Bill Redell '64

One of college football’s last great “triple threats,” Bill Redell could do it all: pass, run, kick, and play defense.

As a player, Redell was attending USC on a scholarship when Vic Schwenk, his high school coach, convinced him to transfer to Oxy in 1962. He ended up an All-American, starring on both sides of the ball as a quarterback (1,567 yards passing, 1,583 rushing), as a defensive back (seven career interceptions), and kicker (36 of 43 extra-point attempts). Drafted by the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and the AFL’s Denver Broncos, Redell spent six years in the Canadian Football League, leading the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to a Grey Cup title in 1967. After years as a college assistant, he became a head coach at the high school level. In 1991, he built the football program at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village from scratch to national prominence. A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Redell, 71, was named Oxy’s football coach in May. Redell is an inaugural member of the Occidental College Athletic Hall of Fame, inducted with the first class of 2012.

Dean Cromwell 1902

For almost four decades The Dean, as he was affectionately known, inspired hyperbole among American sports writers.

“Sculptor of one of the greatest dynasties in sports history,” Dean Cromwell led USC’s track and field teams to 12 NCAA titles and 34 individual titles from 1909 to 1948. A multi-sport athlete at Oxy – he competed in track and cycling and played baseball and football – Cromwell’s prowess led the Helms Athletic Foundation to name him Southern California Athlete of the Year in 1901.

Later nicknamed “Maker of Champions,” Cromwell ‘s Trojans teams dominated intercollegiate track and field during his four decades at the helm. He was an assistant coach with Team USA at the 1928, 1932, and 1936 Olympics, and head track coach at the 1948 Games. “He was one of the turn-of-the-century men who made Los Angeles a symbol of growth and accomplishment,” the Los Angeles Times wrote of Cromwell, who died in 1962. “Cromwell caught the imagination by fashioning championship teams at an obscure school….Cromwell made his indelible contribution to the Los Angeles-that-grew with the national acclaim accorded his champions.” Cromwell is an inaugural member of the Occidental College Athletic Hall of Fame, inducted with the first class of 2012.

Bob McMillen '53

With less than 200 meters to go, it looked as if Bob McMillen ’53 had no hope of winning an Olympic medal. Then he started his kick.

Trailing at the back of the pack in the 1,500 meter final at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, McMillen put on a sudden burst of speed on the final turn, surging past leader Werner Lueg of Germany and almost catching Joseph Barthel of Luxembourg. McMillen took the silver in one of the most dramatic finishes in Olympic history, missing the gold by one-tenth of a second.

As an Oxy athlete, McMillen won an NCAA championship in the 1,500 and was a member of a distance relay team that set a new world record. “Bob was probably one of the most fun-loving guys who ever existed,” remembers teammate Phil Schlegel ’53. “But he had a switch in him when he was going to work out or run … and be the most concentrated, focused person.” McMillen is an inaugural member of the Occidental College Athletic Hall of Fame, inducted with the first class of 2012.

World record pole vaulter
Class of '58
Bob Gutowski

Perfect on the mound
Class of '27
Bud Teachout

The first woman to win an Oxy “O”
Class of '38
Patricia Henry Yeomans

Bob Gutowski '58

Bob Gutowski ’58 came to Oxy as a basketball player, but legendary track & field coach Payton Jordan had other ideas.

With Gutowski’s natural athleticism, Jordan reasoned, he could learn how to be a pole vaulter. Jordan’s hunch paid off, with Gutowski winning a silver medal at the 1956 Olympics, two consecutive NCAA titles in 1956 and 1957, and a new world record of 15’ 8¼” at an Oxy-Stanford track meet in 1957. Gutowski’s all-time best, a mark of 15’ 9¾” set later that year, remains the greatest height ever achieved on a steel pole, although it was never officially recognized as a record because of a technical violation – the pole passed underneath the crossbar. The North American Athlete of the Year in 1957, Gutowski was an all-rounder who placed in the Nationals in the long jump and triple jump, and was an NAIA champion in the triple jump. Gutowski is an inaugural member of the Occidental College Athletic Hall of Fame, inducted with the first class of 2012.

Bud Teachout '27

Bud Teachout ’27 stood 6’2”. From the mound, he looked even more intimidating. And he was.

Teachout was the Tigers’ pitching ace from 1924 to 1927, compiling a perfect 23-0 record in conference play – a record never since repeated. (He would have added a fourth year of dominance had freshmen not been barred from the varsity.) A versatile athlete who led his Franklin High School team to a California state championship, Teachout also played right field to take advantage of his powerful bat. Drafted by Detroit, he played two years for the Chicago Cubs and another for St. Louis, the only Oxy Tiger to win a game in the major leagues. As head baseball coach at Glendale High School, he produced several key players who went on to play for his alma mater. Teachout is an inaugural member of the Occidental College Athletic Hall of Fame, inducted with the first class of 2012.

Patricia Henry Yeomans '38

In her first year at Oxy, Patricia Henry Yeomans ’38 worked her way to No. 1 on the men’s freshman tennis team before being banned from competition.

Undaunted, she won the national juniors title for women in 1935 and the College Girls’ Invitational in 1936 and 1937. She became the first woman in Oxy history to win a block “O.” After graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in history and government, she helped organize the first sanctioned women’s collegiate championship and pioneered tournament play for 50-and-over players. With former champion Jack Kramer and tennis official Joseph Bixler, she successfully lobbied to bring tennis back as an Olympic sport at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist
Class of '43
Sammy Lee

Pro quarterback and distinguished statesman
Class of '57
Jack Kemp

Sammy Lee '43

As a boy, Sammy Lee ’43 was once confronted by neighbors who demanded that the Korean boy and his family move out.

He remembers a friend, a German immigrant, telling them, “One day, you’ll be proud the Lees were your neighbors.” Lee, a chemistry major and All-American diver at Oxy, went on to become the first Asian-American man to win an Olympic gold medal on the 10-meter platform, in London in 1948. At age 32, he became the oldest diver to win a gold medal, at the 1952 Olympics. A doctor and ear, nose, and throat specialist for 35 years, Lee also had a distinguished Olympic coaching career--his divers included gold medalist Bob Webster and silver medalist Greg Louganis.

Jack Kemp '57

At 5’10”, Jack Kemp ’57 was supposed to be too small to be a pro quarterback.

But the pugnacious physical education major refused to listen. By the time he retired in 1969, he had led the Buffalo Bills to four division titles and two AFL championships. His second career began on the long flights between games, reading works by major economists and philosophers. Kemp went on to serve nine terms in Congress, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and was Bob Dole's vice presidential running mate in the 1996 presidential race. But his greatest legacy was his pioneering advocacy of tax cuts to stimulate the economy--an issue that has become a central tenet of Republican philosophy.