Willie Banks

Willie, a popular Oceanside High and UCLA grad, set a world triple jump record in June 1985 with a leap of 58-11 1/2 at the National Championship meet in Indianapolis, a mark which stood unchallenged for 10 years. He became the first American to hold the record since 1912. Willie also won four national open titles and took a first at the 1980 Olympic trials, although the U.S. boycott of the Olympics that year deprived him of a chance for a gold medal. His charisma helped popularize worldwide a previously obscure event.

Willie’s most successful year was 1985 when he won the Jesse Owens Award as the outstanding American track and field athlete, was a Sullivan Award finalist as the nation’s premiere amateur athlete, and was named Sportsman of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee. He was never able to capture an Olympic medal, however, finishing just out of the money in the 1976 trials, deprived of his best chance in 1980 by the boycott, and finishing in disappointing sixth place in both the 1984 and 1988 Games.

At Oceanside High, Willie was a two-time state champion, taking the 1973 TJ with a wind-aided 49-7 3/4, and coming back the next year as a senior for a then-state record 50-7. A few days later, he soared 53-3 at the Golden West Invitational, an event for recently graduated high school seniors from around the country. That was a national prep record which stood for better than 20 years. He also was a 24-2 3/4 long jumper at Oceanside.

After retiring from active competition in 1992, he made a brief just-for-fun comeback in 2001 and set a world age-group record for men aged 45-49 with a 47-8 3/4 leap.