Martinsville Rotary - Bob Hammel (Speaker)

240 East Washington Street,Martinsville IN 46151

20 September, 2022

Description

Legendary Sportswriter Bob Hammel & the ’72 Olympics In recognition of the 50-year anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics, longtime sportswriter and author Bob Hammel offers to share his memories of the historic games. The ’72 Olympics are remembered for the tragic deaths of nine Israeli athletes and seven Palestinian terrorists and for swimmer Mark Spitz’s unprecedented seven gold medals. WHO: Bob Hammel, long-time sportswriter and author of 14 books WHAT: Hammel will share his memories of the ’72 Munich Olympics ABOUT BOB HAMMEL Bob covered the 1968 Rose Bowl, the 1972 Munich Olympics, IU’s perfect basketball season in 1976 and subsequent national championships in 1981 and 1987, and five Olympics. He also covered hundreds of college and high school athletes and sports events. He was named Indiana Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association 17 times. Bob received the 1995 Curt Gowdy Award from the National Basketball Hall of Fame and the 1996 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s Silver Medal Award for distinguished service. He was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1997. He has authored 14 books, including his memoir (Last Press Bus Out of Middletown), six on IU basketball and Bob Knight, and two on revolutionary Cook Group Founder Bill Cook. Bob and his wife Julie support many community causes, including the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and Book Fair, the Monroe County History Center and the Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame. Three annually awarded IU scholarships in his name have awarded more than $75,000. ABOUT THE ’72 OLYMICS: FROM BOB’S MEMOIR “Nothing in these games, or likely any that came before or will come later, touches the scope of (Mark) Spitz’s seven gold medals in swimming, the easy memory in a mental rerun of Munich happenings. “And nothing at these games, or certainly before or hopefully after, approaches the sorrow of the mass murders perpetrated here, leaving 16 people dead. “It’s an Olympics that will be remembered for German efficiency and German misfortune at getting caught with its guard down in the very Olympics calculated to portray the country as newly non-military a friendly sort of place. That face changed after bloody Tuesday, and the five days no-nonsense guards patrolled the entire Olympic area, many of them armed and some blatantly walking patrol with submachine guns in hand.