Don Bragg Story

[vaultguru6]

This is an interesting and tragic article on the life of Don Bragg, 1960 Oympic Champion and still the world record holder on a steel pole.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/sports/6513855.htm

Olympian has golden tales to tell
By Ann Tatko
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Don Bragg likes to tell a good story, especially over a glass of Captain Morgan rum.

He attributes it to being a big mouth. The truth is, he has quite a few stories worth telling, enough to fill a 261-page autobiography, and then some.

His is the story of a New Jersey farm boy who lived the Huckleberry life, grew up to be an Olympic champion, almost lived the dream of playing Tarzan on the big screen and somehow survived an adulthood marred by health problems and misfortune.

Looking like a cross between Colonel Sanders and Albert Einstein, Bragg doesn't seem to wear the visible signs of the peaks and valleys he has endured in his 68 years.

On a recent summer day, he sits in the lounge of the Oakhurst Country Club in Clayton, where his wife of 42 years, Theresa, works as director of catering, just five blocks from the home they share.

He smiles and bellows a hello, often accompanied by a hearty laugh, as friends and acquaintances walk by.

Drawing a story out of Bragg takes little prompting. The real dilemma is picking one as a starting point.

On this day, he chooses one of the bittersweet memories: his close brush with playing the role he had aspired to since childhood.

In 1964, producer Sandy Howard tapped him to play Tarzan in "The Jewels of Opar," but shooting in Jamaica was halted when producer Sy Weintraub sued for copyright infringement and had the film impounded. Years later the film was destroyed when a Lloyd's of London warehouse, where it was being stored, caught fire.

"That killed my Tarzan days," Bragg said with a sigh.

His Hollywood aspirations were more about playing Tarzan than being an actor. He had wanted to be Tarzan ever since he saw the jungle character swinging on the big screen. He constructed Tarzan ropes in the woods surrounding his childhood home. He mastered the deep yodel-like Tarzan call made famous by actor Johnny Weissmuller.

He often belted out a Tarzan call without warning -- as he dived off a bridge on a dare, as he boarded a plane in South Africa just as a prime minister disembarked from a nearby plane, as he stood atop the medal podium at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won gold in the pole vault.

Even today, he can't resist when prodded to do so.

"If I do it in here," he said with a quick glance around the lounge, "they might get my wife."

He does it anyway, bringing knowing smiles to the faces of nearby employees.

"I do it at bars when I get a little tooted, which happens about once a week," he said with a laugh.

He has become a bit of a legend at his favorite bars, such as Artie's Countrywood Lounge in Walnut Creek.

"Yeah, I know Tarzan," said Keith Whittier, a frequent Artie's patron. "I could listen to his stories all night long."

Bragg doesn't hold back much, as evidenced by the candor of his autobiography, "A Chance to Dare: The Don Bragg Story." (Virtualbookworm.com, 2003).

As one Amazon.com reader review noted, "Bragg does brag, but he offsets it by owning his mistakes and showing a kind-hearted underbelly."

Bragg readily reveals just about everything in his book: his arrogant belief that he was the world's best pole vaulter (backed up by a world record of 15 feet, 91/4 inches that remains the best ever with a steel pole); his inability to turn down a dare (often resulting in an arm wrestling match that left him spent before a competition); and his downward spiral into health problems and financial trouble.

"My life's like a Hollywood movie," he said.

Ironically, that's the next dream for a man who has tried his hand at pig farming, selling pharmaceuticals, running a boys camp and serving as a college athletic director.

He wants to turn his life story into a movie. He figures if they could do it with late Olympic track star Steve Prefontaine, then why not with Don Bragg, too.

"Everyone says, 'You're on an ego trip,'" Bragg said. "Yeah, no (expletive)."

He embraced his egotism through pole vaulting.

He experimented with the sport at age 10 when he launched himself over an 8-foot ditch using a bamboo rug pole. Once a self-proclaimed shy and introverted kid, he used pole vaulting to break free.

"I basically had an inferiority complex," he said. "I pursued pole vaulting to prove that I was capable in some area of being better than the rest."

Success in high school earned him a scholarship to Villanova, where he won the NCAA title in 1955. A year earlier, he missed qualifying for the 1954 Olympics, but the next time around, he set the world record to win at the 1960 Olympic Trials.

Despite his success in pole vaulting, and in some ways because of it, Bragg also experienced the hardest of hardships.

He competed in an era before fiberglass poles and foam pits, when sand and sawdust offered a pole vaulter more abuse than cushion on landings and when endorsements for athletes were unheard of. His competitive rewards amounted to a few newspaper clippings, a trophy and sometimes a $15 watch.

Twelve years of the strain and stress of competition contributed largely to a stack of hospital bills for two spinal surgeries, arthritis, gout, carpal tunnel surgery, Lyme disease, appendicitis, varicose veins and sextuple bypass surgery.

