Otis Davis, an Olympic 400m and 4x400m gold medalist in 1960, died Saturday at age 92, according to the University of Oregon, his alma mater, and World Athletics.
At the 1960 Rome Games, Davis won the 400m in a famous photo finish over diving German Carl Kaufmann.
Both men went under the world record and were credited with a hand-timed 44.9. Upon further examination, Davis’ auto-time was 45.07 to Kaufmann’s 45.08.
“I knew I had won,” Davis said of the finish, according to the University of Oregon. “They were the only ones that didn’t know … those up there in the booth.
“By the way, I look at (the replay) every time because I know I’m going to win.”
Two days after the individual gold, Davis anchored the U.S. men’s 4x400m to gold in world record time.
He was born in Tuscaloosa, Ala., near the University of Alabama, which did not desegregate until after Davis enrolled at Oregon.
“Psychologically, I’m telling you, I thought I was running away from all of that negative stuff,” Davis said in 2020. “People saying that you weren’t as good as they were because they didn’t even know you, because you might look different from them, which is totally absurd, and that’s what the problems we’re having now.
“I was working against all of that bitterness and the hatred and the second-class citizenship.”
Before Oregon, Davis served four years in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.
He was a guard on the Oregon basketball team in 1958 when he asked coach Bill Bowerman if he could join the track and field team.
"[Bowerman] said, ‘What do you do?’” Davis remembered in 2020. “I said, ‘What do you need?’ I’m so glad he didn’t say pole vault.”
He was first a high jumper, then did the long jump and ran the 100 yards before settling into the 400m, where he was third at the 1960 Olympic Trials.
After becoming the University of Oregon’s first Olympic track and field gold medalist, he retired from competition in 1961.
He later moved to New Jersey and worked as a teacher, guidance counselor and mentor.
Davis is one of five track and field legends depicted on a 10-story tower outside the new Hayward Field at Oregon, along with Bowerman, Steve Prefontaine, Raevyn Rogers and Ashton Eaton.
...𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘖𝘵𝘪𝘴.
— oregontf (@OregonTF) September 6, 2020
We 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 of our first Olympic gold medalist, Otis Davis, and today marks the 60th anniversary (9/6/60) of his Olympic 400m victory and world record.#GoDucks#HaywardMagic pic.twitter.com/Kvfkj9MjQ6
