Dave Sime Explained

Dave Sime
Fullname:David William Sime
Birth Date:25 July 1936
Birth Place:Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.
Death Place:Miami, Florida, U.S.
Height:6 ft 3 in
Weight:195 lb[1]
Education:Duke University, 1958
M.D. 1962
Occupation:Ophthalmologist
Sport:Track
Event:sprint running
Club:Duke Blue Devils, Durham
Show-Medals:yes

David William Sime (; July 25, 1936 – January 12, 2016) was an American sprinter, multi-sport athlete at Duke University, and a pioneering ophthalmologist. He won a silver medal in the 100-meter dash (photo finish) at the 1960 Olympic Games, and held several sprint records during the late 1950s.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Early life

Sime was born on July 25, 1936, in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Evelyn and Charles Sime,[7] neither of whom graduated from high school. He grew up in Fair Lawn and played football and baseball at Fair Lawn High School, but did not run track. He was a charter member of the Fair Lawn High School Athletics Hall of Fame.[8] [9]

Sime applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point, as his dream was to become a pilot, but discovered he was color blind and accepted a baseball scholarship to Duke University in North Carolina.[10]

Duke University

Sime was a member of Duke's baseball and track and field teams, and played football for a season in 1958 while a first-year medical school student.[1] [9] His beginnings in track were accidental: his 100-yard dash on an unmowed grass surface in baseball shoes was a rapid 9.8 seconds, and the coaches soon asked him to join the track team. Opting not to play freshman football, he had gone out for fall track to stay in shape for baseball.[11] Sime hit over .400 as a freshman and had the intention continuing in baseball for coach Ace Parker, but his success during winter track changed that. Parker was a former multi-sport athlete and recognized the exceptional speed and Olympic potential; Sime focused on track in 1956, then split time between both sports in 1957.[12] [13] [14]

Sime achieved his greatest collegiate victory as a 19-year-old sophomore at the Drake Relays in April 1956, where he was named the meet's outstanding performer after setting a meet record in the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds;[15] he handed Bobby Morrow of Abilene Christian his first loss in over thirty races in the 100, and was inducted into the Drake Relays Athlete Hall of Fame in 1959.[16] Sime was named the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1956 for his accomplishments in track and baseball. Prior to the Olympic trials, he and Morrow appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1956.[17]

Sime was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 29th round (341st overall) of the 1959 NFL draft, but he opted not to play football professionally and continued at medical school.

In 2010, Duke named him their most outstanding athlete of the 20th century.[18]

Olympics

Sime was unable to make the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne at age twenty due to a leg injury in his first attempt to ride a horse.[19] Four years later (and midway through medical school), he competed in Rome and won a silver medal in the 100 meters, edged out by Armin Hary of Germany in a photo finish.[5]

Sime anchored the U.S. to an apparent victory in the 4 × 100 m relay, posting a world record time of 39.4 seconds. The team was disqualified because at the first exchange from Budd to Norton, Norton started too early and the exchange happened outside the changeover box.[5] [20] During his career, he held world records at 100 yards, 220 yards, and the 220 yd low hurdles.

During the Rome Olympics, Sime worked with the CIA trying to entice Soviet long-jumper Igor Ter-Ovanesyan to defect; the attempt failed.[21]

Ophthalmology

Sime never played sports professionally. He graduated in the top 10% of his class at the Duke University School of Medicine. He then practiced medicine as an ophthalmologist in Florida, where he was a pioneer in intraocular lens implants.

Personal life

Sime's eldest child, Sherrie, went to the University of Virginia, where she was the school's top-ranked singles tennis player. His son Scott was a state wrestling champion and all-state football player at Coral Gables Senior High School before going on to his father's alma mater at Duke, where he was a starting fullback.[4] [22]

Sime's youngest child, Lisa, attended Stanford University, where she was a standout soccer player. There she met her future husband, Ed McCaffrey, a Cardinal wide receiver who went on to win three Super Bowls and a Pro Bowl during a 13-year NFL career.[4] Three of their first four sons (his grandsons): Max, Christian, and Luke McCaffrey, are an American football coach and a former NFL wide receiver, an NFL running back, and an NFL wide receiver, respectively.

After a lengthy battle with cancer, Sime died at age 79 in 2016.[6]

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Dave Sime joins Duke football team . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . October 8, 1958 . 2C .
  2. News: A gold medal to see . Schenectady Gazette . (New York) . Murray . Jim . Jim Murray (sportswriter) . (Los Angeles Times). March 21, 1979 . 31 .
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20200417093936/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/si/dave-sime-1.html . 2020-04-17 . Dave Sime .
  4. Dave Sime, fastest human (July 2, 1956) . Sports Illustrated . Kimmey . Will . August 20, 2001 . 20.
  5. News: Dave Sime dies at 79; world's fastest sprinter, but far from its luckiest . New York Times . Litsky . Frank . (obituary) . January 15, 2016 . September 19, 2016.
  6. News: David Sime, Olympian and doctor, dies at 79 . Miami Herald. Kaufman . Michelle. January 14, 2016 . September 19, 2016.
  7. News: Dr. David William Sime (1936-2016) . Miami Herald . (obituary) . January 15, 2016 . September 19, 2016.
  8. News: Roberts . Jeff . Intriguing People: Dave Sime . The Record . (Bergen County, New Jersey). April 25, 2010. June 25, 2013. "This was the moment that changed everything for the Paterson-born, Fair Lawn-bred Sime."
  9. News: Sime Has Great Day, Breaks World Record. Associated Press. The Miami News. May 6, 1956. August 31, 2011. November 11, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141111192843/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PgxgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HukFAAAAIBAJ&dq=dave%20sime%20fair%20lawn&pg=4104%2C2259165. dead. "The 190-pound Fair Lawn, N.J., sophomore, a hot prospect for the U.S. Olympic team, won the 100-yard dash in 9.4, his sixth such performance this year."
  10. News: Dave Sime: Olympian, Physician, and Grandfather to a Heisman Candidate. Newsweek. November 20, 2015. John Walters.
  11. News: Dr. Sime is keeping an eye on track . Fort Scott Tribune . (Kansas). NEA . Padwe . Sandy . November 23, 1966 . 10 .
  12. News: Dave Sime leads double duty men . Sarasota Journal . (Florida) . Associated Press . May 10, 1957 . 16.
  13. News: Scouts eye Sime hungrily. Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press . June 5, 1957. 9.
  14. News: College baseball all-stars named . Wilmington Morning Star . (North Carolina). Associated Press. June 21, 1957 . 12.
  15. News: Sime smashes meet record . Sunday Star-News . (Wilmington, North Carolina) . Associated Press . April 29, 1956 . 2c .
  16. DrakeRelays
  17. And now the biggest battle of all . Sports Illustrated . Terrell . Roy . July 2, 1956 . 6.
  18. News: The Ballad of Dave Sime. Duke Chronicle. Bill Hensley. February 18, 2011. November 24, 2015. November 24, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151124191513/http://www.dukechronicle.com/blog/blue-zone/2011/02/ballad-dave-sime. dead.
  19. The Sime affair . Sports Illustrated . July 2, 1956 . 9.
  20. News: Crowd boos when U.S. relay team disqualified . Bend Bulletin . (Oregon) . UPI . September 8, 1960 . 1 .
  21. News: Bull. Andy. May 17, 2020. Olympic espionage: US sprinter Dave Sime, the CIA and the 1960 Games. en-GB. The Guardian. May 17, 2020. 0261-3077.
  22. News: Broncos' Ed McCaffrey, wife, Lisa, both come from long line of athletes. The Denver Post. November 28, 1999. Patrick Saunders.