Richards has delivered over 12,000 speeches spanning the past 50 years, and he has spoken to more than seven million high school students. Bike-Path Attackers Mother Says She Wanted Tired Son to Leave U.S. Kellyanne Conway Meets With Prosecutors as Trump Inquiry Escalates, U.K. Police Charge 3rd Man in Effort to Kill Russian Dissident, Review: For Armory Recitals, a Modest but Memorable Return, Review: After Merce, the Dances Go On, and Go On to Inspire, Yaya DaCosta Joins Elite Society in Our Kind of People, All of Aaron Judges Home Runs, From 1 to 40, For Colored Girls to Close on Broadway, Reflecting Tough Season, Mikaela Shiffrin and Aleks Kilde Are Ski Racings Power Couple. In 1970, he bicycled 3,300 miles from Los Angeles to New York to promote fitness. Until 2012, he had lived on a ranch in Santo, Texas, which he named the Crossbar Ranch and which was involved in numerous commercial activities, including oil and gas exploration and horse and cattle grazing. He earned a bachelors degree in 1947 and a masters in 1948. Nick Vujicic. That distinction, as Richards acknowledged, belonged to Cornelius Warmerdam, a Californian who used bamboo poles to set world records of about 15 feet 8 inches in the early 1940s. He continued participating in track and field events as he aged, joining the World Masters Games in quadrennial competitions popular with retired professional athletes and former Olympic competitors. Bob Richards. And he was perfect on the Wheaties box: a muscular all-American with a smile that radiated confidence, health and upright living. Please enter valid email address to continue. He emerged from the pit smiling for the first time during the day, the Times reported. When Richards finally triumphed with an Olympic record of 14 feet 11-1/4 inches, a defeated Soviet rival, Viktor Knyazev, clasped him in a bear hug. But from 1947 to 1957, he dominated national and international competitions by clearing 15 feet more than 125 times. Here's my list of the top 10 motivational speakers in the world. From a New York Times obit by Robert D. McFadden headlined Bob Richards, Pole-Vaulting Hero of the Cold War Era, Dies at 97: Bob Richards, the only male two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, who in the 1950s became a hero of American Cold War competition with the Soviet Union and a breakfast-table hero to millions as the first champion on the front of the Wheaties box, died at his home in Waco, Texas. The family that plays and prays together stays together, Richards intoned on countless occasions. Daymond John . His father was a telephone lineman. Todays top male vaulters, with refined techniques and springy fiberglass poles that bow almost to U shapes, routinely soar over crossbars set above 19 feet. Richards carried the Olympic torch across Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas, in 1996. But he escaped the street life into religion and athletics. Bob Richards, the ordained minister nicknamed the Vaulting Vicar, at the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, in 1952, when he won a gold medal. The Biden administration is advancing a fuel policy shift demanded by Midwest governors who expect it will encourage filling stations to sell higher-ethanol E15 gasoline and offer it year round. In fact, as a youth Richards, the son of a broken home, had run with a gang of thieves and brawlers, and five of his friends went to prison for robbery. Would you like to receive our daily news? In 1946, he was ordained and transferred to the University of Illinois. Even Richardss son Brandon, as a teenager using a fiberglass pole in 1985, vaulted 18 feet 2 inches, which was then a national record for a high schooler and stood for 14 years. These people who want to wave the flag and play the band, thats not the real spirit of the Olympics, he told The New York Times years later. Cold War tensions again played out in the 1956 Melbourne Games. Richards became the face and voice of the cereal known as the Breakfast of Champions.. His father was a telephone lineman. Create a password that only you will remember. You have permission to edit this article. Bob Richards August, 2012 . He received the Sullivan Award in 1951 as the nations best amateur athlete. That mark (pending official ratification) surpassed his own previous five world records, all over 20 feet and all set since 2020. 805.965.1400. [email protected]. He was 97. Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. "It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.". A motivational speaker (sometimes called an inspirational speaker) is a speaker who offers talks that inspire audiences. