# Singer Johnny Mathis was an Olympic caliber athlete **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341 "2006-10-21T15:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/1 "2006-10-21T15:11:31Z")
[Interesting factoid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mathis) - I never would have guessed it about him. > [@](#): > > At George Washington High School, Johnny was not only well known for his singing abilities, he also became a star athlete on their track and field team, as a high jumper and hurdler, and was on their basketball team - earning four athletic letters. In 1954, Johnny enrolled at San Francisco State College on a scholarship, with the intention of being an English and physical education teacher. Mathis remains an important part of San Francisco State College’s sports history—in 1954 he broke future basketball great Bill Russell’s high jump record by jumping six feet five inches (1.96 meters). At the time only four Olympic athletes had managed to clear this height. It remains in the top 15 heights ever achieved at the college and in the state. > > He was spotted by Helen Noga, owner of The Black Hawk club, at a jam session and she became his manager. In September 1955, after Noga had landed Johnny a job singing weekends at Ann Dee’s 440 Club, she ruthlessly pursued jazz producer George Avakian, who she found out was on vacation in the Bay Area. Avakian came to see Johnny sing, and sent the now famous telegram to Columbia Records: Have found phenomenal 19-year old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts [4] > > Mathis’s most difficult decision now was deciding whether to go to the Olympic tryouts, to which he had been invited, or to keep an appointment in New York to make his first recordings, which were subsequently released in 1956. With his father’s advice, Mathis opted for a recording career and the rest is history. He has never completely abandoned his enthusiasm for sports and today is an avid golfer who has completed five holes-in-one, and has hosted several Johnny Mathis Golf Tournaments in the USA and the United Kingdom. Since 1985 he has been hosting a charity golf tournament in Belfast for environment-despoiling sponsored by Shell corporation, and the annual Johnny Mathis Invitational Track & Field Meet has continued at San Francisco State College since it started in 1982. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/2 "2006-10-21T15:19:19Z")
That is very cool but how come there is no published biography of a guy with such an intersting life? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/3 "2006-10-21T15:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask] That is very cool but how come there is no published biography of a guy with such an interesting life? [/QUOTE] Good question. I can’t seem to find one (book type) on the web. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/4 "2006-10-21T21:44:25Z")
He’s also as gay as Lucy Ricardo’s apron; I also think it would be a fascinating bio. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/5 "2006-10-21T22:13:21Z")
Just what sport is caliber? Does it have anything to do with birling? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/6 "2006-10-21T22:15:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Mathis remains an important part of San Francisco State College’s sports history—in 1954 he broke future basketball great Bill Russell’s high jump record by jumping six feet five inches (1.96 meters). At the time only four Olympic athletes had managed to clear this height. It remains in the top 15 heights ever achieved at the college and in the state. I find this very hard to believe. Impossible, in fact. 6’5" wouldn’t win a High School meet in a lot of places. I’d wager that thousands of people in California have exceeded that height, and probably hundreds of them were High Schoolers. I’ll go do some research. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/7 "2006-10-21T22:24:56Z")
That’s funny, based on the picture I saw of him throughout my entire childhood, I thought he’d be a [skier](http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:svb1z85ajyvo). ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/8 "2006-10-21T22:29:27Z")
OK. The world record of 6’ 5 5/8" was set in 1895 by M.F. Sweeney. It was raised to 6’7" in 1912. In 1936 it was up to 6’9". The 7 foot barrier was broken in 1956. It looks like the qualifying height for the California State HS meet was 6’ 3", and there were 43 athletes who jumped 6’6" or better. That article is full of s@#t, man! ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/9 "2006-10-22T03:28:53Z")
Do you have a link for any of that? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/10 "2006-10-22T03:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=treis] Do you have a link for any of that? [/QUOTE] > **[High jump](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_jump)** > > The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have successively improved their technique, today employing the universally preferred Fosbury flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar. The discipline is, along... [http://www.dyestatcal.com/rank/tr2006/May/28StateBoys.htm](http://www.dyestatcal.com/rank/tr2006/May/28StateBoys.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/11 "2006-10-22T07:05:39Z")
