Jumping Full Circle with Bob Beamon!

This Day In Track & Field, June 15, Jack Lovelock wins Mile of Century in front of 35,000 fans at Princeton (1935), Buddy Edelen sets WR in Marathon (1963), written by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field, June 12, Walter Tewksbury was first American to break 11 seconds (1900), Kjell Isaksson sets PV WR (1972), written by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field, June 11, Emil Zatopek sets 10,000m WR in Ostrava (1949), Henry Rono breaks 10,000m WR (1978), Impossible Games (2020), by Walt Murphy

Jeff Benjamin, senior writer for RunBlogRun, posted this piece on the gold medal for Bob Beamon, which goes on sale at Christie’s on February 1, 2024.

Jumping Full Circle With Bob Beamon!

By Jeff Benjamin

There’s one constant about Bob Beamon – he’s always on the move!

The barrier-breaking 1968 Olympic Long Jump Gold medalist who never is one to sit back on laurels always looks for life’s next big challenge, and he has found it.

Yet, this new endeavor actually returns Beamon back to his youth, as music played a huge influence on the Jamaica Queens native even before embarking on his long-jumping career.

Stix Bones, featuring Bob Beamon, photo by Jeff Benjamin

Nowadays, the 77-year-old legend is once again turning towards making music on percussion as a newly-minted band member of Stix Bones and The BONE Squad.

“Whether describing music or describing athletics, it’s all about rhythm”, said Beamon in an earlier interview. “If you concentrate on timing, movement, and visualization, mix it up, you can come up with some incredible results.”

Meeting the world-renowned drummer Stix Bones last year spurred Beamon’s passion, as he is now a key player in “Stix Bones And The Bone Squad!”

This past month, at “The Cutting Room” in New York City, the band performed before a packed house at their new “Olimpik Soul” Official Album Release Party.

Even now, 56 years after the 29 feet 2 1/2 inch (8.90 Meters) record-breaking jump, which is STILL the Olympic record, Bob Beamon continues to explore his limits.

Jeff Benjamin with Bob Beamon, photo by Jeff Benjamin

And he makes “No Bones” about it!!

PostScript – On February 1st, Christie’s auction will be putting up for bid Bob Beamon’s historic 1968 Gold Medal!

According to The Sports Examiner’s Rich Perelman –

“The Christie’s estimate is that the medal could bring from $400-600,000, which would be one of the highest prices ever paid for an Olympic medal.

Olympic writer and board member of the multi-national Olympin Collectors Club Karen Rosen(USA) notes that the highest prices known to have been paid for Olympic medals are both for Berlin 1936 gold medals won by American sprint icon Jesse Owens.

An Owens gold sold for an all-time record of $1,466,574 on 8 December 2013, and a second Owens gold went for $615,000 on 7 December 2019.“

One wonders how far Bob Beamon will “Jump” on this one!!

Bob Beamon on drums at Stix Bones, photo by Jeff Benjamin

To read the feature on Christie’s site about the Gold Medal from Mexico 1968 for Bob Beamon: https://www.christies.com/en/stories/bob-beamon-olympic-gold-medal-f5f44e653f544ed29f000d4f35698ffa

Author

Jeff Benjamin
Jeff Benjamin has written for 30 years for American Track and Field along with RunBlogRun. The Former President of the Staten Island AC & Chair of the Staten Island Running Association was the 5th man scorer for his Susan Wagner High School NYC XC City Championship team. Also a member of the College of Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame for XC, Jeff currently serves as the LDR Chairman for USATF NY. A passionate (or fanatical) follower of the Sport, some of Jeff's subjects have included Sebastian Coe, Emma Coburn, Eamonn Coghlan, Matt Centrowitz, Jim Spivey, Galen Rupp, Joe Newton, Tom Fleming, Ajee’ Wilson, Bill Rodgers, Allan Webb, Abel Kiviat, Jordan Hassay, Marty Liquori, Caster Semenya, Rod Dixon, Carl Lewis and Jim Ryun as well as Book Reviews and articles covering meets and races in the Northeast U.S.
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