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Bob Richards is a remarkable human being. Even Richards son Brandon, as a teenager using a fiberglass pole in 1985, vaulted 18 feet 2 inches, which was then a national record for a high schooler and stood for 14 years. Purpose gives faith. He was 97. Alternatively, call a booking agent directly on 0207 1010 553. He married the college presidents niece, Mary Leah Cline, in 1946. In his Facebook post, Brandon Richards said his father began reading the Bible and preaching as a way to overcome his stuttering. Bob Richards, the only male two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, who in the 1950s became a hero of American Cold War competition with the Soviet Union and a breakfast-table hero to millions as the first champion on the front of the Wheaties box, died Sunday at his home in Waco, Texas. LONDON - Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have been asked to give up the royal residence gifted to them to use by Queen Elizabeth II. At 20, he had been ordained a minister of the Church of the Brethren, an Anabaptist denomination, and the news media had reflexively called him the Vaulting Vicar and the Pole Vaulting Pastor. Your email address will not be published. The world record is held by Armand Duplantis, an American-born Swedish athlete known as Mondo, who on Feb. 25 vaulted 20 feet 4 inches. Robert Eugene Richards (February 20, 1926 - February 26, 2023) was an American athlete, minister, and politician. And Richards made history, becoming the onlymale two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, and with another record: 14 feet 11 inches. At 20, he had been ordained a minister of the Church of the Brethren, an Anabaptist denomination, and the news media had reflexively called him the Vaulting Vicar and the Pole Vaulting Pastor. Though Bob Richards in the flesh costs cash, the market for him is humming, and now, having knocked them dead at Evansville and Northwood, he faces a grinding Wednesday schedule. Facebook . 12 Copy quote. AP Photo/Olympic World Photo, Pool, File Signup today! Cold War tensions again played out in the 1956 Melbourne Games. He was 97. Richards was elected to the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983, and to the United States National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975. Besides winning two gold medals in the Olympics in the 1950s, he took a bronze medal at the 1948 Olympics in London and gold at the Pan American Games in 1951 and 1955. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He was the greatest dad I could ever ask for and I will miss him dearly., #ada-button-frame { Richards was elected to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983 after being inducted into the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1975, according to U.S.A. Track and Field. Bob was world class in his events. "He passed in his sleep peacefully surrounded by loved ones. Richards made the Olympic team that competed in the Games in London in 1948 and won a bronze medal. Until 2012, he had lived on a ranch in Santo, Texas, which he named the Crossbar Ranch and which was involved in numerous commercial activities, including oil and gas exploration and horse and cattle grazing. Be a part of the solution, not the problem." ~ Stephen Covey. His father was a telephone lineman. championships in indoor and outdoor vaulting competitions, and United States decathlon championships in 1951, 1954 and 1955. By ROBERT D. McFADDEN Alex Traub contributed reporting. He tallied about 66,000 votes out of 92.6 million as President Ronald Reagan and the Republicans trounced Walter Mondale, the former Democratic vice president and senator from Minnesota. These people who want to wave the flag and play the band, thats not the real spirit of the Olympics, he said. He also ran for president on the far-right Populist Party ticket in 1984, espousing a platform that called for abolishing personal income taxes, cutting the federal budget in half, repudiating the national debt, deporting illegal immigrants and denying the right to vote to anyone on welfare for more than a year. All American Entertainment (AAE), is a full-service speakers bureau and talent agency that exclusively represents the interests of event professionals to select, book, and execute events with keynote speakers who leave a lasting impact on their audiences.We work tirelessly for event professionals as their centralized, trusted, and impartial partner in the talent booking process. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. The 1952 Olympic Games were a symbolic watershed in the Cold War. Long before modern athletes began . His image was on Wheaties boxes from 1958 to 1970, and from 1958 to 1972 he was a ubiquitous presence on television and radio and made numerous national tours, speaking to school and community groups, presenting awards at athletic banquets and generating torrents of publicity. by Cass Anderson April 1, . In 1970 he married Vonda Joan Beaird, an actress. You are what you go for. Jason Taylor for Cisco. The Suez crisis and the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution led some nations to withdraw in protest. Quotes tagged as "motivational-speaker" Showing 1-30 of 685. And Richards made history, becoming the onlymale two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, and with another record: 14 feet 11 inches. display: none; Choose wisely! In his life after sports, Richards portrayed himself in a television biography, Leap to Heaven (1957); hosted a weekly childrens television program in Los Angeles; reported for NBC, CBS and ABC on the Olympic Games in Rome; Innsbruck, Austria; Tokyo and Montreal; and delivered some 12,000 motivational speeches to corporate sales forces, high school students and community organizations. Robert Eugene Richards was born on Feb. 20, 1926, in Champaign, Ill., the third of five children of Leslie and Margaret (Palfrey) Richards. The 1952 Olympic Games were a symbolic watershed in the Cold War. Purpose gives faith. Life lifts you over the bar. In 1946, he was ordained and transferred to the University of Illinois. Robert E. Richards, an ordained minister nicknamed the Vaulting Vicar, won Olympic gold medals in 1952 at Helsinki and in 1956 at Melbourne, Australia, using aluminum poles to clear bars set at just under 15 feet. After a year at Bethany Biblical Seminary in Chicago, he taught at Illinois and then joined the faculty of the Brethren-affiliated La Verne College, now the University of La Verne, in California, and was pastor of a Brethren church in Long Beach until his busy athletic schedule forced him to resign. UU. