Dick Held dies at 91; javelin guru was brother of WR man Bud

Dick Held made the best javelins.

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.

Dick (left) and brother Bud during mid-1970s trip to the Sierra Nevadas.

Dick (left) and brother Bud during mid-1970s trip to the Sierra Nevadas.

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March 30, 2018

4 Responses

  1. Jeff Davison - March 31, 2018

    Javelins, pole vault poles and other equipment … well done Held family.

    Prayers to the family and friends.

  2. Jeff Davison - March 31, 2018

    More stories
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/javelinthrowmagazine.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/dick-held-in-memoriam/amp/#ampshare=https://javelinthrowmagazine.wordpress.com/2018/03/21/dick-held-in-memoriam/

  3. Buzz Gagne - April 6, 2018

    Sorry to hear of the passing of Dick Held. A great innovator when it came to Javelin design and concepts. Way before his time !

  4. Joan Stratton - April 10, 2018

    Have lost a friend. He’ll be missed by many.

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