Otis Davis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, passed away Monday at age 92, the Oregon track and field program confirmed. No cause of death with provided for the former Duck.
Davis was most famous for representing Team USA in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, winning two gold medals as a sprinter.
In Italy, Davis won the 400-meter dash with a time of 44.9 seconds, a world record at the time. His time in the final was the first recorded under 45 seconds.
Davis added another gold medal with another world-record run in Rome as the anchor leg in the 4×400-meter relay for the Americans.
The gold-medal time of just over three minutes was ran alongside Glenn Davis, Jack Yerman, and Earl Young.
Two-time Olympic champion sprinter Otis Davis passed away on Monday at the age of 92
After his time at the Olympics, Davis returned to Oregon and competed for the school’s track and field program.
Davis has been memorialized as one of the Ducks’ alumni depicted on the tower at Hayward Field, Oregon’s track and field stadium, alongside Bill Bowerman and an unnamed athlete, Ashton Eaton, Steve Prefontaine, and Raevyn Rogers.
Hayward Field is regarded as the premier track and field venue in America, with the American track and field Olympic qualifiers taking place in Eugene, giving others a view of Davis.
Davis was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2003 and became of the University of Oregon Hall of Fame in 2015.
For more than 50 years, Davis was Oregon track’s only two-time Olympic gold medalist. Eaton’s decathlon gold medal in Rio in 2016 matched Davis’ impressive feat.
In 1996, Davis re-appeared on the Olympic stage as a torch-bearer in Atlanta.
