Pros. vs. Joes No. 6: Leave it to the ‘Wizard of Foz’ to keep working to help the cause
Dick Fosbury
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For those of you Baby Boomers — or perhaps members of the “Silent Generation” — I have some daunting news to deliver:
Dick Fosbury turns 75 on Sunday.
Can it really be that 54 years have passed since the Oregon State junior flipped the world on its lid by flopping his way to the high jump gold medal at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City? (Watch video from his jump here)
“I feel pretty good, actually,” Fosbury tells me from his home outside of Bellevue, Idaho. “I don’t know how to describe it. … I guess you could say I’m three-quarters of the way home.”
If “The Foz” makes it to the century mark, more power to him. If not, well, he has already lived an eminently more fulfilling life than most.
“It’s been a wild ride,” says the Medford native, one of the true immortals of American sport. “Never predictable.”
The man who revolutionized the high jump with what came to be called the “Fosbury Flop” belongs on Oregon State’s athletic Mount Rushmore (with, let me suggest, Gary Payton, Adley Rutschman and Terry Baker). Fosbury is a member of more athletic halls of fame than he can count. A bronzed statue of him in mid-leap stands on the site of old Bell Field on the OSU campus, Dick’s track and field’s home during his time there from 1965-69. It was the first statue of an athlete on a college campus in the state. A commemorative plaque in the streets of Medford, placed in conjunction with the upcoming World Championships in Eugene, is coming.
Fosbury is a doer. He served a term as president of the U.S. Olympians and Paralympians Association. He enjoyed a successful 33-year run with his engineering firm in Idaho. Since his retirement in 2011, Fosbury has run as a Democrat for a seat in the Idaho House of Representatives (he lost) and for Blaine County Commissioner (he won). The latter endeavor is occupying a good deal of his time these days.
“It’s a load, but I love it,” says Fosbury, whose term runs through 2024. “I love helping people and solving problems.”
It has been 14 years since Fosbury was diagnosed with stage-one lymphoma, and soon thereafter underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his lower vertebra, followed by a round of chemotherapy.
“It’s all clear,” Fosbury says of his medical status.
Fosbury says his workout regimen these days is “minimal.”
“I don’t get to the gym, which I need to do,” he says. “I’ve been limited with my condition of neuropathy. It affects both feet. It has affected my balance. I can only use specialized equipment. And I’m distracted by my job.”
Fosbury says he has three priorities as he goes about his duties as commissioner of a county government that pays 175 employees.
“Housing, housing, housing,” he says. “Like much of the United States, we’re in a housing crisis. It’s severe in Blaine County. I’m also working on energies — we’re applying for a grant to do a Microgrid for critical facilities — along with recycling and solid waste. Those are my primary activities along with managing the county.”
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After graduating from Oregon State in April 1972, Fosbury moved to Eugene to train in an attempt to qualify for the 1972 Olympic trials. He didn’t make it but got a job working with residential housing developments for two years. In 1974, he was hired by an engineering firm, for whom he worked for three years.
“You know Carol Menken Schaudt?” Foz says in reference to the former OSU All-America basketball center and Olympic gold medalist. “She married the son of my boss.”
Fosbury left Eugene for Ketchum, Idaho — sister town to Sun Valley — in 1977. He got married, became a father (son Erich is nearing 40) and got a job working for a structural engineer. In 1978, Dick met Jim Koonce, with whom he teamed up to build a civil engineering company. They started out with a third partner as Sawtooth Engineering; Fosbury and Koonce split to form Galena Engineering in nearby Hailey in 1982. They were together more than three decades until Fosbury’s retirement.
“I loved it, because we worked on building the community,” he says. “In the early years, we were growing fast. There was just a lot of new development going on, and we provided engineering services. Jim was also a county engineer. We specialized in public works and private development.”
Fosbury met his second wife, Robin, in 2003. A dentist, Robin moonlighted as a dance instructor. Foz took lessons for two years. That’s how they met. He never got a gig on “Dancing With the Stars,” but he got the gal. They live on a 20-acre farm about three miles south of Bellevue and 21 miles from Ketchum in the heart of God’s country. Between the two, they have three children and seven grandkids.
Bob Welch’s excellent biography on Fosbury — “The Wizard of Foz” — was named Book of the Year by the Track & Field Writers of America in 2019. It is now available as an audio book.
Dick stays close to his sport. He plans to attend the World Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field this summer. Also in his plans: Victory as celebrity picker in the upcoming NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in the “Pros vs. Joes” Bracket Challenge on kerryeggers.com.
“I have to admit,” he says with a laugh, “I haven’t followed (college basketball) this season. I have some good friends from UCLA — Willie Banks (the former world record-holder in the triple jump) and Mike Powell (former world record-holder in the long jump). They’re Bruins, and they love basketball like I do. We may put together an Olympic team consensus bracket.”
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My latest book is now for sale, Jerome Kersey: Overcoming The Odds. You can buy regular, autographed, and inscribed copies of the book in my new and improved online bookstore here.
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