The NFL's Forgotten Gold Medalist!

As usual during the staging of the Summer Olympics, numerous stars are born, discovered, and revered forever based on their gold-medal-winning performances. World-wide coverage of the numerous events is eagerly followed by millions and many of the champions quickly become household names. Recognition, riches, and honor quickly follow, although not necessarily in that order!

But did you know that a member of the Chicago Cardinals football team was once an Olympic gold medal winner?

Of course, you might think that this would certainly be the great Jim Thorpe, a Cardinal for just one game in 1928, since he won the gold medal in both the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. But that would be too obvious…

Later, halfback/sprinter Ollie Matson of the Cardinals grabbed both bronze and silver medals while representing the United States during the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Lots of well-deserved medals for Ollie, but no gold…

Yet there was one other Cardinal who achieved Olympic fame when he was the gold medalist in the decathlon at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Thousands cheered him, Knute Rockne once called him “the greatest,” but very few today have ever heard his name.

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Kansas Battering Ram

Let us introduce James Aloysius Bausch, from the University of Kansas where he was known as “Jarring Jim” for his crushing runs from the fullback position. As a great all-around athlete, Bausch was also a star in basketball and track for the Jayhawks…His story is equal parts glorifying and heart-breaking but deserves to be shared even as the years have obscured his remarkable accomplishment.

Born in Marion, SD in 1906, Bausch initially spent a year at what is now known as Wichita State before transferring to Kansas. As a sophomore fullback for the Jayhawks in 1929, Bausch helped his club to a 4-4 record and was named to the first team all-conference honor squad. The Wichita Beacon described Bausch as “the Kansas battering ram, who has been largely responsible for the Jayhawks’ success.”

Bausch was such a tireless and relentless ball carrier that the Kansas City Star light-heartedly described his gridiron activity during a game against Nebraska: “The ball had been given to Bausch all afternoon. It was Bausch-Bausch-Bausch when Kansas had the ball. It was Bausch through the line, off the tackle, around the end. It was Bausch back to pass.

It was Bausch so often that when someone else carried the ball, the experts in the press box asked the informant to verify. They asked: “Are you sure it wasn’t Bausch?’”

Greatest Rockne Ever Saw

During his junior campaign in 1930, Bausch and his club captured the Big Six conference title with a 6-2 mark and Bausch topped all scorers with 48 points. Once again, he was selected for the all-conference first team and received several All-American honors. The legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne was impressed by Bausch and called him “The greatest football player I ever saw.” (Per the Akron Beacon Journal.)

However, ever since his transfer from Wichita to Kansas there had been whispers that Bausch was working part-time as a life insurance salesman, a position that Bausch freely admitted and which was not illegal. The other conference members insisted that his $75 per month retainer was provided without his working.

In other words, this was very likely how Kansas was able to entice Bausch to transfer from Wichita well before generous financial aid was permissible. In 1930, the conference members insisted that Kansas suspend Bausch for his employment situation, but Kansas refused until the university was threatened with expulsion from the Big Six.

After Bausch completed his junior season, Kansas weakened at the prospect of being without a conference in the immediate future and finally caved in to the demands and declared Bausch ineligible. Not a problem, said Bausch, who had already secured a spot on the revered East-West All-Star game roster, thus voluntarily forfeiting any future collegiate eligibility.

The loss of Bausch was a blow to the athletic department at Kansas, moaned the Wichita Eagle: “Jim Bausch, [was] sacrificed on that altar of purification of athletics, and all is quiet on the Big Six battle front. Bausch, of course, was just the game the Big Six was gunning for. He was too good for the rest of the coaches and they couldn’t sleep while he was in athletic existence. True, Big Jim got to serve out his football time but he gave K.U. a track championship last spring, and oh, how he’ll be missed next April!”

