The Cal 100: No. 59 -- Eddie Hart
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 59: Eddie Hart
Cal Sports Connection: Hart ran two seasons on the Cal track team, winning the 100-yard dash at the 1970 NCAA meet and finishing second a year later.
Claim to Fame: Hart shared the world record in the 100 meters and was favored to win the 1972 Olympic gold medal in Munich before missing his race due to an outdated schedule.
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Eddie Hart was not only the fastest Cal athlete of all time, he was the fastest man on the planet in 1972. He earned that distinction on the track, running 9.9 seconds in the 100 meters to win the U.S. Olympic trials and tie the world record.
Sadly for Hart, who checks in at No. 59 in The Cal 100, he became much better known for something he did not do than his lightning quick sprint time. What Hart didn’t do was get to the starting line for his quarter-final round race at the Munich Olympics that summer.
It wasn’t his fault — Hart and U.S. teammate Rey Robinson were watching what they thought was a video replay of their first-round race, only to realize they were watching a live feed . . . and their starting blocks were empty.
Eddie Hart
Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
“We hustled down to the gate to catch the next bus to the stadium,” Hart recalled in 2020 in a first-person story for California, the university’s alumni magazine. “The ABC television crew were there and the cameraman realized the situation. He piled us into their van. I mean, this guy, he was flying! He went down a one-way the wrong way. German policeman jumped out in front of the van and told us to stop. He just keeps going.
“They let us out at the practice track and about halfway through the tunnel, I hear a starting gun go off. The gun for my race.”
And just like that, the favorite for the Olympic gold medal was out.
Hart and Robinson were given an outdated event schedule by U.S. sprint coach Stan Wright, and that triggered the end of their involvement with the 100 meters at Munich. Valery Borzov of the USSR won the gold medal a day later — and he never ran 9.9.
Everyone blamed Wright, especially ABC commentator Howard Cosell. But not Hart. “I never, ever, for a second, had any ill feelings towards him,” he said.
That didn’t make the entire episode any easier. There were far bigger stories at the Munich Games — starting with the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes by terrorists — but Hart’s story was kept alive by the international media until the next news cycle arrived.
“I don’t know if I really understood what pain was, but that day I found out,” Hart said. "That hurt. There was no recourse, no second chance, no appeal. There was nothing—and I got it.”
He actually did have one outlet — the 4x100 relay. He and teammates Larry Black, Robert Taylor and Gerald Tinker roared to victory in a world-record time of 38.19. Hart and Borzov dueled the final stretch, with Hart prevailing decisively.
Hart, who grew up in the East Bay community of Pittsburg, arrived at Cal as a junior after two years in junior college. He won the 100-yard dash at the 1970 NCAA championships with a time of 9.4 seconds and was runner-up at 9.5 in ’71.
Inducted into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988, Hart has never felt sorry for himself over his misfortune in Munich.
“I have a lot to be thankful for,” he said in a 2007 Oakland Tribune interview. “I look around, and there’s a lot of people who have been through things much worse than just missing a race.”
Cover photo of Eddie Hart courtesy of Cal Athletics
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo