Robert Seagren (born October 17, 1946) is a retired American

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er, the 1968 Olympic champion. A native of

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, Seagren was one of the world's top pole vaulters in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He won six National AAU and four

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titles indoors and outdoors. Indoors he posted eight world bests between 1966 and 1969. He was also the Pan American Games champion in 1967. He set his first

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on May 14, 1966, followed by his world records 1967 in

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, 1968 in

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near South Lake Tahoe and 1972 in Eugene . In 1968, Seagren participated in his first

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. In an exciting contest, he won the gold medal with the top three vaulters, including silver medalist Claus Schiprowski (

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) and the bronze medal winner Wolfgang Nordwig (

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) reaching the same height . Four years later, in

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, he remains best remembered for the Olympic gold medal he didn't get. In the

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, a last-minute ruling barred the new ''banana-Pole'' from Olympic competition, forcing some vaulters, including Seagren, to compete with unfamiliar poles. East German Wolfgang Nordwig didn't use a ''Cata-Pole'' and won the gold medal, with Seagren coming second. It was the first time an American had failed to win the Olympic gold medal in the pole vault. In fact, no American would again win a gold medal in the pole vault until Nick Hysong won in 2000. A 1968

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graduate, Seagren took a try at professional track and later he started his career in

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and

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s as a show host and

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actor. Seagren won the inaugural American '' Superstars'' sports competition in 1973 as well as the first ''World Superstars'' in 1977, his lone victories in both events. He was able to enjoy the spoils from these competitions because he had become a professional athlete having signed to join the International Track Association (ITA) tour after the 1972 Olympics. On the ITA tour he renewed his very personal antagonistic rivalry with fellow American pole vaulter

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. Seagren went on to become an actor, appearing in several movies and television shows, including the controversial sitcom ''

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'' in 1977 in which he played Dennis Phillips, a

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football player in a relationship with

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's character Jodie Dallas. He appeared as a guest star in an episode of '' Charlie's Angels'' in 1980, called "Toni's Boys" as a detective who worked for a friend of Charlie who was also in the detective business. The episode was a backdoor pilot for a new series but the show wasn't picked up by the network. He was referred to in the episode as an "Olympic Champion" although he played a fictional character. He also guest starred on the tv series ''

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'' in the episodes called "Stolen Faces" and "The Man Who Could Not Die". Seagren played himself, serving as an LAPD youth camp counselor on the "Camp Two" episode of '' Adam-12''. Today, he is CEO of International City Racing, which specializes in the development, management, and implementation of road racing,

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...

, and fitness events, including the

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International City Marathon. He is also an active supporter of the Commission on Athletics of the California Community Colleges. He was named to the inaugural class of the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame. In 1986 he was inducted into the

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Personal life

From 1970 to 1982, Seagren was married to former teen model, dancer, and co-host of KHJ-TV's '' The Groovy Show'', Kam Nelson. They had a daughter.

References

External links

* See the Eugene record jump @ 19:20 * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seagren, Bob 1946 births Living people American male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 1967 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Mt. San Antonio College alumni Sportspeople from Pomona, California World record setters in athletics (track and field) USC Trojans men's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from California Junior college men's track and field athletes in the United States Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field American chief executives Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1967 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games