Dallas Long, a brawny shot-putter who established himself as one of the best of his era by equaling or setting the world record in that track and field event seven times and winning a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, died on Nov. 10 in Columbia Falls, Mont. He was 84.
Suzanne Long, his caregiver and former wife, said he died in hospice care from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He lived in Whitefish, Mont.
During a long period of American domination in the shot-put, the 6-foot-4 Long’s success made him a bridge between Parry O’Brien, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1950s who revolutionized shot-putting technique, and Randy Matson, who in 1965 was the first to break the 70-foot shot-put barrier.
A headline on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1960 called Long the “Leader of the Shot-Put Revolution.” The other insurgents the article mentioned as challenging O’Brien were Bill Nieder and Dave Davis.
“Long is an enormous man; he is only 19 but he weighs over 260 pounds, and he looks bigger than his competition,” the magazine’s Tex Maule wrote after watching him during practice. “He was working placidly on his form, the shot sailing out near the 60-foot mark time and again.”
Long began attracting notice as a teenager. In 1958 he set a high school record of 69 feet 3⅛ inches, using a 12-pound shot. A year later, as a freshman at the University of Southern California — wielding the 16-pound steel ball used in colleges, amateur meets and the Olympics — he matched O’Brien’s world record of 63-2.
Long won consecutive N.C.A.A. titles from 1960 to 1962. At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, he earned a bronze medal with a 62-4½ put.
“He was impressive especially because he was so young,” said Glen McMicken, a statistician and historian with the national governing body U.S.A. Track & Field.
Among Long’s six other official world records were a 63-7 put in 1960 and another of 67-10 at a United States-Soviet Union meet at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1964.
“It was the best throw, technique-wise, that I’ve had all year,” he told The Los Angeles Times, “but there still was room for improvement. I need to get lower and go across the ring. I honestly believe — and I don’t mean this to sound like bragging — that I can add a foot and a half this year.”
“But,” he added, “anything I do, Randy Matson will top in a couple of years.”
Long never exceeded that 67-10 throw. At the Tokyo Games, his second Olympics, he and Matson swapped the lead. Matson pulled ahead with a throw of 65- 2¾ and followed with one that went 66-3¼, a new Olympic record. But Long responded with a put of 66-8½, which quickly established yet another record.
Long was still dissatisfied with his performance. He said afterward: “I felt flat out there. I wasn’t at my best.”
He retired soon after to continue studying to be a dentist.
Dallas Crutcher Long III was born on June 13, 1940, in Pine Bluff, Ark., and grew up in Phoenix. His father, Dallas Jr., was a high school math teacher, and his mother, Sarah (Tyner) Long, was a teacher and administrator.
Long graduated from U.S.C. with a bachelor’s degree and earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the university’s dental school in 1966. He did not remain a dentist for long; after graduating from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1972, he became an emergency room physician.
In 1993, he testified for the defense in the federal trial of four Los Angeles police officers charged with violating Rodney G. King’s civil rights when three of the officers beat him at a traffic stop and the fourth failed to restrain the others.
Long testified that King’s most serious injuries were the result of falls to the ground, not baton blows to the head.
In recent years, until his retirement, he worked in a V.A. clinic in Cutbank, Mont.
Long was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1996 and the U.S.C. Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.
He is survived by his daughters, Kristen Long, Kelly Nordell and Karin Grandsire, and his son, Ian Long, all from his marriage to Barbara Littlejohn, which ended in divorce; nine grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His marriage to Suzanne Royer also ended in divorce.
At a meet in Los Angeles in 1964, Long demonstrated that success in the shot-put is not solely a matter of strength and technique.
“The psychological edge is the big advantage in the shot-put,” he told Sports Illustrated. He was up against Matson, who fouled three times in a row before throwing a 61-foot shot. Matson, the magazine said, was, at 19, “still learning his psychology.”
Long then threw a 64-4½ and a 65-5¼, which won the meet.
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