"I could use a few extra bucks," said Bragg, who plans to lobby U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for a pension program for former Olympians. "Give me $30,000, you can have my gold medal. It sits up there and I show it off, but really, what's it doing for me?"

Misfortune has followed Bragg like a seven-year curse -- multiplied by four.

In 1961, he stepped on a broken bottle with his bare foot. The ensuing crutches and 16 stitches kept him from accepting the lead role in "Tarzan Goes to India." The copyright lawsuit shelved his second attempt; spinal surgery to wire together two degenerating disks denied him a possible third.

Beyond Tarzan, trouble continued to mount.

A land development deal, in which he had invested heavily, went bust when environmentalists blocked his zoning request. His 10-year career as athletic director of New Jersey's Stockton State College ended when the college's board of trustees decided not to re-sign his contract, on the heels of an unflattering Sports Illustrated article in 1980.

Bragg remained in New Jersey, trying his hand at several business ventures that ultimately failed, until 1997.

That's when health problems of one of his four children prompted Bragg and his wife to move to the Bay Area. Trouble followed him there, too.

This past February, the house they were renting in Clayton caught fire, possibly when electrical arcing ignited combustible materials in the garage, according to Larry Thude, the chief fire inspector for the Contra Costa Fire District.

Fire destroyed the garage, kitchen and den, while the rest of the house sustained severe smoke and water damage.

"We've had some financial problems the last 10 years and that just climaxed everything. We lost everything. We had no insurance," he shook his head as his now grave voice faded away.

Among the few salvaged mementos was Bragg's Olympic gold medal, singed but still in good condition.

That's when Bragg got another little surprise. He noticed a white spot on the medal when a jeweler, and family friend, cleaned it. Turns out his gold medal was actually just gold plated.

"I said, 'What! Twelve years of my life and you're telling me that's not real gold?'" Bragg said, and then he laughed.

Despite the setbacks, despite the financial difficulties, Bragg hasn't lost his sense of humor or his ability to pick himself up and dust himself off.

Promoting his autobiography occupies most of his time these days, and he soon plans to reissue a book of poetry he wrote, titled "Reflections of Gold."

He has constructed a set of Tarzan swings -- in an undisclosed location, he said with a smile -- for his 11 grandchildren.

He said he also hopes to go into business, either a fast-food or a unique landscaping concept, with his daughter Renée.

Bragg's life may be slowing down, but only a little.

"Life with him has definitely been a roller coaster," Theresa Bragg said.

Her husband draped his still broad arm around her shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. "It's not over yet."

BIOGRAPHY

• NAME: Don Bragg

• AGE: 68

• EDUCATION: Villanova University

• CAREER: 1960 Olympic pole vault champion; recreation director; pharmaceuticals salesman; boys' camp founder and director; special assistant in charge of youth affairs and recreation for then-New Jersey Gov. Richard Hughes (1969-70); athletic director for Stockton State College in New Jersey; actor; author.

• RESIDENCE: Clayton

• AUTOBIOGRAPHY: "A Chance to Dare: The Don Bragg Story" (written with Patricia Doherty). Available at tarzanbragg.com

[rainbowgirl28]

I bought his book at Reno. It's pretty good! Looks like he has a new website that you can order it from... http://www.tarzanbragg.com/

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.nj.com/sports/sunbeam/index. ... 274500.xml

Tarzan vaulted into Hall

Sunday, November 07, 2004
By Giuseppe Ungaro
gungaro@sjnewsco.com


BRIDGETON --Don Bragg ended his acceptance speech at the Southern New Jersey All Sports Museum with a Tarzan yell.

It might sound like a strange thing to do, but those that know Bragg well or at all understand it was a perfect ending for him.

Bragg, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame Saturday, along with Robin L. Sheppard, for his accomplishments as a pole vaulter has been a big fan of Tarzan for roughly 62 years.

In fact, the 1953 Penns Grove High School graduate had several chances to play the role, even signing a contract once, but something always seemed to get in his way of living out his life-long fantasy. Bragg has been known as "Tarzan" since his childhood because he could be seen swinging from tree to tree in the woods behind his house in what he called "Tarzanville."

"You see the television series, and we used to come down from the movie theater in Penns Grove, there were some trees down there and next door was (a meat market) and they used to wrap boxes with this fuzzy string," said Bragg, 69. "We used to get the string off the boxes and tie the string together and use that. That didn't last too long because they would break occasionally. But that started it."

Playing Tarzan in his backyard helped Bragg get into shape, and he eventually would become the best pole vaulter in the world. He won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics, was the only vaulter to hold all of the world records in the metal vault competition, and was a three-time national All-American at Villanova before graduating in 1957.

