50. Gary Anderson
Rifle shooting / Axtell / Born: 1939
QUICK FACTS:
Best moment as an athlete: Repeating as the 300-meter rifle Olympic gold medalist in 1968 in Mexico City. Anderson is the last of only four Americans in shooting history to earn gold medals in two Olympics. He also won that event in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. "When you win once," Anderson said, "you're the target from then on. To come back and win just as decisively as the first time is the moment I still remember best."
Gary Anderson grew up near Axtell. As a high school senior, he built a makeshift shooting range and wrote down a goal -- to one day win an Olympic gold medal. After attending the University of Nebraska for a year, he joined the Army so he could pursue his Olympic dream.
He wrote the commanding officer of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit and included the scores he had been shooting on his own range. But because they were higher than those of all but one member of the marksmanship unit, team leaders tossed the scores in a trash can. No one believed a Nebraska farm kid could shoot like that.
Finally given a tryout, Anderson spent two years with the unit. After being discharged, he enrolled at Hastings College, where he was a student when he won his 1964 gold medal. He later earned a degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary and considered becoming a minister. Instead, he was elected as a Nebraska state senator and represented the 37th District from 1972 to 1976.
Today, he is director of the Civilian Marksmanship Program at Camp Perry near Port Clinton, Ohio.
-- Larry Porter
QUICK FACTS:
Best moment as an athlete: Repeating as the 300-meter rifle Olympic gold medalist in 1968 in Mexico City. Anderson is the last of only four Americans in shooting history to earn gold medals in two Olympics. He also won that event in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. "When you win once," Anderson said, "you're the target from then on. To come back and win just as decisively as the first time is the moment I still remember best."
