Lemuel Clarence Houser DDS (1901 - 1994)

Born 25 Sep 1901 in Winigan, Sullivan, Missouri, United States

Husband of Dawn Evelyn (Smith) Houser — married 15 Oct 1924 in Los Angeles, California, United States

Died 1 Oct 1994 at age 93 in Gardena, Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Lemuel Houser DDS is Notable.

Lemuel represented the United States in track and field in the Olympics of 1924 and 1928.

Lemuel was born in 1901.

He passed away in 1994.^[1]

Olympics Story

Olympic Athlete. When orphaned in 1911 he moved from Missouri to Oxnard, California to live with his sister and her husband. There, he developed great strength loading hay bails in the summer. This prepared him for his future success as a field athlete, specializing in the discus throw, hammer throw, and shot put. He was around 6’1” tall, weighed 187 pounds and possessed well-defined arms. Entering Oxnard High School in 1918, Houser had six state-record wins in shot put and discus at state championship track meets, 1920-22, earning athlete-of-the-meet honors three years in a row. He helped the school win ten silver loving cups, plus seven cups he won himself, 38 gold medals and was the 1921 high school national champion in the shot put and discus throw. He enrolled at USC in 1922 (class of 1926) where he introduced speed rotation in the circle. At USC he won AAU national championships in the discus in 1925 and 1926, and the shot put in 1925. On April 3, 1926 he set a world record with a discus throw of 48.4m (158’ 1 ¾”) that endured almost thee years. He won another AAU national championship in the discus in 1928. At the 1924 Paris Olympic Games he won gold medals in the shot put and discus throw, setting an Olympic record in the latter event with a throw of 151’ 4”. This was the last time an athlete won both of these events in the history of the Olympics. He won another gold medal in discus at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics—setting another Olympic record with a throw of 155’3”. He was also bestowed with the honor of carrying the US flag in the opening ceremony. While still competing, he earned a degree in dentistry, becoming a dentist to many Hollywood movie stars before moving to Palm Springs, California. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1979, and the stadium at his former high school in Oxnard is named in his honor.

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78268709/lemuel-clarence-houser: accessed 19 November 2023), memorial page for Lemuel Clarence “Bud” Houser (25 Sep 1901–4 Oct 1994), Find a Grave Memorial ID 78268709, citing Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, Los Angeles County, California, USA; Maintained by BJW (contributor 47094611).

• https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L68Y-BWX

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78268709/lemuel-clarence-houser