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Paul Snelgrove, Dr. Hendrik Poinar, Michael Archer, Bart Knols and Bruno Maisonnier. Bob Richards, an ordained minister who became the first athlete to appear on the front of a Wheaties box after he won two Olympic gold medals in the pole vault during the 1950s, an accomplishment he parlayed into a successful career as a motivational speaker, died Feb. 26 at his home in Waco. Richards himself never vaulted more than 15 feet 6 inches. He also competed as a decathlete in 1956, in which he placed 13th. En cliquant sur Accepter tout, vous acceptez que Yahoo et nos partenaires traitent vos informations personnelles et utilisent des technologies telles que les cookies pour afficher des publicits et des contenus personnaliss, et des fins de mesure des publicits et des contenus, dtude des audiences et de dveloppement de produit. Russian athletes were participating for the first time since the Czarist days before the 1917 Russian Revolution, and Helsinki was alive with tensions as the United States rolled to 76 medals (40 gold) to the Soviet Unions 71 (22 gold). Wrote Brandon Richards, We lost a national treasure, adding that his father always motivated us kids the same way to be the best we could be. Men that were stronger, bigger and faster than I was could have done it, but they never picked up a pole, never made the feeble effort to pick their legs off the ground trying to get over the bar. Bob Richards, Pole-Vaulting Hero of the Cold War Era, Dies at 97. In total, Richards competed in three Olympic Games 1948, 1952 and 1956. She died in 2019. Best Stephen Covey Quotes. Thats not what the Olympic spirit is all about.. Richards made the Olympic team that competed in the Games in London in 1948 and won a bronze medal. He was the voice during the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio program host from 1950 to 1956. The duel for the gold medal was waged between Richards and fellow American Don Laz. In 1970, he bicycled 3,300 miles from Los Angeles to New York to promote fitness. Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald, viaAssociated Press. a blog by Jack Limpert, Editor of The Washingtonian for more than 40 years. In his life after sports, Richards portrayed himself in a television biography, Leap to Heaven (1957); hosted a weekly childrens television program in Los Angeles; reported for NBC, CBS and ABC on the Olympic Games in Rome, Innsbruck, Tokyo and Montreal; and delivered some 12,000 motivational speeches to corporate sales forces, high school students and community organizations. Book them through GigSalad and be covered by our 100% awesome guarantee! When Richards finally triumphed with an Olympic record of 14 feet 11 inches, a defeated Soviet rival, Viktor Knyazev, clasped him in a bear hug. Their words are often powerful and their talks impactful, regardless of whether they are attempting to challenge, transform or convince the audience. He retired to a ranch in Waco, where he owned a golf course. And he was perfect on the Wheaties box: a muscular all-American with a smile that radiated confidence, health and upright living. That distinction, as Richards acknowledged, belonged to Cornelius Warmerdam, a Californian who used bamboo poles to set world records of about 15 feet 8 inches in the early 1940s. Even Richardss son Brandon, as a teenager using a fiberglass pole in 1985, vaulted 18 feet 2 inches, which was then a national record for a high schooler and stood for 14 years. His image was on Wheaties boxes from 1958 to 1970, and from 1958 to 1972 he was a ubiquitous presence on television and radio and made numerous national tours, speaking to school and community groups, presenting awards at athletic banquets and generating torrents of publicity. The world record is held by Armand Duplantis, an American-born Swedish athlete known as Mondo, who just this month vaulted 20 feet 4 3/4 inches, surpassing his own previous five world records, all over 20 feet and all set since 2020. In 1970, he bicycled 3,300 miles from Los Angeles to New York to promote fitness. Warmerdam, known as Dutch, might have been an odds-on Olympic favorite, but he never got to compete because the quadrennial Games were suspended in 1940 and 1944 for World War II, when he was serving as a Navy officer. Goals give purpose. He was 97. He is also the first athlete to appear on the front of a Wheaties cereal box in 1958. Slectionnez Grer les paramtres pour grer vos prfrences. He graduated from high school in 1943, and in 1944 he enrolled at the Brethren-affiliated Bridgewater College in Virginia. She died in 2019. INDIANAPOLIS Bob Richards, a two-time Olympic pole vault gold medalist who also was an ordained minister, died Sunday. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep . The essential thing in life is not in the conquering, but in the fight. The family that plays and prays together stays together, Richards intoned on countless occasions. 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