Seagren Article

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Catching up with... Bob Seagren, pole vaulter February 20, 1967
Sports Illustrated; New York; Apr 23, 2001; Chris Ballard;

BOB SEAGREN won an Olympic gold medal and set six world records in the pole vault between 1966 and '72, but there's a failure that still eats at him. To this day he can't understand how Tones Boys could have flopped. After all, the pilot of the '80 Charlie's Angels spinoff, in which Seagren costarred, had TV gold written all over it: The angels are kidnapped and then rescued by three handsome male angels-Cotton, who rides horses; Matt, a master of disguise; and Bob, Seagren's character, an Olympic champion who was often seen without his shirt. "I thought we'd hit pay dirt; says Seagren, 54. "With all the celebrity of the girls' show, we thought it was a can'tmiss. For some reason it never got picked up."

It's little surprise that Seagren was chosen for a starring role. His square-- jawed, all-American looks turned him into a matinee idol, the Valentino of the vault, and enamored female fans would wait for him in hotel lobbies and call him long distance in the middle of the night. His profile only grew with his Olympic success-the gold in 1968 and a silver in '72-and his surprising victory in the first Superstars competition in '73. After he gave up his amateur status to compete on the International Track Association's professional circuit from '73 to '76, Seagren turned to acting. His first significant part was as a gay character, Dennis Phillips, for two seasons on the sitcom Soap. He followed that with guest turns on Fantasy Island, Love Boat and Wonder Woman; seven unsuccessful pilots ("quite a frustrating experience; he says); and finally a gig as host of PM Maga:ine from '83 to '86.

These days Seagren lives in Calabasas, Calif., with his second wife, Peggy, and their 3 1/2-year-old twins, Mika and McKenzie. The onetime daredevil, who learned to pole-vault as a teenager in Pomona, Calif., by springing from rooftop to rooftop on bamboo poles he'd picked up from a rug store, now sticks to golf, jogging and tennis. From the offices of his Long Beach-based consulting business, he serves as CEO of International City Racing (which organizes the Long Beach Marathon) and procures sponsorships for a number of entities, including the California Community College Commission on Athletics, which governs sports on the state's 107 junior college campuses.

Though Seagren has filmed a few recent infomercials, his acting career is essentially over. When asked, in light of the success of last year's Charlie's Angels movie, whether it's time for another shot at Toni's Boys, Seagren laughs. "I'm not so sure; he says. "I'm way too old for that now." -Chris Ballard

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http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_4485559

A fierce competitor
Bob Seagren a true life success story
By Robert Morales, Staff Writer
Article Launched:10/12/2006 10:58:06 PM PDT
LONG BEACH - By all accounts, Bob Seagren has as much fire in his belly as a man can have. It's why he became a legendary pole-vaulter, a decent actor with no acting experience, and a successful entrepreneur who today lives here on his 60-foot yacht.
Seagren, 59, is the founder and CEO of International City Racing in Long Beach, which specializes in the development, management and implementation of fitness events. He and a group of investors started the company in 2000, he said, upon hearing that the Long Beach Marathon was in trouble.

Well, the Long Beach Marathon is more than alive and well as it will be run Sunday for the 22nd year. It's just another in a long line of accomplishments for Seagren, who helped usher in the new fiberglass pole by setting world records in the pole vault of 17-5 1/2 (1966), 17-7 (1967), 17-9 (1968) and 18-5 3/4 (1972).

Seagren won the gold medal in the 1968 Mexico City Games with a vault of 17-8 1/2.

He took the silver medal in the 1972 Munich Games with that same mark, even though his and the poles of 16 other vaulters were disallowed by the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations), forcing them to use unfamiliar poles.

Seagren and two of

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his former coaches this week reflected on his journey. The foremost thought of those who know him best is that Seagren is as competitive as they come.
Seagren estimates that he actually set a total of 15 world records, including the "unofficial" records that he set indoors at a time when indoor world records were not recognized.

It was before one of those, in 1967, that Seagren showed his true grit.

"You have to understand, he is such a competitor," said Ken Matsuda, the retired assistant track coach at USC, where Seagren competed after setting records his one year at Mt. San Antonio College. "I went on an indoor meet with him when he hurt his back so bad. I would be calling back to (late Trojans head coach) Vern (Wolfe) and saying, `He's finished.'

"The next day, he set a world record. I mean, we had a world-record two-mile relay team. One of the kids got hurt at an indoor meet and Bob ran the half mile on the two-mile relay team. He would run the mile relay, the intermediate hurdles. He was a great, great pole vaulter, but oh my goodness, he never changed. He was something else."

Interestingly, Seagren thought about becoming something else prior to enrolling at Mt. SAC. His father, Art, was a plant manager for Pepsi.

"I often thought about, what are the qualities of a champion?" said Don Ruh, the retired Mt. SAC coach whom Seagren gives enormous credit for making him the record-setting athlete he was. "And I thought that being a fierce competitor and being confident (were two).

