Otis Davis

Otis Davis

Otis Davis in 2012
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1932-07-12) July 12, 1932 (age 84) Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Country	US
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	400-meter dash 4×400 m relay
College team	University of Oregon
Club	Philadelphia Pioneer Club
Coached by	Bill Bowerman
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1960 Rome 400 m 1960 Rome 4×400 m relay

For the baseball player, see Otis Davis (baseball)

Otis Crandall Davis (born July 12, 1932) is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals for record-breaking performances in both the 400 m and 4×400 m relay at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Davis set a new world record of 44.9 seconds in the 400 m event, and he became the first man to break the 45-second barrier.

Otis Crandall Davis was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on July 12, 1932. He is black and Native American. He served four years in the United States Air Force, during the Korean War.

Following the Air Force, Davis attended the University of Oregon on a basketball scholarship, hoping to one day becoming a professional. One day in 1958 while observing athletes running on the track with a friend, Davis, who had never run before, nor attended schools in his youth with sports programs other than basketball and football, decided that he could beat the athletes he saw on the track. He approached track coach Bill Bowerman, who would later become the founding father of the Nike, Inc., and asked to join the track team. Bowerman, who needed high jumpers, had Davis try his hand at that event. Among Davis' first attempts at the high jump, he jumped 6-0. Recalls Davis, "I had no form. I had no style. I just jumped." He also hit 23-0 in the long jump with little effort, though Davis was flustered by the sprinting events, relating "I didn't even know how to get in the starting blocks". In his first competitive event, Bowerman entered Davis in the 220-yard dash and the 440-yard dash in the Pacific Coast Conference championships, both of which Davis won, missing the school record by two tenths of a second in the latter event.