Instead of representing Kansas in the spring of 1931, Bausch joined the Kansas City Athletic Club and entered his very first decathlon at the Kansas Relays. Surprisingly (except to Bausch) he won the grueling event and established a new meet record. Typically, the decathlon included ten separate track and field events, stretching the limitations of the competing participants over a two-day period.

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09/20/2024 04:35 am GMT

I’ll Win the Decathlon!

By the following year, Bausch was recognized as one of the country’s most talented athletes and accepted an invitation to try out for the U.S. Olympic decathlon team during trials held on June 24 and 25, 1932 at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. After trailing following the first five events, Bausch rebounded and captured first place to grab one of the three spots on the U.S. decathlon team.

It was now on to Los Angeles for the 1932 Olympic games where the favorites in the decathlon would be Finland’s Akilles Jarvinen and Paavo Yrola, the defending gold medalist in the event. Although considered a new-comer to the sport, Bausch exuded confidence when asked about his chances in Los Angeles by the Kansas City Star: “I’ll win the decathlon. And what’s more. I’ll break the record!”

Things did not go well for Bausch on August 5, 1932, the first day of the Olympic decathlon competition. Bausch fell to fifth place in the field after beginning with a tenth-place finish in the 100-meter dash; fifth place in the broad jump; sixth place in the high jump; first place in the shot put; and tenth in the 400-meter run.

Perhaps recalling his distasteful ouster by the Big Six Conference moguls during the 1930 football season, an inspired Bausch also knew that his strongest events would take place on the second day of the decathlon competition. The first event of the day (110-meter hurdles) went better than expected as Bausch moved into third place overall with a sixth-place finish in the hurdles. Six events down—four to go…and that is when Big Jim continued his comeback.

Greatest Performance of All Time!

There was still a chance for victory if Bausch could score highly in the remaining four events, but he was faced with another challenge as explained by the Kansas City Times: “The happenings in the Olympic Bowl that day must have puzzled many. Brutus K. Hamilton was coaching Bausch.

But he wasn’t an official Olympic coach and wasn’t allowed down in the stadium. He coached from the stands. Bausch said, ‘When he and I wanted to communicate he had to use hand signals, more or less, from way up in the stadium. But he was able to get his messages down to me before each event started.’”

Whatever method Coach Hamilton decided to utilize must have worked as Bausch topped the discus field with a throw of 145 feet, 3 1/4 inches. Next, “Jarring Jim” attacked the pole vault and tied for the best mark with 13 feet, 1 ½ inches. Not bad for a 200 lb. fullback with an unflexible pole!

Bausch clinched the decathlon crown with next-to-last-event—the javelin. With a solid toss of 203 feet, 3 ½ inches, he once again finished first and just needed to ensure he would be a finisher in the grueling 1,500-meter run that concluded the challenging decathlon competition. Although certainly exhausted, Bausch managed a respectable eighth place finish in the distance run with a time of 5:17.

Bausch had thus captured the gold medal in the 1932 decathlon, and did it in style reported the Wichita Eagle: “Jim Bausch, All-American all-around athlete from Wichita captured the Olympic decathlon championship, smashing the world and Olympic records to bits. Bausch finished the two-event, two-day battle with the spectacular total of 8,462.23 points for the greatest all-around performance of all-time.”

Received the Greatest Ovation of Any Athlete in History

As Bausch struggled across the finish line in the 1,500-meter race, the crowd began to demonstrate its appreciation. As the Wichita Eagle reported: “Dusk fell across the huge Olympic stadium before the decathlon was finished, but most of the crowd of 40,000 forgot their suppers and remained to give Bausch’s magnificent performance a great ovation.” It was said the standing ovation for Bausch lasted over five minutes.

Years later, a writer for the Kansas City Times recalled: “I believe Bausch received the greatest ovation of any single athlete in the history of sports from men and women in the bowl. There he stood, 200 pounds of man, radiating energy with the sweat of competition pouring from his body. No event ever sent the chills through my spine as did Jim Bausch at the Olympic games.”

