Wanamaker Wins Inaugural Decathlon Title

It was hard to miss Rick Wanamaker at the 1970 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

At 6-8, the Drake star looked more like a basketball player – and he was! Wanamaker was the center on the Bulldogs basketball team that nearly upset eventual national champion UCLA in the Final Four a year earlier in a surprisingly close game (85-82). While Drake lost to the Bruins, Wanamaker scored nine points, grabbed seven rebounds and famously blocked a shot attempt by 7-0 Lew Alcindor, who would soon become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Wanamaker, a native of Marengo, Iowa, also stood out as the only hometown athlete – Drake Stadium was hosting the NCAA meet for the first time – given a chance to become the third Bulldog to win an NCAA title (The other two were Linn Philson in the 1936 high jump and Jim Ford in the 1952 200-meter dash).

And, of all events, it was the decathlon – the historic first held at the NCAA Championships.

Halfway through the two-day event, Wanamaker trailed favored Jorma Vesala of Cal State Los Angeles by 36 points, but a solid second day gave Wanamaker the victory with 7406 points. It was a 207-point victory for Wanamaker and a PR by 203 points.

Wanamaker’s performance was so good that it gave him cause to reconsider a pro basketball career (He had been drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers – a franchise that would be playing its first season in the NBA the following year – and had until noon the next day to accept the offer). “I’d made up my mind to go yesterday, but I’m not sure I will now,” he told the media afterwards. “It’s a tough decision and I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it all night.”

Wanamaker ended up declining the basketball offer to pursue his Olympic dreams. In 1971, he improved his PR to 7989 points and was the top American – but was unfortunately injured the week of the 1972 Olympic Trials and didn’t make the U.S. team.