David Deas Stevenson (born 28 November 1941) is a Scottish former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

. He competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in the men's pole vault at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

, where he placed 20th.Scots Olympic couple recall 'amazing experience' of last of the 'Goodwill Olympics' at Tokyo 1964
Jack Davidson, 21 July 2021 He was also a successful businessman, serving as managing director of

Edinburgh Woollen Mill Purepay Retail Limited, trading as The Edinburgh Woollen Mill, is a British clothing retailer founded in 1946 by Drew Stevenson. It is headquartered in Carlisle, England. In November 2002, Philip Day led a management buy-out of the retailer. Th ...

from 1970 to 1997.

Athletics career

In addition to the Olympics (where he cleared three heights with no fails but could not achieve the qualifying mark for the final, 4.60m, from his three attempts), Stevenson also took part in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

(10th place),

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

(4th place, matching the height of the bronze medallist) and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

(9th place). At local level, he competed for Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Southern Harriers and won the Scottish Athletics Championships eight years out of nine between 1962 and 1970, claimed the gold medal at the 1965

AAA Indoor Championships The AAA Indoor Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost indoor domestic athletics event during its lifetime. The event was first held in 1935, fo ...

(plus four silvers from other years), and two bronze at the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

. While at university, he had also challenged for the Scottish title in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

Business and personal life

Raised in

Langholm Langholm , also known colloquially as the "Muckle Toon", is a burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. Langholm lies between four hills in the valley of the River Esk in the Southern Uplands. Location and geography Langholm sits n ...

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

and a graduate of the

University of Edinburgh Business School The University of Edinburgh Business School (abbreviated as UEBS) is the business school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The university has offered business education since 1919, and the MBA degree since 1980. The business school ...

in 1962, he joined the textiles firm founded by his father Andrew in the 1930s and successfully expanded it as the

clothing retail company, with a catalyst for growth coming from the supply of the Scotland team's

tartan Tartan or plaid ( ) is a patterned cloth consisting of crossing horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours, forming repeating symmetrical patterns known as ''setts''. Originating in woven wool, tartan is most strongly associated wi ...

uniforms at their 'home'

1970 British Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time metric units rather than imperial units were used in all eve ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, at which he was also a competing athlete.Reaching New Heights
University of Edinburgh Business School The company absorbed several others across Scotland to diversify its product line, and had almost 200 stores before being sold in 1997 for £69 million. He retained an interest in business with the Ashleybank Investments company which had shares in

Schuh schuh ( ) is a Scottish footwear retailer based in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. It has 132 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is predominantly a branded shoe stockist, selling over 80 brands, including: Converse, Van ...

and Dobbies among others, and also set up a charitable organisation, the Stevenson Foundation, sponsoring local sports clubs and other civic causes. The Woollen Mill (in reality Stevenson's close family) owned several

National Hunt National Hunt Racing, also known as Jump Racing, is a form of horse racing particular to many European countries, including, but not limited to: France, Great Britain and Ireland. Jump Racing requires horses to jump over fences and ditches. In ...

racehorses, with Gordon W. Richards as trainer.Jumpers are winners for David Stevenson
The Glasgow Herald, 23 May 1989 His Irish son-in-law Ger Lyons is also a successful racehorse trainer, with his own daughter Kerri among his staff, while

Ian Stark Ian David Stark, OBE (born 22 February 1954) is a retired Scottish equestrian who competed in the sport of eventing. Stark was born in Galashiels in the Borders in 1954 and began riding horses at the age of 10. S ...

, Scottish Olympic medallist in

Eventing Eventing (also known as three-day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where the same horse and rider combination compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

, has credited Stevenson for his long-term support. He was made a

Commander of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

1988 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1988 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

. In 2012, Stevenson was made an Honorary Freeman of

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

for "his involvement in bringing national recognition to the town f Langholm his generosity of spirit, and the time he has devoted to his local community".Date set for David Stevenson Freeman honour
Daily Record, 31 August 2012 He was a baton-bearer for the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

held in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. At that time he was also Deputy

Lord-Lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility o ...

for Dumfries. His wife Alix Jamieson was a fellow competitor in the 1964 Olympics in the long jump event; they have two children and four grandchildren. His brother Neil was a top-level

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player with

Langholm RFC Langholm Rugby Football Club are a rugby union team founded in 1871. They play their home games at Milntown, Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway. The team currently play in the East Regional League Division One Langholm Sevens The Langholm Se ...

in the era before professionalism in the sport, also working in the family business.Obituary: Neil Stevenson, accomplished rugby player who ran dyeworks and Edinburgh Woollen Mill
The Scotsman, 20 December 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Dave 1941 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics British male pole vaulters Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Olympic athletes for Great Britain Scottish male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for Scotland Sportspeople from Hawick People educated at Dumfries Academy Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish businesspeople Deputy lieutenants of Dumfries Scottish racehorse owners and breeders 20th-century Scottish sportsmen Scottish Olympic competitors