The International Medalist Association received
the following sad email on January 28, 2007:
It is with great sadness that I report that C.K.
passed away at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, January
27, 2007, of a massive stroke. He had a stroke
last Saturday and when he went into the
hospital, he had 3 more mini strokes. A couple
of days ago, he had a massive stroke that not
many people can live through.
I am not sure of funeral arrangements at this
time. Thank you for your friendship to C.K. and
for all you do for us. Please tell the
newspapers C.K. did not die of cancer, but of a
massive stroke. Please pray for C.K. to go to
Heaven.
Daisy
C.K. Yang, 1933-2007, age 74
Profile:
A
chance meeting in his native Taiwan with
two-time Olympic decathlon champion Bob Mathias
set C.K. Yang (Yang Chuan-kwang)
on a quest to become the world's greatest
decathlete. He pursued that dream as a UCLA
student, where he was a teammate of 1956 Olympic
silver medalist Rafer Johnson. At the 1960
Olympics in Rome, the two locked in what is
considered one of the greatest duels in
decathlon history. C.K. trailed Rafer by only 67
points going into the final event, the 1500m. If
he could beat Rafer by more than 10 seconds, he
would win the gold medal. C.K. chances looked
good, as his 1500m PR was more than 18 seconds
faster than Rafer's. But Rafer rallied to run a
PR by more than 5 seconds, and finished fewer
than two seconds behind C.K., to clinch the gold
medal.
C.K.
warmed up for his epic 1960 battle with Rafer by
winning his first Mt. SAC title. He returned to
Mt. SAC in 1963 with a performance that
literally
changed the record books. His World Record score
of 9121 forced a revision in decathlon scoring
tables, with points now more evenly distributed
among events. This proved to be a detriment to
C.K., as it removed the huge pole vault
advantage (he was the first decathlete to clear
16 feet) he typically held over his competitors.
He
returned to Mt. SAC in 1964, again in
preparation for the upcoming Olympics. C.K.
recorded his third Relays victory. He went on to
finish 5th in Tokyo.
For the majority of his life after his
competition years ended, Yang served on Taiwan's
Olympic Committee, and spent the better part of
every year in Taiwan helping cultivate the
development of their Olympic program. He was a
national hero and a real inspiration to the
youth of Taiwan.
C.K.'s 1963's World Record score at Mt. SAC
remains Taiwan's national record, by far the
oldest record still in existence.
-
PR: 9121 (8009 adjusted to 1985 scoring
tables)
-
World Record, 1963
-
9121 points (8009 adjusted)
-
Olympic Silver Medal, 1960
-
Olympic 5th place finish, 1964
-
U.S. National Champion:
-
1959: 7549
-
1962: 8249
-
1964: 8641
-
Asian Games Champion, 1954
-
Asian Games Champion, 1958
Donations can be made in memory of C.K.'s
nephew at:
Cyrus Jue Lam Fund
Ventura High School
c/o Ventura High School Educational Partnership
255 W. Stanley Road
Ventura, CA 93001
