Posted: March 1, 2007

Athletics: News & Notes, Volume 8, Number 16

Olympic shot put medalist Brix dies Former Hollywood actor and 1928 Olympic Games shot put silver medalist Herman Brix died Saturday of complications from a broken hip, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was 100. The fourth of five children, he was born Harold Herman Brix in Tacoma, Wash., on May 19, 1906. In high school, he played football, basketball and soccer, and competed in swimming and track and field. At the University of Washington in Seattle, Brix discovered the shot put. He also became an All-American tackle for the Huskies and went to the Rose Bowl in 1926. He graduated in 1928 with a bachelor's degree in economics and moved to Los Angeles in 1929 after being invited to compete for the Los Angeles Track Club. During his track and field career, Brix won the shot put at the 1928 Olympic Trials, and won four consecutive outdoor national titles from 1928 to 1931. He became friends with actor Douglas Fairbanks, who arranged a screen test for him at Paramount. But while playing a small role as a running back in the 1931Paramount college football movie "Touchdown," Brix broke a shoulder.The injury caused the world record-setting shot-putter to fail to qualify for the 1932 Olympic Trials. It also ended his chance to play Tarzan at MGM, where he is said to have been the studio's leading candidate for the role that eventually went to Olympic swimming great Johnny Weismuller. However, Brix went on to play Tarzan in the 1935 independent film company presentation of "The New Adventures of Tarzan." Brix appeared in more than a dozen action films before deciding on a stage name that he felt might lead to a variety of roles. After considering a number of names he settled on Bruce Bennett, and stuck with it through the remainder of his film career, which included a prized role in the highly regarded 1948 Humphrey Bogart film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."After his Hollywood career ended in the 1960s after appearing in more than 100 films, Brix went to work for a Los Angeles food service company, where he became West Coast sales manager. He later had a successful career in real estate before retiring in the mid-1980s.Jeannette, Brix's wife of 67 years, died in 2000. In addition to his son Christopher, he is survived by his daughter, Christina Katich; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.Memorial donations may be sent to the United States Olympic Committee, National Headquarters, 1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909. Services will be private. Penn Relays legend Herman Mancini dies Herman Mancini, who in his role as the chief clerk at the Penn Relays for 32 years always kept the event running on time, died Sunday after a long illness in Coral Springs, Fla. He was 94. Before becoming the chief clerk of the Relays, Mancini served as the assistant clerk for 19 years. He served as the chief clerk from 1966 until 1998, before being named chief clerk emeritus. In his role as chief clerk, Mancini saw to it that thousands of athletes flowed smoothly through the paddock on their way to the track for competition. He spoke with authority in moving the athletes through, often causing events to run ahead of schedule, as all competitors were treated the same, whether they were high school runners or Olympic-caliber athletes. "I heard a story where Herman insisted that Dave Wottle, when he came here with the Bowling Green 4 x mile relay team in 1973, could not take the track wearing his cap," Dave Johnson, executive director of the relays, said to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "That's the same cap he wore when he won the [Olympic] gold medal. The owner of his own barbell company before becoming a sporting goods salesman, Mancini also announced boxing matches in the Philadelphia area for nearly 40 years. He moved from Ardmore, Pa., to Plantation, Fla., in 1972, but always made his way back to for the Penn Relays, attending the event 65 times. His last appearance was in 2005. Following his final Penn Relays as chief clerk in 1998 at the age of 85, Johnson honored Mancini for his years of service by announcing the creation of the Herman Mancini Award, which is given every year to an official who has served the carnival for a long time. Mr. Mancini's wife, Ida, passed away in June 2004. He is survived by four children, 10 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held in Plantation, Fla., on Thursday.