WESTWOOD (Feb. 28, 2004) – No one was playing cards, but they kept Bob Seaman up late again!
The UCLA track and field legend, Seaman, was the guest speaker at the 2004 Founders Day and led a raucous night of tomfoolery and good cheer into the late hours at his old Sigma Pi Manor. Bob joined the fraternity as a freshman in 1955 and moved into the Big Purple House. But he did not last long because of the distractions and became a townie. Believe it or not, this is from a newspaper article about Bob printed in the L.A. Mirror back in 1955:
Bob moved out of his fraternity house because “they stay up ‘til 11 p.m. playing cards.”
Was that Seth Bluman or Ed Rhee in the house back in 1955?!?! It’s nice to know that some things never change!
Bob ran on the UCLA track team during the 1950s for Ducky Drake, another Sigma Pi Upsilon brother for whom our track stadium is named. Bob was joined a couple of year later by his late brother John Seaman at UCLA.
Bob was a scholastic legend and set national schoolboy records as a runner from Reedley H.S. Another future Bruin star schooled just 10 miles away – the renowned future Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, against whom Bob played football and track. Expectations were high as Bob arrived as a Brubabe freshman in 1955, known as “the Rascal from Reedley,” and he went to work quickly.
In 1956, Bob helped UCLA win its first PCC track championship, beating USC, which had won the last 30 championships in a row. How about that!
Bob ran in the low 4:00 minutes in the mile in his collegiate career, always aiming to break the 4:00 minute barrier. However, Jim Baudin of Cal beat him to the punch, becoming the first American to break the mark in 1957.
Later that year at the AAU U.S. national track meet, Bob got some revenge by beating Baudin. In 1962, several years out of school, Bob broke the magic mark and ran his first 4:00 mile, becoming the first Bruin to do so.
His all-time p.r. is 3:58. In his amateur years, Bob also ran in the Olympic trial in 1956 and 1960, finishing fifth and ninth.
Being a legend has its privileges. Bob appeared with Rafer Johnson on an Ed Sullivan Show segment broadcast from Westwood, and he later met Vice President Richard Nixon at an AAU national meet in 1958.
Bob remains active in track and field and serves as an official for scholastic meets. He also was active with the Olympic program, serving as an assistant manager for the U.S. team at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, manager for the 1987 World University Games in Zagreb (Croatia), and manager for the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. In Seoul, he watched UCLA products Jackie Joyner and Florence Griffith win numerous gold medals. The Seoul Olympic Committee also had flown Korean-Americans back home to assist as guides and translators, and the liaison to the U.S. track team was a UCLA graduate, no less! 8,000 miles from home, and Bruins everywhere!
About 20 years ago, Bob stood at Sigma Pi Manor on Founders Day to introduce a UCLA legend, track coach and Sigma Pi Upsilon brother Ducky Drake, who went on to coach Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang to gold and silver medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics. We brothers were fortunate to have half of that pair of legends with us at this year’s Founders Day in Bob.
See you in 2005! Send your checks now!