• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

When C.K. Yang first stepped onto the track at UCLA in 1958, the coaches and athletes had no idea why a tall, lanky Taiwanese student was standing before them. Little did they know that Yang would become one of the greatest athletes not only in UCLA history, but Olympic history as well.

Yang, best remembered for his epic battle in the 1960 Rome Olympics against Bruin teammate Rafer Johnson in the decathlon, passed away over the weekend at the age of 74 after complications following a stroke. Though not one of the school’s more recognizable superstars, Yang was undoubtedly one of the best athletes ever to grace the Westwood campus.

“C.K. was a real attribute to UCLA,” Yang’s former coach Craig Dixon said. Dixon served as an assistant track coach during Yang’s collegiate career.

“He was a very good competitor and listened very diligently. He was also a much better athlete than he was given credit for,” Dixon said.

Yang started his path to track and field stardom in Taiwan, showing a rare combination of raw athleticism as well as remarkable coordination. After plowing through competition as a teenager, Yang firmly established himself as one of the world’s brightest young stars after winning the gold medal at the 1954 Manila Asian Games, compiling a score of 5,454 in the decathlon. After his dominating performance, he was dubbed the “Asian Iron Man” and lived up to his reputation from there on out, defending his gold in Japan four years later with a record 7,101 points. Later that year, Yang would travel to Westwood both to enhance his training as well as to pursue a higher education.

“C.K. basically just walked onto the track one day with an interpreter and said that he wanted to train with Rafer,” Dixon said. “He came out of nowhere. Here was this tall, skinny Chinese kid who didn’t speak a lick of English. ... It was very unusual for the time.”

Yang would blossom under the tutelage of the UCLA coaches as well as through his competition with Johnson. While Johnson was the more recognizable runner, it was Yang who ended up helping Johnson, giving him world-class competition for training.

“In the offseason we had C.K. working really hard on things, and when Rafer saw him, he was really impressed and wanted to start doing what he was doing,” Dixon said.

The battles at UCLA would cross over onto the international stage in 1960 at the Rome Olympics, as the duo battled for gold in the decathlon. Yang ended up defeating Johnson in seven of the 10 events. However, Johnson had a big advantage in the field events, ultimately allowing him to capture first place – though just barely. Yang had to settle for the silver medal, becoming the first Taiwanese medal winner in Olympic history.

Today, such stars as Liu Xiang have shown just how far Asian athletes have progressed in the sport of track and field. However, in Yang’s era, an Asian track and field star was unheard of, making him something of a pioneer.

“C.K. was really a forerunner,” Dixon said. “Before him, we had never seen an Asian do the kinds of things that he was capable of.”

Yang became an ambassador for the sport, working in Taiwan on the Taiwanese Olympic Committee. Although Yang may not be as well known as other Bruin legends, his loss is still felt around UCLA as well as throughout the track and field community.