With his Medals arranged so that they looked
like the 5-ringed Olympic logo.
February 23, 1980: It is the next-to-last day of the Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid, New York. When the medals are tallied up the next day, the United States of America, the host nation, will have won 6 Gold Medals. The 6th will come on the last day, in the Final of the hockey tournament, in a win over Finland, following the legendary win over the Soviet Union.
The other 5 were all won by 1 man: Speed skater Eric Heiden.
Eric Arthur Heiden was born on June 14, 1958 in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up there, as did 2 of the hockey team's players, Mark Johnson and Bob Suter. His sister, Beth Heiden, was also an outstanding athlete, and won a Bronze Medal in the 3,000 meters in women's speed skating at Lake Placid. Had the U.S. not boycotted the Summer Olympics in Moscow, she, as a cyclist, would have had the chance to become one of the few athletes ever to compete in both the Winter and the Summer Olympics -- and to do so in the same year, which, with the alternating schedule that began in 1994, is no longer possible.
Eric was the favorite in all 5 men's speed skating events in Lake Placid because he had won the World Allround Championships in each of the last 3 years: In 1977 in Heerenveen, the Netherlands; in 1978 in Gothenburg, Sweden; and in 1979 in Oslo, Norway.
On February 15, he won the shortest event, the 500 meters, in 38.03 seconds. Heiden was skating at an average of 29.42 miles per hour. For comparison's sake: Bobby Hull, then wrapping up his hockey career, is generally regarded as the fastest skater in NHL history, topping out at 29.7 MPH.
On February 16, Heiden won the 5,000 meters in 7 minutes, 2.29 seconds. On February 19, he won the 1,000 meters in 1 minute, 15. 18 seconds. On February 21, he won the 1,500 meters in 1:55.44. And on February 23, he won the longest race, the 10,000 meters, in 14:28.13. In all 5 events, he set a new Olympic record. In the 10,000, he set a new world record.
He had won more Gold Medals, by himself, than any country at the Games, except for the Soviet Union (which won 10) and East Germany (9) -- and, of course, those countries' medal hauls were always suspicious. Even without taking the record times into account, Heiden remains the most successful performer at any single Winter Olympics. He was awarded the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, given to the American amateur athlete of the year.
After the Olympics, Heiden became an orthopedic surgeon, as was his father before him. He lived in Sacramento, California, and was the team physician for the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs. In 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014, he was team physician for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team.
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February 23, 1980 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Washington Bullets, 112-97 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The New Jersey Nets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 129-123 at the Rutgers Athletic Center (now the Jersey Mike's Arena) in Piscataway, New Jersey. George Gervin scored 41 points in defeat for the Spurs.
* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 115-100 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers, 113-105 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the San Diego Clippers, 110-102 at the Chicago Stadium. Lloyd "World B." Free scored 35 points in defeat for the Clippers.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Kansas City Kings, 94-72 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets, 112-100 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Golden State Warriors, 103-100 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
There were 9 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Minnesota North Stars, 6-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The New York Islanders beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena, then known as the Checkerdome, due to the team's ownership by St. Louis-based Ralston Purina, with their "Checkerboard Square" logo.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum.
* The Washington Capitals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 6-2 at the Capital Centre. Yes, it hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on the same day.
* The Hartford Whalers beat the Atlanta Flames, 6-5 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Quebec Nordiques, 2-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets, 9-3 at the Winnipeg Arena. Rock Saganiuk had a had trick.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-1 at The Forum. So that's 2 arenas that hosted an NBA game and an NHL game on this day.
* The Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 4-4 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
* And the Buffalo Sabres, the Colorado Rockies, the Edmonton Oilers were not scheduled.
And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers, 2-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.
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