For this remarkable accomplishment, the young man from South Dakota was later presented with the 1932 Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete of the year. However, it was another year of the Great Depression and Bausch was unable to capitalize on his Olympic fame. In 1966, he told the Kansas City Times: “Times were hard and I couldn’t eat my medals.”

He even attempted to become a singer in the Kansas City area, “But that was strictly a make-shift proposition. And that’s also the reason I played one season of professional football. I had this job with the government lined up, but I couldn’t go to work until February 1, 1934. That’s what gave me the time for that season of professional football and also more singing.” Bausch added.

Talk About Power at Fullback!

So, it was on to the NFL in the fall of 1933, first with the Chicago Cardinals and new coach Paul Schissler for a couple of games and then with Cincinnati for five contests. After his signing with the Cardinals on August 15th, 1933, the Chicago Tribune noted that “Bausch appears certain of a (roster) berth because of his driving power and all-around ability.”

The gold medalist was listed as the starting fullback for the Cards in the pre-season opener against the Aurora (IL) Ideals, but injured his ankle prior to the game. However, he returned for the next exhibition contest and scored a touchdown against Freeport (IL). On September 27th, Bausch was in the starting lineup for the league opener at Pittsburgh. Even new owner Charles Bidwill gushed about his fullback’s potential in a pre-season interview with the Tribune: “And talk about power at fullback–just watch Jim Bausch!”

Bausch started the first two regular season games for the Cardinals, but then was traded to Cincinnati and helped the Reds defeat the Cards 12-9 later in the season. Overall, Bausch totaled 70 yards on 36 rushes for the year and also completed 6-26 passes for an additional 60 yards. It would prove to be the only season in the NFL for Bausch. By the beginning of the 1934 season, Bausch was done with sports, except for scattered personal appearances, such as celebrity basketball games.

He was hired as an agent for the Internal Revenue Service and began another successful career. The Akron Beacon Journal wrote: “His achievements in football, track, and basketball are but memories. After taking a fling at professional football, Bausch has settled down to earning a living and from all appearances he is one athlete of note making good in that respect outside the sports field.”

And so, all was well, until a few years later when World War II began. Bausch left his job with the IRS in December of 1942 “to become an apprentice seaman in the naval reserve and ultimately became a lieutenant, junior grade and was ordered as a line officer to the Admiralty Islands to help build a base there,” said the Wichita Eagle.

I Can Bite a Snake!

While in the South Pacific islands, Bausch developed, according to the Wichita Eagle, “osteo arthritis (osteomyelitis), chronic in the spine and right shoulder. Doctors have told him that in five or six years he will have a totally stiff spine.” Bausch was in and out of hospitals for 13 months before finally being discharged in early 1946. Part of his treatment was a daily dose of moccasin venom. Still with his sense of humor, Bausch remarked: “It won’t be long before I can bite a snake right back!”

Bausch managed to adjust his lifestyle to deal with the constant pain from the condition and retired after 25 years as a field investigator with the IRS. However, the pain from his aliment prompted a reliance on alcohol that nagged Bausch for most of his life until he later persevered. Still, he was never able to fully take advantage, at least financially, for his gold medal-winning performance at the Los Angeles Olympics.

James Aloysius Bernard Bausch passed away on July 9, 1974 at the age of 68 in Hot Springs, AR. Because of his superlative athletic accomplishments, Bausch is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the National Track Hall of Fame.

But today, we remember Jim Bausch as the world’s greatest athlete in 1932 and another important–and proud–part of the history of the NFL’s oldest team, the Arizona Cardinals! Please join us next time as we discuss some strange and unusual events in the history of the Cardinals, a program that was pre-empted by this special Olympic report on the great Jim Bausch, here on the Sports History Network. Thank you!

Author and Host - Joe Ziemba

Joe Ziemba is the host of this show, and he is an author of early football history in the city of Chicago. Here, you can learn more about Joe and When Football Was Football, including all of the episodes of the podcast.