Dick Held dies at 91; javelin guru was brother of WR man Bud
Last week, I had the sad job of reporting the death of Dick Held, the older brother of Bud Held, a USATF Hall of Famer who set world records in the javelin and threw in the 1952 Olympics. In my obituary for Times of San Diego, I wrote how amateur rules at the time barred Bud from selling the spears he made, “so he asked Dick: Would you be interested in making javelins? And he said, ‘Well, yeah. Why not?’ Bud recalled. “At that time he was an electrician. … I honestly did not expect him to be that successful.” But while Bud never thought Dick was that good mechanically, “it turns out he was. He produced the best javelins in the world for many years,” Bud said. The javelin world mourns the passing of a legend.
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Javelins, pole vault poles and other equipment … well done Held family.
Prayers to the family and friends.
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Sorry to hear of the passing of Dick Held. A great innovator when it came to Javelin design and concepts. Way before his time !
Have lost a friend. He’ll be missed by many.
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