"People always ask me what it was like to be on the victory stand (at the Olympics), but no matter what I say they can only semi-vicariously feel what it's like," said Bragg. "It's a feeling that very little in life feels like that."

Bragg expected to have an opportunity to go for gold four years earlier, but missed the Olympics because of am injury.

"You almost cry for four years and when you finally get back and win you say, 'The gods were just messing with me,'" said Bragg. "It's almost impossible to define it.

"The gods have to be smiling on you, but I also worked like hell. I worked harder than any other pole vaulter. That's why I won the gold medal."

During his speech Saturday, Bragg spoke more of his experiences than his accomplishments. The track and field star traveled the world and made lasting friendships with some famous athletes, including Muhammad Ali and Johnny Weissmuller.

"Amateur athletes in those days visited foreign countries when professional athletes didn't even know anything more than their own state," said Bragg. "Our depth of knowledge increased fantastically because of our exposure to different cultures."

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/s ... 60105o.htm

Pole vaulter Bragg `one of the greatest'

Wednesday, June 1, 2005

By DON BENEVENTO
Courier-Post Staff

When asked recently to reflect on his life, Olympic gold medalist Don Bragg was quick to warn his listener about what was to come.

"Remember who you're talking to," he said. "My name is Bragg."

And then, one of the most decorated athletes ever to come out of South Jersey went ahead and started reflecting.

"I consider myself one of the great athletes of that era," said Bragg, referring to the 1950s and '60s when he was perhaps the premier pole vaulter in the world. "And yet, I never made a cent. I get to banquets now and the football and baseball players kind of ostracize the track athletes. That's one thing that really ticks me off."

A 1953 graduate of Penns Grove High School, Bragg, now retired, resides in retirement in Southern California. He relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area when a fire destroyed his home, along with much of his memorabilia, even though he retained his gold medal.

He returns to his South Jersey base occasionally, as he did a couple of months ago when he became one of the inaugural inductees into the South Jersey Track and Field Hall of Fame.

As a young man, Bragg made his reputation on the world stage. After attending Villanova University, where he won the NCAA pole vault championship in 1955 and the IC4A indoor championship in 1957, he went into the Army, where he continued to compete in track and field.

In 1960, he set a world record in the event with a vault of 15 feet, 9 1/2 inches in the Olympic Trials. It remains the highest vault ever made with an aluminum pole, but it was only shortly after that when vaulters began using fiberglass poles.
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In the Rome Games that year, Bragg won the gold medal, and he was ranked No. 1 in the world by Track and Field News in 1959 and 1960. That capped a period in which the magazine had him ranked in the top 10 in the pole vault for six straight years.

While in Rome, Bragg met future heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, and the two remain friends.

Bragg recalls that times were different in those days. For one thing, the Cold War was still in effect, and athletes sometimes competed in conditions that were less than ideal.

"I was almost killed in South Africa," he said. "There was a problem trying to get off the plane in Johannesburg."

Still, Bragg traveled the world, and he was witness to some historic events.

"I was in Israel during the Eichmann trial," he said, recalling that Adolf Eichmann was convicted for crimes against the Jewish people during World War II and that he was eventually executed.

"I had cocktails with Willie Brandt, the chancellor of West Germany," he said. "I got to go to a lot of places, and I saw a lot of things."

Bragg recalls the thrill of competing against athletes from the Soviet Union during a time when national pride rested on each event.

"I used to get along with the Russians because I was a little crazy," he said. "Plus, I wasn't afraid to fight."

The highlight of his career, Bragg said, was competing in the Rome Olympics.

"That was the climax of my life," he said. "It was surreal."

One of the oddest moments occurred when Bragg startled the crowd by giving a Tarzan yell from the medal podium.

Those who know Bragg were not surprised, however. From the time he was a small boy he related to Tarzan, and he eventually tried to make a movie in which he portrayed the character.

The production was to be made in Jamaica, but it was shut down after a Hollywood studio filed a lawsuit and there was an outbreak of malaria within the crew.

"We did some filming," Bragg said. "But it got tied up with Lloyds of London and I never saw any of the footage."

Bragg isn't as enamored with the Olympics as they are presented today.

"There are more athletes," he said. "But I'm sorry, I don't get synchronized swimming or the gymnastics with the ribbons. I guess I'm more of a macho man."

Bragg returned to South Jersey to become the first athletic director at Stockton College, but he was let go when some comments he made in Sports Illustrated were deemed to be politically incorrect.

He became a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1996 and went on to write two books. His latest is a biography titled, A Chance to Dare: The Don Bragg Story.

Today he travels the country to speak at banquets and to promote his book.

He concedes his best years are behind him, but he also likes to quote an aging Winston Churchill, who was once asked by Joseph Stalin whether he believed the sun was setting on his life.

According to Bragg, "Churchill said, `It's mid-afternoon, and it's cocktail hour.' "