David Johnston was so in awe of Al Oerter he felt impelled to write a letter to the Journal-World a couple of years ago about his first meeting with the four-time Olympic gold medalist.
“When I was a boy, my dad took me to the Kansas Relays where I got to shake his hand,” said Johnston, a former Lawrence High and Kansas University distance runner. “I vividly remember his giant hand engulfing my 9-year-old mitt.”
Then Johnston, now director of marketing for the Kansas University Alumni Association, went on to say it was the strongest grip of anyone he ever has met.
“The handshake did not merely suggest his strength of character,” Johnston continued. “Oerter’s strength was his character, always competing with class, winning with dignity.”
Similar tributes to Oerter poured in Monday after it was learned the former Kansas University standout had died of heart failure at the age of 71 in a hospital near his Fort Myers Beach, Fla., home.
“He was a gentle giant,” wife Cathy said. “He was bigger than life.”
Echoed Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee: “His legacy is one of an athlete who embodied all of the positive attributes associated with being an Olympian.”
Oerter competed at KU from 1956 to ’58.
He was a two-time NCAA champion in the discus, a two-time All-American and a seven-time conference champion.
“We benefited from Al’s achievements in many wonderful ways,” former KU track coach Bob Timmons said. “He dominated.”
Added current KU track coach Stanley Redwine: “This is certainly a big loss for the track and field community and a big loss for KU.”
Born in New York City, Oerter eschewed coaching and conventional training methods to mold himself into a fierce competitor who performed at his best when the stakes were highest.
“I can remember those games truly as if they were a week ago,” Oerter told the Associated Press last year.
In Melbourne in 1956, Oerter threw 184 feet, 11 inches on his first toss and watched in amazement when nobody else, including teammate and world-record holder Fortune Gordien, came close to beating him.
He came from behind to win again in Rome and overcame torn rib cartilage and other injuries to make it three in a row at the Tokyo Games in 1964.
At 32, he was a long shot in the 1968 field headed by world-record holder Jay Silvester. However, Oerter responded with a personal-best of 212-6 to leave Mexico City with the gold. He came out of retirement and won a spot as an alternate on the 1980 team that didn’t compete because of the boycott ordered by President Carter.
Later in life, Oerter discovered a new passion and took up abstract painting.
Oerter maintained a tie to the Olympic movement through Art of the Olympians, a program he founded to give him and other former Olympians who’ve taken up art to showcase their work.
“Al approached the art world the same way he approached the sports world,” said friend and former Olympian Liston Bochette. “He studied it. He analyzed it. And he sought excellence in the arts.”
Funeral arrangements are pending for Oerter, who nearly died in 2003 from congestive heart disease. At that time, he experienced trouble breathing at his Fort Myers beach house.
“That’s the closest I’ve ever been,” Oerter told the Fort Myers News-Press. “If that’s going to happen to me, there’s no fear. It was not uncomfortable.”
Revived that day three times by heart-starting paddles, Oerter was advised to get a heart transplant at the time.
“I just flat out can’t see it,” he told the News-Press. “I’m not going to get a new heart.”
On Monday morning, his wife said Oerter “started coughing and couldn’t catch his breath.” He was rushed to the hospital and couldn’t be revived.