Dick Fosbury, originator of the “Fosbury Flop,” celebrates his gold medal on Oct. 20, 1968. Silver medalist Ed Caruthers is at left, bronze medalist Valentin Gavrilov at right.
Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the day UA high-jumper Ed Caruthers won a silver medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Caruthers also played on Arizona’s 1967 football team. Caruthers told me he would’ve stayed in the high jump until the 1972 Munich Olympics — he would’ve been 30 — but amateur rules of the day scuttled his plan to do so. “I signed with the Detroit Lions and was paid an $8,000 signing bonus and earned about $16,000 total until I was injured and left football,” he said. “But the AAU told me I would have to pay all of that money back if I wanted to regain my amateur status for 1972. Well, I was married, we bought a house and had two kids, so I couldn’t do it. There just wasn’t enough money in track and field in those days. Now, you’d be a millionaire and it wouldn’t matter.”
