Four other past Mt. Pleasant residents had ties to the Olympics

Mt. Pleasant may never be known as ?City of the Olympians,? but in addition to Rod White, there are four other people with Mt. Pleasant ties who have Olympic connections in one form or another.

Information on the other four men, who all are now deceased, was compiled by local historian Pat White and follows.

CLIFFORD HOWARD BUCK

(1900-1989)

Buck was raised in Mt. Pleasant and graduated with the Class of 1918. He was a member of Mt. Pleasant?s 1917-1918 Iowa State High School Boys? Basketball championship team. He served during World War I and graduated from Iowa Wesleyan in 1923.

During his working career, he served as an administrator in amateur sports for more than 30 years, including serving as the president of the United States Olympic Committee from 1970-1973. While USOC president, he supervised activities at the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan, and the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, West Germany.

As an international sports figure, Buck traveled to 80 countries, while boosting Denver as the site for the 1976 Winter Games, which were hosted instead by Innsbruck, Austria.

OLAN GAY RUBLE

(1906-1982)

Ruble was a pioneer in local, national and international women?s basketball circles, serving on the U.S. Women?s Basketball Olympic Committee for 25 years. He played a vital role in women?s basketball becoming an Olympic sport in 1976.

Launching the women?s basketball program at Iowa Wesleyan in 1943 ? the first four-year college in Iowa to play women?s basketball ? Ruble coached the Tigers for 21 seasons, retiring in 1965 with a career record of 626-127.

He coached 13 Amateur Athletic Union (forerunner to the NCAA and NAIA for women?s collegiate basketball) with many of his players competing internationally. Eight of his former players are in the Iowa High School Hall of Fame and one player, Rita Horky, is in the National Women?s Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2000.

In addition to women?s basketball, Ruble also coached football and men?s basketball at Wesleyan and was a professor of physical education.

He was named an honorary Iowa Wesleyan alumnus in 1974, and Ruble Arena, home of Tiger indoor athletic teams, is named in his honor.

Dr. HENRY FAWCETT CANBY

(1908-2000)

Canby was born in Mt. Pleasant on June 21, 1908, to George Price Canby and Letitia Jane Kneen Canby. He attended Iowa Wesleyan College and the University of Iowa (then known as the State University of Iowa), receiving his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the University of Iowa in 1932, graduating with high academic honors.

In 1942, he received a master?s degree from the School of Dental Health at Yale University.

During his college years, he was active in varsity and intramural sports. He set the national intercollegiate and world indoor pole-vaulting record at the Big Ten Track Meet in 1929. He had the University of Iowa pole-vaulting record for 26 years. Canby qualified for the final tryout of the 1932 Olympics.

CHARLES CLIFFORD ESPY

(1910-2001)

Espy, starting his collegiate career at Iowa Wesleyan College in 1928, spent his entire life in track and cross-country.

A distance runner, Espy was called ?the finest distance runner ever produced at Iowa Wesleyan College.?

He was captain of the Wesleyan track and cross-country teams and was a six-time indoor and outdoor conference champion in the mile and two-mile events from 1930 to 1932. His 1932 two-mile time broke the conference record previously set by a 1928 Olympian.

Espy ran the steeplechase at the Olympic preliminary tryouts and advanced to the semifinals, but placed fourth in the event, just missing the 1932 Olympics. His fourth-place time was only 10 seconds behind the Olympic record. The steeplechase time was recognized as an official Iowa Wesleyan record in 1999.

During his adult life, Espy continued to compete in many track meets across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Italy, winning over 100 awards. He set his last world record in the indoor 800-meter run at the age of 85.