Stadium Lights Notwithstanding, Bruce Jenner Fades Into Newtown’s Shadows

By Steve Bigham

They unveiled the plaque last Friday night containing the names of all those who contributed money or services to the installation of the new lights at the football stadium at Newtown High School. One name was noticeably absent from the list: Bruce Jenner, 1968 NHS graduate and 1976 Olympic gold medal winner in the decathlon.

Among the countless accolades that enveloped Bruce Jenner after his remarkable accomplishment at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal was a decision by Newtown school officials to name the stadium at Newtown High School after this new American hero.

These days, you would be hard-pressed to find Bruce Jenner’s name anywhere in or around the stadium. The giant scoreboard that once bore his name has been removed, as has a rock/plaque that sat near the front entrance for many years.

Over the years, Mr Jenner’s apparent disinterest in anything having to do with Newtown has left NHS sports enthusiasts grumbling. While the stadium has not yet been officially renamed, Mr Jenner’s name is now, 24 years later, only rarely mentioned in connection with the stadium.

The final straw may have come three years ago, when, according to fundraising organizers from the NHS Blue and Gold Club, Mr Jenner declined to make a donation to improve the stadium that bore his name. During a phone conversation with Blue and Gold President Mike Kelley, Mr Jenner’s wife stated he had far too many other charitable commitments.

Mr Kelley remembers that day clearly. The large lights were literally on the back of a tractor trailer truck on their way to the high school when he made his final call to the Jenner residence in California. The Blue and Gold Club had worked tirelessly to raise funds, but still found itself nearly $15,000 short. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr Jenner, Blue and Gold made one last-ditch effort, hoping Mr Jenner might be able to pull through for his own stadium.

Forget about it.

The movement to change the name was a logical one.

“I think it was well deserved at the time, but he hasn’t shown any interest in supporting or even coming back to Newtown,” Mr Kelley said. “I’m afraid there’s not much of a connection between Mr Jenner and the community anymore.”

  Athletic Director Greg Simon said it is no longer a question of if the stadium’s name will be changed. It’s a question of when it will be changed.

 “It’s more than a movement [to change the name of the stadium],” he said. “It’s just a matter of establishing a process for changing the name.”

 Mr Kelley believes the school system may eventually rename the stadium “Blue and Gold Stadium” after the school colors. But longtime Newtown resident Joan Crick has always felt strongly that the stadium should be named after Harold DeGroat, a longtime Newtown coach and physical education teachers, who inspired many a youngster during the 1940s and 50s.

Mrs Crick recalls the day the high school unveiled the name “Bruce Jenner Stadium.”

“I didn’t think it was right,” she said this week. “I could understand all the furor at the time, but there were other people that I felt at the time had done a lot more for Newtown.”

   There appear to be three things that have brought on Bruce Jenner discussion this week: The unveiling of the NHS plaque, the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and last week’s broadcast of the “Bruce Jenner Story” on the E! entertainment television’s True Hollywood Stories.

 

The All-American Boy

This month’s telecast (channel 25 on Charter cable) may have added fuel to the fire for those seeking to strike Bruce Jenner’s name from the stadium. The one-hour biography outlined his determination to be the best, his rise to glory, his personal losses, and his celebrity friends. Many Newtown residents who watched the show agreed it did not paint a positive picture of Mr Jenner.

 Bruce Jenner spent less than two years in Newtown, during which time he excelled in football, basketball, and track. His parents moved Bruce and the rest of his family to Newtown from Tarrytown, New York, so that he could better train for what was then his strongest sport… water skiing.

After graduating from NHS (which was then located at Newtown Middle School), the athlete took his game to Graceland College in Iowa where he transformed into one of the nation’s top track and field stars. The young man came out of nowhere to qualify for the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany, before striking gold in 1976.

On September 25, 1976, Bruce Jenner returned to Newtown for stadium dedication ceremonies. The weekend was full of excitement as 1948 and 1952 decathlon gold medallist Bob Mathias joined Mr Jenner. It was a proud moment and memorable tribute to a hometown hero and the scoreboard at the far western end of the stadium proudly displayed the words, “Bruce Jenner Stadium.” It had a great ring to it, many thought. Suddenly, Newtown High School had stadium named after the man who had just been crowned the greatest athlete in the world.

By all accounts, however, Mr Jenner never returned to Newtown after receiving this honor.

While in Newtown, Mr Jenner was accompanied by his wife Chyrstie, whom he met in college. According to “E,” she not only provided her husband with inspiration, but also money, working to pay the bills while Mr Jenner trained day and night.

At the 1972 Olympics, Mr Jenner was preparing for the decathlon when an Arab terrorist group took several Israeli athletes and coaches hostage inside the Olympic Village. According to Chrystie, her husband became annoyed when the games were suspended. Hours later, a botched rescue effort resulted in the deaths of nine Israelis, marring the games forever.

The following day, thousands of athletes packed into the stadium for a memorial service. Mr Jenner declined to go for fear that all the standing around might tighten up his legs, according to The Bruce Jenner Story.

“Hey, I had a job to do,” Mr Jenner explained in the documentary.

The former Newtown resident finished 10th at the Olympics but admits he became a changed man after that, obsessed with winning the gold in Montreal in 1976. To prepare, he moved to San Jose, California, where he worked on his game. Meanwhile, Mrs Jenner worked as a flight attendant.

Along with Olympic gold came lots of money and celebrity status. But despite the endorsements, TV spots, and a luxurious life, life still had its share of ups and downs for Bruce Jenner.

The Bruce Jenner Story offered viewers the following details of his personal life: Eventually he and Mrs Jenner divorced, and he met his next wife at the Playboy Mansion. That marriage also fell on hard times, also ending in divorce. Still in his 30s, Mr Jenner had two failed marriages, four children, and some plastic surgery in his personal history, according the E! documentary.

By the late 1980s, he remarried once more and was friends with O.J. Simpson, Kato Kaelin, and Faye Resnick. According to the show, that group of friends fell apart in 1994 when Mr Simpson was charged with the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.

 Today, Mr Jenner told E!, his life couldn’t be better. He has six children, a loving wife, and a career that has managed to survive over the years.

In Newtown, however, the glory days are over. It appears that Bruce Jenner has become a part of the past… soon to be forgotten.