Robert Lyman "Dink" Templeton (May 27, 1897 – August 7, 1962) was an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, Olympic gold medalist in

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 ...

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player, and track coach.

Personal

Templeton was born in

Helena, Montana Helena (; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat, seat of Lewis and Clark County, Montana, Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold ...

, and attended

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School (commonly referred to locally as "Paly") is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two high schools in the district, the ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

. He attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he played on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

teams. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from Stanford.

Olympics

In 1920, Templeton was on the United States Olympic team in rugby and 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 ...

. He was handicapped in his best event, the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, because he normally used the

Western roll The Western roll was a high jump technique invented by George Horine of Stanford University. This technique was succeeded by the straddle. History It is said that George Horine invented the Western roll because the high jump pit at Stanford coul ...

jumping style, which was considered illegal at that time. In the long jump, he finished out of the medals in fourth place, but the U.S. rugby team upset

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

to win the gold medal.

Track coach

In 1922, Templeton returned to Stanford as its track coach, a position he held until 1939. During his tenure as coach, Stanford won the

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate outdoor track and field competitions for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

in 1925, 1928, and 1934, and Stanford athletes won 19 individual titles. He was noted at the time for conducting intensive daily practices, an uncommon practice at that time. He later coached at the

Olympic Club The Olympic Club is an sports club, athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. First named the "San Francisco Olympic Club", it is the oldest sports club, athletic club in the United States. Established ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Later life

Templeton also had a career as a journalist and broadcaster. For his coaching, he was inducted into the

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and 1 ...

Hall of Fame in 1976, and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame in recognition of his coaching and as a football player.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Templeton, Dink 1897 births 1962 deaths American football fullbacks American male high jumpers American male long jumpers American rugby union players Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby union players for the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Rugby union players at the 1920 Summer Olympics Stanford Cardinal track and field coaches Stanford Cardinal football players Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes United States international rugby union players Sportspeople from Helena, Montana Players of American football from Palo Alto, California Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Rugby union fullbacks 20th-century American sportsmen