Avery Brundage

Avery Brundage (September 28, 1887 - May 8, 1975) was an American athlete, sports official, art collector and philanthropist.

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Born in Detroit, Brundage studied civil engineering at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1909. A few years later, he founded his own company, the Avery Brundage Company, which was active in the building business around Chicago until 1947.

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Brundage was an all-round athlete, competing in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm in the pentathlon and decathlon events, finishing 6th and 16th, respectively. He also won the US national all-round title on three occasions (1914, 1916 and 1918).

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In 1928, he became president of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), followed by the presidency of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) in 1929 and the vice-presidency of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in 1930.

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Avery Brundage rejected any proposals to boycott the Nazi Olympics of 1936 where German Jews were excluded. He became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and the expulsion of his predecessor Ernest Lee Jahnke, who had urged athletes to boycott the Berlin games, from the IOC.

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At the Berlin Olympics, at the last moment, on the morning of the 400 meter relay race, the two only Jews on the US track team, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were replaced by Jesse Owens and Ralph Metcalfe. Glickman later said that that decision might have been the result of pressure from Brundage.

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Brundage praised the Nazi regime at a Madison Square rally in the same year and was expelled from the "America First" national committee in 1941 because of his pro-German leanings.

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After the death of IOC president Henri de Baillet-Latour during World War II, Brundage became vice-president of the IOC in 1945. When IOC President Sigfrid Edström retired in 1952, Brundage was appointed as his successor.

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During his presidency, Brundage strongly opposed any form of professionalism in the Olympic Games. Gradually, this view became less accepted by the sports world and other IOC members. It led to some embarrassing incidents, such as the exclusion of Austrian skier Karl Schranz, who was accused of being a professional, from the 1972 Winter Olympics.

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Brundage had the US sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos expelled from the Olympic village and suspended from the US Olympic team at the 1968 Mexico Olympics for raising their fists to show support for the Black Power movement.

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Brundage may be best remembered for his decision during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, to continue the Games following the 5th September Palestinian terrorist attack which killed 11 Israeli athletes. Many critised Brundage's decision, although few athletes withdrew from the Games. Brundage retired as IOC president following the 1972 Summer Games.

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Brundage had strongly opposed the exclusion of Rhodesia from the Olympics due to its Apartheid policies and after the attacks in Munich linked the massacre and the barring of the Rhodesian team as crimes of equal magnitude.

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In addition to his role in sports, Brundage was a noted collector of Asian art. During his lifetime, and by bequest on his death, he gave a massive collection of works of art to the city of San Francisco, California. This collection formed the nucleus (and, as of 2003, still accounts for over half the contents) of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, initially founded to house and display his donation.

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Brundage died in 1975, three years after his retirement as IOC president, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

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September 28: September 28 is the 271st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (272nd in leap years). There are 94 days remaining....

1887: 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar)....

May 8: May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). There are 237 days remaining....

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