Johnny was also born in Texas. Moved to California as a child. Like Ellen DeGeneres, I don’t see any Texas coming out of him! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/12 "2006-10-22T14:24:20Z")
[Most detail I’ve found so far including stuff about hsi sexuality](http://www.glbtq.com/arts/mathis_j.html). He is a bit mysterious, or at least is not as much of an attention whore as other artists. I thought this part was amusing re trying to “out” the already outed. > [@](#): > > Mathis’s own love life, however, remained a mystery. He deflected interviewers’ questions about his bachelor state until 1982, when he acknowledged his homosexuality in an interview in Us magazine. He spoke of his first love at the age of sixteen and said that being gay was “a way of life that [he had] grown accustomed to.” > > These disclosures had little if any effect on the public’s perception of him; indeed, the public hardly seemed to notice them. In 1992 a group of gay activists attempted to “out” Mathis, only to discover that his sexual orientation was already on record. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/13 "2006-10-22T15:25:04Z")
Mathis’ former athletic prowess has been common knowledge for a very long time and was, in fact, noted on one of his album jackets back in the dark ages of vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/14 "2006-10-22T18:57:44Z")
Wasn’t there was a British heavy metal musician who was (or almost was) a world class fencer? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/15 "2006-10-23T01:58:26Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] OK. The world record of 6’ 5 5/8" was set in 1895 by M.F. Sweeney. It was raised to 6’7" in 1912. In 1936 it was up to 6’9". The 7 foot barrier was broken in 1956. It looks like the qualifying height for the California State HS meet was 6’ 3", and there were 43 athletes who jumped 6’6" or better. That article is full of s@#t, man! [/QUOTE] While I at first was pretty skeptical, it’s basically true, but just a little embellished. Mathis was indeed a star track athlete at Geo. Washington HS in S.F. He high jumped over 6’ in HS. Impressive at that time. He was a freshman on the track team at SFSC in March of 54. I could find no newspaper stories that indicate he jumped 6’ 5 or so. At that point in 1954, Russell was the big news, jumping over 6’ 6" But Russell came in second at the West Coast Relays that year to Ernie Shelton, who cleared 6’ 9" ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/16 "2006-10-23T02:56:28Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] While I at first was pretty skeptical, it’s basically true, but just a little embellished. Mathis was indeed a star track athlete at Geo. Washington HS in S.F. He high jumped over 6’ in HS. Impressive at that time. He was a freshman on the track team at SFSC in March of 54. I could find no newspaper stories that indicate he jumped 6’ 5 or so. At that point in 1954, Russell was the big news, jumping over 6’ 6" But Russell came in second at the West Coast Relays that year to Ernie Shelton, who cleared 6’ 9" [/QUOTE] I have no reason to doubt that he was a very good athlete. It is this part - > [@](#): > > At the time only four Olympic athletes had managed to clear this height. It remains in the top 15 heights ever achieved at the college and in the state. that I have issues with. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/17 "2006-10-23T04:55:51Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > At the time only four Olympic athletes had managed to clear this height. It remains in the top 15 heights ever achieved at the college and in the state. > > that I have issues with. As to the first part, the Olympic record was set at 6’ 7 5/16" in 1936. Walt Davis, in Helsinki in 1952, erased this with a jump of 6’ 8 3/8". The best jump in the 1948 Olympics was 6’ 6". There were no Olympic games in 1940/1944. So, the first part is selectively probably true. The last parts sound untrue. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/18 "2006-10-26T14:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Wasn’t there was a British heavy metal musician who was (or almost was) a world class fencer? [/QUOTE] Yes. [Bruce Dickinson.](http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/5619/bruceSI.htm) I once saw footage on TV of him fencing, and although I don’t know enough about the sport to evaluate his performance, I can say that he has a great game face. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/19 "2006-10-27T12:19:45Z")
I saw him a while back-he looks the same as he did in the 1970’s-is he related to Dick Clark and The Karate Kid? its amazing-the guy looks the same! ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341/20 "2006-10-27T13:08:02Z")
> [@quartz](#): > > Wasn’t there was a British heavy metal musician who was (or almost was) a world class fencer? > [@rilchiam](#): > > Yes. Bruce Dickinson. I once saw footage on TV of him fencing, and although I don’t know enough about the sport to evaluate his performance, I can say that he has a great game face. So does he fence with foil, epee, saber, or [cowbell](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9043576637174212674&q=snl+cowbell&hl=en)? 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singer-johnny-mathis-was-an-olympic-caliber-athlete/377341.md?page=2)