ABOUT SIM INESS
“He was so big and strong, I ran off-tackle to his side all of the time. Sim made me look good! Fortunately, I never had to play against him in college!” –Olympian Bob Mathias
“Besides winning a gold medal, which is just phenomenal, a lot of people will remember him because he was a super teacher and coach. I think that legacy will be remembered as much as his gold medal in the discus.” --Olympian Bob Mathias
“He inspired people. He’s just a regular guy. Everybody loved Sim. And when he worked hard, everybody worked hard, and carried the team along.” –Olympian Bob Mathias
“Winning the decathlon again was a big thrill, but so was watching my former classmate excel. That was the biggest thrill I ever had, watching Sim do so well and seeing him win that Olympic medal.” –Olympian Bob Mathias
"I had great fondness for him. A special guy. He left us too early." -Olympian Jim Fuchs
"It really gave me a good feeling having him there (down on the athletic field with him during his competition). He was there, a big good man all for me." -Olympian Cy Young (The javelin competition lasted all day and well into the night. By nightfall, Sim was wrapped in a blanket, still watching the competition.)
“Big Sim cast a great shadow of warm friendship and good across all who knew him during his all too short 65 years of life.” –Former Tulare, California newspaper editor Tom Hennion
“Sim Iness, the burly giant from Tulare and now a student at Southern California, is a fellow who came up the hard way to reach the sports pinnacle in his favorite event. Several others, among them the most expert of track critics, believed that Iness, for all his natural skill, was too inconsistent to stand the pressure of Olympic competition. It’s to his credit that Iness had the same uphill fight there that he has had in almost his entire athletic career—and that he met the challenge like a champion.” -George T. Davis, in his July 23, 1952 column ‘For Sake of Sport’
Click on image to view film of 1952 Helsinki Olympic Discus competition.
SIM ON…
1952 OLYMPIC TRIALS
“From that point on I knew inside, without being cocky, that no man on earth could beat me at Helsinki. It was an awesome feeling. I just knew that I was going to win the Olympics.”
1952 OLYMPICS
"When the big day did arrive, I felt like Superman, the strongest man on earth."
WINNING A GOLD MEDAL
“I know it gave me a lot of self-esteem that I had always lacked. I always thought if I could be the best in that event, I could be the best in anything I wanted to be.”
OLYMPICS AND PATRIOTISM
“The thrill of a lifetime was standing on the victory stand before 80,000 people and hearing the national anthem played while the American flag was raised. At anytime the flag passes by or the national anthem is played, I can’t help but go back to Helsinki, very very vividly makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”
SETTING A WORLD RECORD
“I kept saying ‘Why me? What have I done to deserve all this?’ I became very emotional. I did not think I could top winning the Olympics. Setting a world’s record was a bigger thrill. It was really a thrill to set a world record after working so long.”
NOT MAKING THE 1948 OLYMPIC TEAM
"The next four years, I worked my tail off. I wanted to be just like Bob (Mathias)."
REASON FOR BEING CHOSEN ON HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SQUAD
"(They) take your biggest, dumbest, ugliest, meanest person and put him on tackle, and just dare them to come that way."
HIGH SCHOOL COACH AND IDOL VIRGIL JACKSON
“Virgil, among others, instilled in me the values and discipline to make myself into something better.”
ADVICE TO ASPIRING ATHLETES
“The most important thing is a feeling of self-worth and power that is in all people. I really believe that some people can harness that power a lot better than others.”
ADVICE TO STUDENTS ABOUT TEACHERS
“Listen to them and do good.”
TEACHERS
"(They) instilled in me values, discipline, and trying to be something better...I had several elementary teachers that raised my self esteem as far as mental ability and it did me a lot of good. I was awkward and clumsy in the growing stages. I couldn’t walk across the room without tripping and falling down.”
BIRTH AT 13lb 10oz
“I was so big when I was born, my mother won a blue ribbon at the Oklahoma State Fair in 1930. She always told everyone I was born on July 9th, 10th, and 11th! She never would tell anyone how long I was.”
OKLAHOMA HERITAGE
"The word Okie used to be a dirty word, but I grew to be proud of it. But I think all the Okies, former Okies are proud of what they’ve done in the last 50 years."
GROWING UP AS A FARM WORKER
"We didn’t eat T-bone very often. It was a good life. Nobody told me any different.”
FIRST MOVIE ROLE
“My only competitor for the role was a young fellow just starting out as an actor. His name was James Arness. I later learned that I won out only because I came cheaper!”
SCREEN FIGHT WITH ACTOR JACK PALANCE IN SECOND MOVIE ROLE
“Palance won. And everytime I watch the movie on late night TV, he wins again.”
LIFE
“It’s been a great life, and I’d do the same thing all over again.”
“Who would have ever thought that I would ever go to college. My big ambition was to be the tallest peach-picker in Tulare County.”
SUCCESS IN LIFE
"I have a lot of empathy for people stuck in poverty. But I also know it’s possible to escape. I had goals and I worked hard to achieve them. If a little barefoot Okie in overalls could do it, then maybe all things are possible.”