July 30, 1976: Bruce Jenner, a 26-year-old native of Tarrytown, Westchester County, north of New York City, wins the Gold Medal in the Olympic decathlon, at the Stade Olympique in Montreal. This makes him, unofficially, "The World's Greatest Athlete." As far as I know, he remains the only lefthanded thrower (in the shot put, the discus throw and the javelin throw) to win it.
He joins previous American winners Jim Thorpe in 1912, Harold Osborn in 1924, James Bausch in 1932, Glenn Morris in 1936, Bob Mathias in 1948 and 1952, Milt Campbell in 1956, Rafer Johnson in 1960 and Bill Toomey in 1968. Since Jenner did it, 3 other Americans have: Dan O'Brien in 1996, Brian Clay in 2008, and Ashton Eaton in 2012.
But while Thorpe got a movie made of his life, and Johnson was given a job in the State Department, Jenner became the most famous, appearing on the Wheaties cereal box. (Thorpe would as well, many years later, but long after his death, and wearing a football uniform, not a track & field uniform.)
Jenner battled dyslexia as a child, and turned to acting after his triumph, including famously doing commercials for Wheaties breakfast cereal, which put his picture on their box. I was 6 years old at the time, and he's one of the earliest current sports heroes I can remember. I couldn't blame him for cashing in on it as much as possible: There's no National Decathlon League, anywhere in the world, so turning professional was not possible. His athletic career was over, although he did play quarterbacks in the 1981 film Grambling's White Tiger, and on a 1985 episode of Murder, She Wrote.
He was married and divorced 3 times, the last to Kris Kardashian, with a total of 6 children, including fashion moguls Kendall and Kylie Jenner with Kris. Even before they divorced, people watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians joked that Bruce seemed to be trying to look more like a woman. In 2015, at the age of 65, now calling herself Caitlyn Jenner, she came out as transgender in an interview with Diane Sawyer for the ABC News program 20/20. She completed her gender-affirming surgery in 2017.
These days, Caitlyn's biggest problem is explaining how she can be a spokesperson for the transgender community and still be a Republican. Actually, it's not that hard: Bruce/Caitlyn has always been attracted to money. Then again, here in the 2020s, people who complain about transgender women in women's sports never seem to complain that "a woman trapped in a man's body" beat all the men in the competition for that now-long-ago Gold Medal.
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July 30, 1976 was a Friday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ed Figueroa outpitched Luis Tiant. Mickey Rivers and Carlos May hit home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Jerry Koosman outpitched Jim Kaat. Joe Torre went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 4-3 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Manny Sanguillén singled Willie Stargell home with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Stargell had gone 2-for-5. Dave Parker went 4-for-6.
* The Cincinnati Reds swept a doubleheader from the San Diego Padres, 13-8 and 4-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Over the 2 games, Johnny Bench went 2-for-7 with a home run and 6 RBIs, Pete Rose went 3-for-7 with a walk, Mike Ivie went 4-for-9 with 3 RBIs, Dave Winfield went 2-for-5 with a walk, and Willie McCovey, though available, did not play.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Doug DeCinces and Lee May, Carlos' brother, hit home runs. DeCinces played 3rd base in place of Brooks Robinson, who did not play. Reggie Jackson, in his only season with the O's, also did not play. Mickey Stanley hit 2 home runs for the Tigers.
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. José Cardenal, Pete LaCock and George Mitterwald hit home runs for the Cubs. Lou Brock went 2-for-5.
* The Cleveland Indians were leading the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2 in the top of the 8th inning at Milwaukee County Stadium, when the game was called due to rain, giving Cleveland the victory. Dennis Eckersley went as far as the weather would allow, striking out 12 in 7 innings. Tommy Smith went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Indians. Player-manager Frank Robinson did not put himself into the game. Robin Yount went 1-for-3.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-7 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The A's led 7-1, but the Twins scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th, and 2 in the 8th, to win it. Butch Wynegar hit a grand slam. Rod Carew went 1-for-4.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan pitched a 3-hit shutout, striking out 10, outpitching Ken Brett.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
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