the same effort, hard work, 222 Appendix dedication, and ability into all his work in pictures as he did in competing in the Olympic Games and being one of the fastest men in the world. Being one of the fastest men in the world and outrunning every horse in Hollywood was no easy task! ...

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