The Wizard of Foz

September 1, 2018
Five years: the time it took for Dick Fosbury, from Medford, Oregon, to go from a mediocre prep-high jumper to the best in the world, a peak achieved when he landed a 7-foot, 4-1/4-inch jump to win gold at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The road was not easy for the gangly teen, who struggled to find his niche after failing at basketball and football and nearly at the high jump, too, until he listened to his inner self and began jumping in a wildly unconventional style, easing over the bar not in the traditional scissors-kick or straddle-roll method but with a revolutionary backward flop that would eventually become the standard technique. Welch, an award-winning author and columnist for Eugene, Oregon's Register-Guard, does a masterful job uncovering the deeper story of a teenager navigating turbulent times (brother's death, parents' divorce) during a period of great social and racial upheaval. This remarkable story about the man behind the famous Fosbury Flop makes an important contribution to the history of innovation in American sports.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)