NOTEWORTHY DEATH

— GAINESVILLE, Ga. -

Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist

Milt Campbell, who became the first black American to win the Olympic decathlon in 1956 and went on to play professional football and become a motivational speaker, has died, hisfamily said. He was 78.

Linda Rusch, Campbell’s partner of 13 years, said Campbell died Friday at his home in Gainesville, about 55 miles northwest of Atlanta. She said he had been fighting prostate cancer for a decade.

“He was extremely disciplined,” Ruschsaid on Saturday. “He had huge passion. For you to win the gold you have to be so self-motivated and so self-disciplined. And you have to have a very strong mind.”

A native of Plainfield, N.J., Campbell was a rising high school senior when he won the silver medal in the decathlon at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, finishing second to Bob Mathias. The Americans swept the decathlon that year. Four yearslater, Campbell won gold at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Campbell, who attended Indiana University, was drafted in 1957 by the Cleveland Browns, where he played one season inthe same backfield as Jim Brown. Campbell then played for various teams in the Canadian Football League until his football career in 1964.

Campbell was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1999 and was honored this yearby the International Swimming Hall of Fame. In 2000, the New Jersey Sportswriters Association named Campbell its New Jersey Athlete of the Century.

Rusch said Campbell became a motivational speaker, and maintained a positive outlook despite the loss of a son to cancer and as he fought the disease. In addition to Rusch, he is survived by three grown children.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 11/05/2012

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