L. D. Weldon (1908May 6, 1989) was an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

coach. He trained decathletes, including two Olympic medal winners, 40 years apart.

Early career

A native of California, in 1925 Weldon moved to Graceland Academy in

Lamoni, Iowa Lamoni is a city in Decatur County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,969 at the time of the 2020 Census. Lamoni is the home of Graceland University, affiliated with the Community of Christ, and the city was the church's headquarters from ...

for the final two years of high school. He continued there to

Graceland College Graceland University is a private university with campuses in Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri. The university offers degree completion and master's degree programs at satellite campuses in Centerville and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Trent ...

for his first year of college before transferring to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. As an athlete at Graceland, he won the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

at the nearby

Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', it ...

and at the

Kansas Relays The Kansas Relays are a three-day track meet every April, held at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Since 1923, the Kansas Relays have attracted runners, throwers, and jumpers from all over the United States of America, bringing in a ...

in 1928. After a mandatory year of ineligibility due to his transfer, he returned in 1930 to repeat his wins at

and

, plus the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are hel ...

hitting the trifecta of top national competition.

Sacramento City College

After graduating Weldon found work coaching at

Sacramento City College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community ...

from 1931 to 1945. He was elected to the school's Hall of Fame in 1997. His first big coaching success was Jack Parker, a farm boy from

whom he recruited to Sacramento. In the summer of 1936, Weldon drove Parker to the decathlon Olympic Trials in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. Parker finished in third place, qualifying him for the

1936 Olympics 1936 Olympics may refer to: *The 1936 Winter Olympics, which were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany *The 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI ...

. Against the best athletes in the world, the American team finished 1-2-3, with Parker taking the bronze medal. Other athletes coached by Weldon included: * Tom Moore, who later achieved the world record in the 120-yard high hurdles after transferring to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

* Joe Batiste, who set the junior college record at Sacramento and won the national championship in the 120-yard high hurdles. Batiste qualified for both the 1940 and 1944 Olympic teams, but the Olympics were suspended during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. With Batiste as a multi-event star, Sacramento won the National Junior College Championship in both 1941 and 1942. *

Lou Nova Lou Nova (March 16, 1913 – September 29, 1991) also called ''Cosmic punch'' was an American boxer and actor. Born in Los Angeles, California, the Nova was the U.S. and World Amateur Boxing Champion in 1935. After turning pro, he remained u ...

was a member of Weldon's 1933 track team, but the coach advised him his best sport might be

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. Nova took that advice. He beat former title holder

Max Baer Max Baer may refer to: * Max Baer (boxer) (1909–1959), American boxing world champion ** Max Baer Jr. Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, producer, comedian, and director widely known for his role as ...

twice, the first time in 1939 during the first televised boxing match. He later fought

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...

for the title before retiring to become an actor. During World War II, Weldon coached the Sacramento

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team to undefeated seasons in 1941 and 1942. The team suffered just one loss in 1943.

Hiatus

In 1945, Weldon's heart condition forced his retirement from coaching at Sacramento City College. For the next eight years, he worked as a

beekeeper A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. Beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (both from the Latin '' apis'', bee; cf. apiary). The term beekeeper refers to a person who keeps honey bees i ...

and farm equipment salesman in

Moorhead, Iowa Moorhead is a city in Monona County, Iowa, United States. Moorhead stands along the Soldier River. The population was 199 at the time of the 2020 census. History A post office was established at Moorhead in 1872. Moorhead was platted in 1899. ...

. In 1953 he felt healthy enough to return to coaching at

Amphitheater High School Amphitheater High School, also known as Amphi High, is a public high school, located in northwest Tucson, Arizona, United States. Amphi is the flagship high school of Amphitheater Public Schools of Tucson, and serves grades 9–12. The school mas ...

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, the hometown of his star athlete, Joe Batiste, while working on his master's degree at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. In 1959, Welton took positions as

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

and track coach at his alma mater, Graceland College. His Graceland track teams dominated the Missouri College Athletic Union and later the

Heart of America Athletic Conference The Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC or The Heart) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska in ...

, winning eleven conference titles during his fourteen years at the school.

Jenner

Weldon offered a $250 football scholarship to an athletic quarterback and water skiing champion from Connecticut,

Bruce Jenner Caitlyn Marie Jenner (born William Bruce Jenner; October 28, 1949) is an American media personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner played college football for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a kn ...

. A knee injury during Jenner's first season required surgery on January 1, 1969. As he did with Lou Nova, Weldon suggested Jenner might try a different athletic pursuit, this time the decathlon. He trained Jenner, whose first competition in 1970 was at the

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, Iowa where Jenner placed fifth. A year later, Jenner was the NAIA Champion. In 1972 Jenner made the Olympic team by finishing third at the

Olympic Trials Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

.Richard Hymans (2008
The History of the United States Olympic trials – Track and Field
USA Track and Field At the 1972 Olympics, the first event after the

Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

was the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

. Jenner watched

Mykola Avilov Mykola Viktorovych Avilov ( uk, Микола Вікторович Авілов, russian: link=no, Николай Викторович Авилов, born 6 August 1948) is a retired Ukrainian Soviet decathlete (Odessa) who competed at the 1968, 1 ...

beat

Bill Toomey William Anthony Toomey (born January 10, 1939) is a former American track and field competitor and the 1968 Olympic decathlon champion. He won 23 of the 38 decathlons he competed in, scoring over 8,000 points a dozen times. He was on the cover ...

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

while Jenner finished in tenth place, but remained strongly motivated in defeat. After Jenner graduated from Graceland, Weldon took emeritus status with the college. Jenner moved to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

and began an intense training regimen while corresponding with Weldon. By 1974, Jenner was the United States National Champion and surpassed Avilov's world record in 1975. Jenner set another record at the Olympic trials, though it was clouded by a timing malfunction in other heats. Jenner settled any questions by setting a new world record and winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics. Jenner subsequently retired from athletics and capitalized on her celebrity by becoming an actor.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weldon, L. D. 1908 births 1989 deaths American male javelin throwers American track and field coaches Graceland University alumni Graceland University faculty Iowa Hawkeyes men's track and field athletes Sacramento City College Sports coaches from California University of Arizona alumni University of Iowa alumni