Fansided

The greatest Olympic athlete from every U.S. state

By Adam Strangis

16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
16th October 1964: Alfred A Oerter, American winner of the Gold Medal in the Tokyo Olympics 1964 for Discus throwing. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 49
Next
1962: American athlete Bob Hayes (1942 – 2002) takes off from the starting blocks as he sprints for Florida A
1962: American athlete Bob Hayes (1942 – 2002) takes off from the starting blocks as he sprints for Florida A /

Florida: Bob Hayes

Sport: Track and Field

Olympics: Tokyo 1964

Winning gold medals, playing in the NFL, and holding a world record is quite the trifecta of sports accomplishments but that’s exactly what Bob “Bullet Bob” Hayes managed to do in his life. Not only did he play in the NFL, he played at a very high level. He remains the only man to win both a gold medal and a Super Bowl ring. Even though Hayes passed away in 2002, he still holds multiple world records for the 60 and 70 yards dash. Hayes remains the only man to be clocked at under seven seconds on the 70-yard dash. For context, a football player today that runs a 4.3-second 40-yard dash is considered to have elite speed. Hayes ran 70 yards in 6.9 seconds.

In the 1964 Olympics, he won the gold in the 100-meter dash even though his lane was not in very good shape. It had been beaten up by previous events and on top of that, Hayes was wearing a pair of borrowed shoes. He then anchored the 4×100 meter relay team and ran one of the fastest legs in Olympic history. His career would have included plenty more medals had he not decided to pursue football full time after the Games at the young age of 21.

When Hayes joined the Dallas Cowboys, he was a major presence on the field. He was a Pro Bowl player three times, First-team All-Pro twice, and he led the league in touchdowns twice. He was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor in 2001 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. He joined Jim Thorpe as the only other man to be a gold medalist and a Hall of Famer. “Buller Bob” earned his nickname anytime he took the field in any given sport and is still one of the more unique athletes in history.

Honorable Mention: Kurt Thomas, gymnastics in Montreal 1976

Home/Olympics