#Tyke peacock code#
Or perhaps he is simply unwilling, bound by a Cold War-era code of masculinity. Timmons is now too old and enfeebled to explain it himself. The people closest to him cannot explain his behavior. (It was later bolted into a display case.) Another time, he was spotted nostalgically roaming the KU campus with tears in his eyes. Twice, he's ventured out to steal his own portrait from the university's Booth Family Hall of Athletics. The most eminent face of Kansas track is now essentially a shut-in, a man who has spent at least 20 years feverishly painting and sculpting his former athletes and the courses they ran. If he had, he wouldn't have agreed to it.įor two decades Timmons has been reclusive, ducking the spotlight, deferring praise. Truth is, he didn't know he'd be trotted out like this. When someone asks if he is lost, he shakes he head. By now, Timmons is huddling among a throng of onlookers, sneaking a look back at the packed stadium. Before Ryun can pull the trigger, someone false-starts, and officials flood the track. As the former Olympian calls for runners to take their marks, his former coach retreats further. But when Ryun takes a pistol and points it skyward, Timmons steps back. When a loudspeaker announces the next event-the men's 1600 meters-the reason for the men being here becomes clear: Boosters want Timmons and Ryun to start the race that launched their careers. Only a little over five feet, with bulbous glasses and a hearing aid, he stands beside the ladder as Ryun, decked in a polo shirt, ascends. He was a taskmaster and a miracle worker. Under his leadership, KU runners earned enough national titles, conference crowns, and All-American honors to fill more than a few trophy cases. They both moved to KU, where more records fell for Ryun, and Timmons became the most famed coach of his generation. He discovered Jim Ryun and helped him become the first high school miler to break the four-minute barrier. His methodology was based on a simple hunch: If you regularly pushed young men to the brink of exhaustion, they might build up an immunity to it. It is this sort of self-confidence in the absence of reason that forged The Legend of Coach Bob Timmons in the first place.Īccording to The Legend, Timmons created a training regimen decades ago that defied the very threshold of human potential. While not knowing might upset many old-timers, he is calm, seemingly resigned to the fact that at a lucid moment, he had agreed to this. "Where are we going?" Timmons wonders aloud. Some in the crowd recognize him and begin to chant: "Timmie, Timmie, Timmie!" Race officials stop and ask for autographs. Then his former protege, Jim Ryun, appears and leads him across the spongy track to a large ladder near the starting blocks. For a while Timmons just zones out, marveling at the Lycra-clad bodies blurring around the oval. So when his best friend, Jerry Waugh, came to pick him up this morning, Timmons seemed puzzled but allowed himself to be dressed in a blue windbreaker and Jayhawk-logo ball cap and ushered to a roped-off section of University of Kansas Memorial Stadium for the Kansas Relays. He's hired an in-home caretaker and sometimes he has carried a notebook to keep track of his thoughts. Some friends think the crash might have caused a stroke, and others say a stroke caused the crash, but Timmons isn't the type to freely admit weakness, so he deflects questions on the subject.
Since the 84-year-old crashed his truck into a country culvert and struck his head a few years ago, many of his days are now clouded by what he calls a fog-fits of amnesia. That he can't remember why or what exactly is expected of him doesn't matter. The silver went to the popular American, Peacock, who was the only other jumper successful at 2.32.Bob Timmons agreed to be here. Meanwhile, a first-time clearance at 2.32 proved to be the winning leap for the little-known Avdyeyenko, a 19 year-old soldier.įormerly a triple jumper, the Ukrainian had been a controversial selection for the Soviet team after placing only sixth in the 1983 Spartakiad. The Chinese went on to fail three times at 2.32 and was forced to settle for the bronze – the first medal won at this level by an athlete from mainland China. Of the six men still in at 2.29, world record holder Zhu had the best record, with no failures from five jumps. Men High Jump Athletics I World Championship 1983 Helsinki, Finland - Saturday 13.08 - Gold Medal: Gennadiy Avdeyenko, Soviet Union Men High Jump Athletics I World Championship 1983 Helsinki, Finland - Saturday 13.08 - Gold Medal: Gennadiy Avdeyenko, Soviet Union
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