4 Stark County residents won gold medals at the Olympics. Here are their stories

Editor's note: This Monday After column originally appeared in the Repository in August 2021. It is being republished with the Paris 2024 Summer Games underway and Stark County resident Marcus Christopher competing for a medal in men's BMX freestyle.

Basketball star Phil Hubbard. Track standout Dave Wottle. Southpaw boxer Ronnie Harris. Heavyweight wrestler Harry Steele.

As the 2021 Summer Olympic Games unfold in Tokyo, these names come easily to mind. All of the stellar athletes mined a precious metal at Olympic Games of the past. Each of the competitors proved superior to their foes in their special Olympic events. And each of the Americans — all Stark County residents — stood proudly on the podium to hear the National Anthem played in honor of their gold medal performances.

Of the three who combined to win in consecutive Olympic Games in the 1960s and 1970s, Harris, a McKinley High School and Kent State University student, earned his gold medal first, using his fists to fight for victory as a lightweight boxer during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

The comeback kid: Lake High School grad Marcus Christopher makes Olympics in BMX freestyle

Lincoln High School and Bowling Green State University track star Wottle won gold four years later, running to victory in the 800-meter race at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Then McKinley High School and Michigan University court star Phil Hubbard took home a gold medal from the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Still, decades before that trio of athletes staged their Olympics streak, Steele had emerged as Stark County's first Olympic star. Originally selected as an alternate to the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, but thrown into action when another wrestler could not compete, the East Sparta native and Ohio State athlete grappled to glory in freestyle wrestling.

Harry Steele wins Olympic medal in heavyweight wrestling

"E. SPARTA BOY WINS AT PARIS."

The Canton Repository headline, which brought the news of Steele's gold medal performance to readers back home on July 14, 1924, shouted its Olympic report in upper case letters.

"East Sparta, seven miles south of Canton, can pat itself on the back as the hometown of the only members of the United States Wrestling team who could win his match in the Olympic games at Paris, Saturday night," reported the story that followed. "This was Harry Steele, heavyweight, who captained the wrestling squad at Ohio State last winter, and also played a line position on the football team."

Steele beat wrestler Donald "Archie" McDonald when he "flopped the Britisher in an extra period of three minutes," the story continued.

According to a 2012 article by Walter Doerschuk in the Waynesburg Press-News, which also was published in the Alliance Review, several promoters later would approach Steele about a position in professional wrestling, but Steele turned them down.

"I never want to wrestle for money," Steele once explained to a newspaper. "I can make my living farming. Wrestling I reserve as the thing I do for pleasure and not for profit."

Ronnie Harris predicted Olympic win in boxing

When Harris won his gold medal in boxing in the Olympics' 19th Summer Games, he may have shocked the man he beat, defending champion Josef Grudzien of Poland. But, according to one newspaper report in 1968, the victory came as no surprise to the fighter or his family.

"The 20-year-old Olympian, a product of Canton Police Boys Club where he trained diligently for years under the watchful eye of his father and trainer, Willie, and was counseled often by club director J.B. 'Babe' Stearn, had vowed to persons close to him that he would win," the story said.

Family was important to Harris during his quest for Olympic gold.

When he won a quarterfinal fight, he said by telephone, "That one was for my brother Jeff."

After Harris won his semifinal bout, and was guaranteed at least a silver medal, he told his mother in another telephone call that "If I don't go any farther, my silver medal is for my father." He added, however, that he intended to earn a victory.

"I've got one more thing to do Mom," he told his mother. "If I win the gold medal, it's for you."

Harris took his final fight to the 29-year-old world champion from Poland, wrote Repository sports writer John Seaburn in 1968. And after Avery Brundage, president of the International Olympic Committee, hung Harris' golden prize on a ribbon around his neck, the fighter again called his mother.

"Mom? Mom? Is that you Mom?" Harris shouted happily into the phone. "Mom, I've got your gold medal!"

Dave Wottle runs from behind to claim Olympic medal

You can watch dramatic video on the internet of Wottle's come-from-behind victory in the epic 500-meter race at the 1972 Olympics.

Famed sports announcer Jim McKay introduced the competitors before the race.

"In Lane 3 you have Dave Wottle, with the golf cap, of the United States."

Wottle lagged far behind in the opening stages of the race, far enough behind that McKay's fellow telecaster wondered whether he was seriously injured or "just trying to stay out of trouble." He still trailed the field following the first of two 400-meter laps as two Kenyan runners charged to the front for the "bell lap."

Suddenly McKay nearly shouted, as the American began to weave through the runners, "Dave Wottle's making his bid! He's not in too bad of a position right now."

"Stand by for the kick of Dave Wottle," McKay told his television audience as the runners rounded the final turn. "If he's got it, he could make it!"

Wottle needed to pass two Kenyan runners and a Russian competitor to win the gold medal.

"He's got one Kenyan," reported an increasingly excited McKay. "He's going to make it!"

"I think he did it!" McKay shouted as Wottle barely passed the lunging and falling Russian favorite at the finish line. "Dave Wottle has won the gold medal!"

Phil Hubbard wins Olympic medal in basketball

An online tabulation of Hubbard's Olympic statistics measures the value of the Canton athlete to the 1976 U.S. basketball team that was led by North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

"Hubbard averaged 4.7 points and 3.8 rebounds on 52% shooting from the floor and 100% from the line."

But, a measure of Hubbard's skill was that he was only a freshman at the University of Michigan when he was chosen to be on Team USA.

"On the Olympic team he contributed as a forward and played that position later in college and the NBA," notes a website of Olympic athlete profiles called olympedia.org.

The youngest American Olympic basketball team ever was tasked with avenging a controversial loss to the Soviet Union team in 1972. The college-aged players easily defeated Italy 106-86, snuck by Puerto Rico 95-94, came back to win 112-93 over Yugoslavia, enjoyed a forfeit by Egypt, and took a 4-0 record into the medal round.

"Canada was the victim in the semifinal round, but so also was Russia (Soviet Union), a loser to Yugoslavia," notes a 1988 Repository historical account of the game. "The long-awaited match between the United States and Russia suddenly was an impossibility, but the medal the Americans sought still was to be their prize."

The U.S. defeated Czechoslovakia 81-76 for the gold medal.

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com.

On Twitter: @gbrownREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: 4 Stark County residents won gold medals at the Olympics. Here are their stories