Remember Jim Bausch? If you don't, you probably aren't alone.
In 1932, "Jarrin' Jim" was considered one of the greatest athletes in the world. His gold medal-winning performance in the Olympic decathlon shattered records and made the 26-year-old a nationwide celebrity. Trouble is, fame didn't last long for the Kansas farm kid blessed with strength and speed. As quickly as he ascended to the top of the athletic world, Jim Bausch faded into history.
And the story of one of the best athletes to come out of Wichita high schools was soon forgotten. "He wasn't really a private man, but I guess he kept a lot to himself," said Frank Bausch Jr., Jim's nephew. "We always knew he was a great athlete, but he never talked much about it." There was a lot to talk about, too. Bausch, who died in 1974, had quite a storied past.
It was filled with athletic achievements, multiple records and a whole lot of controversy. Piecing together all that history, however, isn't easy. After retiring from a one-year career in the NFL in 1933, Bausch disappeared from the public eye.
He was later inducted into the College Football and the National Track and Field halls of fame, but spent most of his remaining years in obscurity. "I only met him a couple of times," said Frank Bausch Jr., whose father also was a standout athlete. "Even though he was family, I was kind of in awe of him. Especially after I looked him up in all the record books."
Bausch was born in South Dakota but spent most of his childhood in Garden Plain, where his family had a 500-acre farm. Bausch, one of seven children, became a star athlete in school. He excelled in football, basketball and track, and led Garden Plain to a Sedgwick County basketball title in 1925. But Bausch also stirred up controversy.
He switched to Cathedral High in Wichita before his junior year in 1925 and played the next two seasons on one of the state's better football teams. Then, he competed on the track team at Wichita High School (now East) during the spring of his junior year, won a state shot put title and led the school to the team title. He later returned to Cathedral and graduated in June 1927. More controversy followed.
Bausch, after a year at the University of Wichita, was lured away to the University of Kansas in 1929. He remained a three-sport athlete. He was good in all of them, but the rest of the Big Six schools didn't like it. Some accused KU of illegally recruiting its star athlete.
Bausch continued to shine in all three sports. By 1930, however, several Big Six schools threatened to boycott future games against KU and its controversial athlete. Bausch was finally asked to walk away from KU athletics in 1931. He spent the next year training with the Kansas City Athletic Club, preparing for the Olympics.
The decathlon was a perfect fit. Bausch, graced with a muscular 6-foot-1, 208-pound frame, excelled at nearly everything. Still, he stunned the world when he won the decathlon at the Olympics in Los Angeles. A winner in the shot put, discus, pole vault and javelin, Bausch set a world record for points.
In 1933, he was given the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete. Bausch spent one year in the NFL before retiring from athletics. He fought in World War II, then spent 30 years as an agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Most of his adult years were spent at his home in Hot Springs, Ark.
Bausch, 68 when he died, had no children. Many family members had lost touch with their famous relative. "We just didn't see much of him over the years," said Stan Orth, a nephew who lives in Wichita. "We knew about the gold medal and all, but we really didn't hear many of the stories."
And the legend of one of the city's best athletes faded away.