Jeff Bennett (decathlete)

Jeff Bennett (born August 29, 1948) is a native of Vinita, Oklahoma.^[a] He is an American former decathlete who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.^[1]

Bennet has said that he was inspired into entering track and field competition by watching Olympian athletes performing in the 1960 Olympic games pole vault event. In high school he also became interested in long jumping and running hurdles. but the pole vault was still his favorite event. He won the state title when he was a senior, after coming in second in his sophomore and junior years. After high school, he went on to Oklahoma Christian University (OC). ^[b] When he was a sophomore at OC, he ran the 400-meter hurdles and won the national meet. He also began training to compete in the decathlon. Bennett still holds the OCW records in the 400-meter hurdles and decathlon. Before his graduation in 1970, he was named a four-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American and a member of the NAIA and Oklahoma Christian University Athletics Halls of Fame.^[2]

After graduating from OC, Bennett accepted a teaching position in Midwest City, though he said he still wanted to compete in decathlons. Instead he received the notice stating he had been drafted into the U.S. Army. Most draftees at that time could expect to be sent to Vietnam for combat duty. Bennett knew that the army had its own track team and was looking for exceptional athletes to represent their service. Bennett jumped at the chance to join the team, since the assignment took him off the list for Vietnam. He worked full-time at athletics, then spent the rest of his duty time as a headquarters filing clerk.^[2]

His assignment also enabled him to participate in the qualifying trials for the 1972 Olympics. He was able to be on the Munich-bound team. Tragically, a team of heavily-armed terrorists succeeded in invading the venue, where they captured many of the Israeli competitors and their coaches on the day before the decathlon was to start. Bennett later recalled that there was much uncertainty about whether the games would be cancelled altogether.^[c]

Bennett continued to compete after the 1972 Olympics. In the following year, he won the Amateur Athletic Union national decathlon championship. He had wanted to compete in the 1976 Olympics, but injuries prevented him from doing so. After that, he retired from the sport. He spent thirty years in the National Guard, while teaching and coaching in the Oklahoma City school system. Then, he retired from working in the public schools, and went to work for his alma mater, Oklahoma Christian University.