October 20, 1968: The Fosbury Flop

October 20, 1968: Dick Fosbury wins the Gold Medal in the high jump at the Olympic Games in Mexico City. In so doing, he changed the event forever.

Richard Douglas Fosbury was born on March 7, 1947 in Portland, Oregon. Most of the track & field legends from the Beaver State come from the University of Oregon, the Ducks. He went to Oregon State, the Beavers. He's not the greatest athlete from the state, but he is the most influential.

Up until the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, high-jumpers used what was known as the scissors kick, throwing a front leg over the bar, and then the rest of the body, with the face up; or the straddle technique, pretty much the same but with the face down. At the time, that was the most advisable way to do it, as, like long-jumpers, they landed in a pit of sand. Fosbury couldn't clear 5 feet, the minimum standard in Oregon high school track at the time, using the techniques in place at the time.

Valeriy Brumel, winning the Gold Medal for the Soviet Union

at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, with the straddle technique

But the advent of foam-rubber landing surfaces made it possible for Dick to invent "the Fosbury Flop": Just before reaching the bar, he would turn his back to the bar, push up with both legs, go over, and land head and shoulders first, which would have been deadly with the sand pits. At the 1968 Olympics, he won the Gold Medal with a jump of 7 feet, 4 1/4 inches, an Olympic record.

The Fosbury Flop

He was just 21 1/2 years old, but he had changed the sports world: For half a century, everyone has done the Flop. He remains involved in track & field, and in 2014 ran for the Idaho State House as a Democrat, but lost.

Dick Fosbury in 2015

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October 20, 1968 was a Sunday. In the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 26-10 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 29-16 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Colts, 30-20 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-12 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions played to a tie, 14-14 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Minnesota Vikings, 20-7 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 41-14 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 27-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

And in the American Football League:

* The New York Jets beat the Houston Oilers, 20-14 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Boston Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 230-6 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-22 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat their arch-rivals, the Oakland Raiders, 24-10 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* And the San Diego Chargers beat the Denver Broncos, 55-24 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium).

The baseball season ended 10 days earlier, with the Detroit Tigers beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the World Series. There were no games in the NHL. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-96 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. The Lakers got 36 points from Elgin Baylor, 20 from Jerry West, but only 15 from Wilt Chamberlain. The Sixers got 35 points from Hal Greer.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 106-88 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 116-107 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the San Diego Rockets beat the San Francisco Warriors, 123-108 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California. Elvin Hayes had 32 points and 24 rebounds for the Rockets, who moved to Houston in 1971.

And there was 1 game played in the American Basketball Association: The Oakland Oaks beat the Indiana Pacers, 144-133 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis.