Ames (Athlete) 1979
1954 State Mile Champion. 400 meter Hurdles Silver Medalist in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. One of Kansas University’s greatest student-athlete heroes missed a gold medal by tripping over a hurdle in quest of such, issued a timeless challenge to us all, then fell from the skies over Vietnam. Capt. Clifton E. Cushman died in 1966 doing what he considered his patriotic duty – so typical of the incomparable Clif. He instinctively knew how to “do the right thing,” or at least try. Few tracksters have been as versatile as Clif, a member of KU’s 1959 NCAA outdoor national championship team and captain of a great 1960 crew. As a high schooler in Grand Forks, N.D., he won state titles in the long jump, high hurdles and mile. At KU, he was a fine cross-country runner as well as a world-class 400-meter hurdler. Numerous records. Cushman was voted the meet’s top performer at the 1960 Kansas Relays after he won the 400-meter hurdles in :51.2; ran a 1:53.8 half-mile leg on the winning KU two-mile relay team; led off the winning sprint medley relay team with a :48.5 quarter-mile; then anchored the second-place KU mile relay team with a :48.5 quarter. He was an even more outstanding citizen. In 1960, Clif won an Olympic silver medal at Rome in the metric hurdles and dedicated himself to taking gold in 1964 at Tokyo. But the ’64 U.S. team trials saw the favored Cushman trip over the fifth hurdle in the finals and fail to make the team. It happened on national television; thousands sent condolences. Typical Cushman … he responded with his now-revered “I Dare You” letter to young people, via the Journal-World and the papers in Grand Forks and Des Moines. Clifton E. Cushman letter “Don’t feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for some of you! … you watched me hit the fifth hurdle, fall and lie on the track in an inglorious heap of skinned elbows, bruised hips, torn knees and injured pride, unsuccessful in my attempt to make the Olympic team a second time. In a split second all the many years of training, pain, sweat, blisters and agony of running were simply and irrevocably wiped out. But I tried! I would much rather fall knowing I had put forth an honest effort than never to have tried at all. “This is not to say everyone is capable of making the Olympic team. However, each of you is capable of trying to make your own ‘Olympic team,’ whether it be the high school football team, the glee club, the honor roll or whatever your goal may be. Unless your reach exceeds your grasp, how can you be sure what you can attain? And don’t you think there are things better than cigarettes, hot rod cars, school dropouts, excessive makeup and ducktail grease-cuts? Over 15 years ago I saw a star – first place in the Olympic Games. I literally started to run after it. In 1960, I came within three yards of grabbing it; this year I stumbled, fell and watched it recede four more years away. Certainly, I was very disappointed in falling flat on my face. However, there is nothing I can do about it now but get up, pick the cinders from my wounds and take one step followed by one more, until the steps turn into the miles and miles of success. I know I may never make it. The odds are against me, but I have something in my favor – desire and faith. Romans 5:3-5 has always had an inspirational meaning to me … ‘we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.”