Indiana University Olympians: From Leroy Samse to Lilly King [Hardcover]

From track and field to swimming and diving, and of course basketball and soccer,Indiana University Olympianscelebrates over a century of Indiana University Olympic competitors. Beginning in 1904, at the 3rd summer games in St. Louis, IU's first Olympic medal went to pole vaulter LeRoy Samse who earned a silver medal. In 2016, swimmer Lilly King rocketed onto the world stage with two gold medals in the 31st Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Featuring profiles of 49 athletes who attended IU,Indiana University Olympiansincludes the stories of well-known figures like Milt Campbell, the first African American to win decathlon gold and who went on to play pro football, and Mark Spitz, winner of seven swimming gold medals. The book also highlights fascinating anecdotes and the accomplishments of their less well-known colleagues, including one athlete's humble beginnings in a chicken house and another who earned a Silver Star for heroism in the Vietnam War. Despite their different lives, they share one key similaritythese remarkable athletes all called Indiana University home.

David Woods caught the Olympic spirit early. He has been covering Olympians since 1972, when a na?ve college kid covered training camp of the U.S. women's track and field team in Champaign, Ill., for The News-Gazette. Woods' first Olympics were at Los Angeles in 1984. He has covered Olympic sports for The Indianapolis Star since 1994, reporting from every Summer Games since 1996. He is the first four-time winner of the Jesse Abramson Award for journalism excellence from Track and Field Writers of America, and has won more than 25 national and state awards. This is his fourth book. The three others were about Butler University basketball. Woods, a native of Urbana, Ill., lives in Indianapolis with wife Jan. They have two married daughters, Karen and Kathy.

Table of contents
Preface
1. Basketball
Steve Alford, 1984
Quinn Buckner and Scott May, 1976