Dr. Greg Bell, an Olympic gold medalist who called Logansport home for over 55 years, died Saturday at the age of 94. “He’s not suffering,” said Bell’s wife, Mary Bell.
“He has accomplished so much in 94 years of his life. He’s in the hands of the Lord.” When talking to family, friends and loved ones, they describe Bell as greatness personified.
Not only was he an all-time great athlete, winning gold in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, he went on to receive a Doctorate in Dental Surgery. He did this while coming from the most humble beginnings. He was raised on what he called a truck farm 10 miles south of Terre Haute.
The house his father built burned to the ground when Bell was an infant, so the family moved into a 20x30 feet chicken house to live. He wrote an autobiography, “The Longest Leap,” detailing his rise from living in a chicken house along with eight siblings — three to a bed — with no electricity until the age of 6 to becoming an Olympic champion. During an event at Black Dog Coffee prior to the 2021 Tokyo Games, Bell, then 90, talked about his introduction to the long jump.
“It wasn’t until I was in Garfield High School that I found out there was a sport of track and field. I had never heard of it,” he said. He wanted to be a pole vaulter because he was a Tarzan fan but suffered a strained back muscle.
While injured, his high school principal, who may have been a state champion sprinter when he was in high school himself, suggested b.
