His most popular book is The 7 Habits of Highly . He was 97. Robert Eugene Richards was born on Feb. 20, 1926, in Champaign, Illinois, the third of five children of Leslie and Margaret (Palfrey) Richards. They have transformed many people's lives including mine. They often encourage their audience to look at things from a different and perspective, and motivate them to take positive action in their lives. By Robert D. McFadden 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. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Paul Snelgrove, Dr. Hendrik Poinar, Michael Archer, Bart Knols and Bruno Maisonnier. In 1970 he married Vonda Joan Beaird, an actress. Here's my list of the top 10 motivational speakers in the world. Energy gives life. She died in 2019. The health of our home planet and the survival of our species will only be secured through the use of space resources and the expansion of Earth's economic sphere to the Moon and beyond. He was one of a kind.". Richards competed at the 1948, 52, and 56 Olympics in the pole vault. Richards hugged him back, for which he was criticized by some American officials and members of the news media. He also won 17 AAU championships in indoor and outdoor vaulting competitions, and United States decathlon championships in 1951, 1954 and 1955. He married the college presidents niece, Mary Leah Cline, in 1946. Capitalizing on his fame, Richards became director of the Wheaties Sports Federation, founded in 1958 after President Dwight D. Eisenhower called for a national physical fitness campaign. But even during his . He is also a very inspirational Christian motivational speaker. 2. And Richards made history, becoming the only male two-time winner of the Olympic pole vault, and with another record: 14 feet 11 inches. The family that plays and prays together stays together, Richards intoned on countless occasions. 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. Communicate with the Motivational Speaker you select to work out the details of your event. Hisson, Brandon, wrote in a social media post that his fatherpassed in his sleep peacefully surrounded by loved ones.. And he was perfect on the Wheaties box: a muscular all-American with a smile that radiated confidence, health and upright living. 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. Long before modern athletes began riding fiberglass poles to unimaginable heights, the Rev. 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. Topeka Mayors Advice for Mayor Adams: Learn Humility. 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. J.R. Eyerman/The LIFE Picture Collection, via Shutterstock. Fugitive in $18 million COVID fraud scheme extradited to U.S. 20,000 people may have been exposed to measles at Asbury University revival. He was 97. He married the college presidents niece, Mary Leah Cline, in 1946. Joe Theismann for DHL. Nous, Rivals, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. 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). He married the college presidents niece, Mary Leah Cline, in 1946. He earned a bachelors degree in 1947 and a masters in 1948. Dave Ramsey David Ramsey is an American financial author, radio host, television personality, and motivational speaker. 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. Slectionnez Grer les paramtres pour grer vos prfrences. By ROBERT D. McFADDEN Alex Traub contributed reporting. The pole-vault competition lasted more than four hours. Richards is survived by two sons, Paul and Robert Jr., and a daughter, Carol Stasiewicz, from his first marriage; two sons, Thomas and Brandon, and a daughter, Tammy Richards LeSure, from his second; a brother, Kenny; 12 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Everything that happens to you can happen for good if you have this spirit. Courage gives enthusiasm. Cold War tensions again played out in the 1956 Melbourne Games. 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. 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. 4. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956. Would you like to receive our daily news? INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Bob Richards, a two-time Olympic pole vault gold medalist who also became an ordained minister, died Sunday. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. Robert (Bob) Richards generally travels from and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. "To achieve goals you've never achieved before, you need to start doing things you've never done before." ~ Stephen Covey. But from 1947 to 1957, he dominated national and international competitions by clearing 15 feet more than 125 times. If you want to know more or withdraw your consent to all or some of the cookies, please refer to the, Bob Richards (2009). This article originally appeared in The New York Times. The 1952 Olympic Games were a symbolic watershed in the Cold War. He graduated from high school in 1943, and in 1944 he enrolled at the Brethren-affiliated Bridgewater College in Virginia. UU. He is the definition of a true American athlete.. He received the Sullivan Award in 1951 as the nations best amateur athlete. 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. All-Americans who have never tried. Alternatively, call a booking agent directly on 0207 1010 553. 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. Richards became the face and voice of the cereal known as the Breakfast of Champions.. When in was in Jr High School my PE/Health teachers had 30 minute films of Bob, that they showed us. . American pole vaulter Bob Richards, left, talks with Brazilian pole vaulter Helcio Buck-Silva during a break in a training session in Helsinki, July 11, 1952. 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. The Suez crisis and the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution led some nations to withdraw in protest. Capitalizing on his fame, Richards became director of the Wheaties Sports Federation, founded in 1958 after President Dwight D. Eisenhower called for a national physical fitness campaign. Although he broke Olympic records and Russian hearts, and although he became one of Americas most lionized and familiar celebrities a motivational speaker and Wheaties pitchman who personified wholesome values and once ran for president of the United States on a third-party ticket Richards, even at the peak of his athletic power, was not the greatest American pole-vaulter of all time. And he was perfect on the Wheaties box: a muscular all-American with a smile that radiated confidence, health and upright living. That marriage ended in divorce. His autobiography, Heart of a Champion, was published in 1959. His autobiography, Heart of a Champion, was published in 1959. Richards made the Olympic team that competed in the Games in London in 1948 and won a bronze medal. 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, diedon Sunday at his home in Waco, Texas. He was 97. In 1970, he bicycled 3,300 miles from Los Angeles to New York to promote fitness. He was an inspiration to the late Jim Valvano, who coached N.C. State to the 1983 national basketball title ten years . He also competed as a decathlete in 1956, in which he placed 13th. Richards carried the Olympic torch across Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas, in 1996. Vous pouvez modifier vos choix tout moment en consultant vos paramtres de vie prive. Simrin Singh is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News. 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. 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. He earned a bachelors degree in 1947 and a masters in 1948. 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. 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. This is true in all of life. He was 97. an accomplishment he parlayed into a successful career as a motivational speaker, died Feb. 26 at his home in Waco, Texas. Thats not what the Olympic spirit is all about.. Richards in 1951. Like many others, I have a home security system that, when armed, calls a central office if a door is opened or a window is broken. Richards became the face and voice of the cereal known as the Breakfast of Champions.. 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. Biography. He also won 17 AAU championships in indoor and outdoor vaulting competitions, and United States decathlon championships in 1951, 1954 and 1955. 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. He won 11 championship titles at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden. He was 97. 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. 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. She died in 2019. 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. 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. He had been a pastor in California only briefly, but the dual image of minister and champion athlete was irresistible on the speaking circuit. That marriage ended in divorce. One day, well get out of all this flag-waving and nationalism. He was the greatest dad I could ever ask for and I will miss him dearly., #ada-button-frame { Richards is survived by two sons, Paul and Robert Jr., and a daughter, Carol Stasiewicz, from his first marriage; two sons, Thomas and Brandon, and a daughter, Tammy Richards LeSure, from his second; a brother, Kenny;12 grandchildrenand 19 great-grandchildren. He was #1 in my book as a motivational speaker. Life lifts you over the bar. Bob Richards, Pole-Vaulting Hero of the Cold War Era, Dies at 97. admin Send an email 14 seconds ago. His autobiography, Heart of a Champion, was published in 1959. Richards became the face and voice of the cereal known as the Breakfast of Champions.. His story tells of a man who discovered his purpose in life and remained true to it. Up at 6:30, he must motor two hours to Louisville to appear on a morning television show, where he will follow a trained cockatoo. He was 97. High 42F. 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