"Bob also had a temper. I think that fierce competitiveness comes out in temper, too. Nevertheless, he had all the attributes of a champion when he got to Mt. SAC., and I guess it was my job to direct him in the right direction.

"His dad worked for Pepsi, and his ambition at that point was to drive a Pepsi truck. So the first challenge (during recruitment) was talking him into not being a Pepsi truck driver and going to school.

"And he did."

Well, Seagren said Thursday that he didn't remember it taking much persuasion by Ruh to enroll at Mt. SAC. But he did admit that after his senior year at Pomona High School, he was not a happy camper.

And had things not gone so well at Mt. SAC, he may have taken another avenue.

"My senior year in high school was sort of a major disappointment for me," Seagren said. "I didn't jump as high as I anticipated. I jumped 14-4 as a junior and only 15 feet as a senior, so it was a small increase."

Seagren said that the pole vault had come relatively easy for him, so he kind of took it for granted and didn't train as hard as he could have. As it turned out, that senior season was good for him. It helped bring out the tiger from within.

"It was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me," Seagren said. "I graduated high school in `64 and that year was the Tokyo Olympics. I had a disappointing year and then I was watching the Olympic games on television and I said, `That's what I want to do one day. I would love to do that.'

"It had a very profound effect on me and I said, `Well, obviously, I'm not going to get there unless I really take it serious and really train. And I didn't know what really training was all about."

He did once Ruh got hold of him.

"The fiberglass pole was very new; nobody knew how to teach fiberglass pole vaulting, so a lot of us were very self taught," Seagren said. "I went to community college the next year and had a wonderful coach (Ruh). He didn't know a whole lot about vaulting, but he knew a great deal about motivating kids and he really put me on a training regimen and he challenged me every day, which I loved."

Oh, really?

"We trained him as kind of an all-around athlete," Ruh said. "We made him do a lot of running that he wasn't used to. A lot of hill running. He would end up throwing up on top of the hill."

But the result was record-setting. He went from 15 feet his senior year in high school, to a national community college record of 16-5 3/4 as well as a national indoor record of 17-1 during his one year at Mt. SAC.

"Don Ruh was a great guy and he really motivated me and he was pretty smart in the way he went about things," Seagren said. "I got in the best shape of my life. I was in phenomenal shape and he really worked with me a lot and helped me to visualize what I was doing.

"And again, it was still the early days of experimenting with the fiberglass pole, but he really sat me down and we really analyzed what I was doing and looked at it so I could really help build a mental picture of what I was doing and try to figure out what I needed to do.

"I will always be grateful for Don and his influence."

While at USC, Seagren won four NCAA championships as well as the gold medal in Mexico City. It was an experience, he said, that will stick with him forever. Not only because he won the gold medal, but also because of the tremendous pressure he felt.

Until that point, Americans had won the gold medal in the pole vault at every Olympics. If he came up with anything less, it would be difficult to live down. But he came through with flying colors.

"I felt a lot of pressure that year," Seagren said. "An American had never lost the gold, had won the gold every year. So, I didn't want to be the first to lose it.

"You get used to competing every week and I would compete in 60, 70 track meets a year. When I got to Mexico City, I had made the team and I was the favorite and I was a little nervous."

Then the magnitude of the Olympics set in.

"I didn't realize how big an event it was until the opening ceremonies, and when you walk into that stadium and, oh my God, it's full of people, all the pageantry and what not," Seagren said. "That's when it really hit me that, `This is not just another track meet.' "

Seagren said he became a little more nervous, but that he was able to settle down and take care of business. The other two medal winners jumped the same height as did Seagren, but Seagren won the gold based on fewer misses.

But not before he had to sweat out one last attempt by those other two competitors to try and take the gold away.

"When they both missed, it was just the biggest feeling of relief and satisfaction I could ever experience," Seagren said.

The next day, Oct. 17, 1968, Seagren turned 21. It was quite a present, and they kept on coming when he returned to the U.S. Agents were on the phone, convincing Seagren to give acting a try.

He did commercials, some episodic television - including a recurring role on the comedy "Soap" - as well as some movies from 1978-88. But he was bored with it. Not enough action, too much sitting around.

"I was so used to being so active all the time," Seagren said, "so to sit on a set or a commercial shoot, and you sit around all day long to maybe work, you know, 10 minutes, it was like, `Oh my God.' I was bored to death. But it was great. You could make a lot of money for sitting around.

"So I dabbled in it for a number of years, did a lot of hosting of shows. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but it's not the type of work that was feeding my ego."

A man like Seagren is almost expected to have a big ego, just like any other world-class athlete. His is a trip through time that anyone would die for. But he's not done.

"Obviously, I have been blessed compared to a lot of people and I'm very thankful for what I've done, but naturally, I would like to do more so I keep striving and doing things," Seagren said. "I have children, that, you know, I want to make sure they're well taken care of, so you keep plugging away so that you can hopefully leave something for them.

"That is just part of growing up. Everybody has that feeling. You want your children to have a better life than you had. That is the American dream."

Oh, that's right, Seagren also set or tied six American records in the pole vault.