Phil Conley

Philip Ransom Conley (August 17, 1934 – March 12, 2014) was an American athlete. He competed in the men's javelin throw at the 1956 Summer Olympics.[1] His wife was Frances K. Conley, the first official female winner of the Bay to Breakers and an acclaimed neurosurgeon.[1] He graduated from California Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.[1]

Phil Conley

Conley training with wife in 1964
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1934-08-17)August 17, 1934 Madera, California, U.S.
Died	March 12, 2014(2014-03-12) (aged 79) Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	88 kg (194 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Javelin throw
Club	Caltech, Pasadena
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	79.30 m (1964)
Medal record Representing  United States Pan American Games 1959 Chicago Javelin

Early life

Phil was raised in Fresno, California, and graduated from Fresno High School in 1952.[2] In high school Conley, an all-round athlete, lettered in basketball, tennis, football and track, and was runner-up in the San Joaquin Valley in tennis singles. [3]

Caltech

Conley (class of 1956) ranks in the top 10 for basketball career scoring average (16.1 ppg) and scoring average for a season (19.6 and 18.4 ppg). He played quarterback and defensive end for the football team and was a member of the baseball team.[4] He won all-conference honors both in football and basketball.[2]

Only three Caltech undergraduates have qualified for the Olympic Games: Glenn Graham (Paris, 1924); Folke Skoog (Los Angeles, 1932), and Conley. Meredith Gourdine (Helsinki, 1952) attended Caltech as a graduate student and earned his doctorate in 1960.[5]

Javelin

In February of his Freshman year, Conley asked the Caltech track coach if he could try out for high jump. Because it was raining, coach Bert La Brucherie suggested he try the javelin instead. Largely self-taught, within weeks Conley had broken the Caltech freshman record with a 176' 9-1/2" throw.[3] From there, Conley's progress was remarkable, setting school records of 199' 2-1/2" as a sophomore, 231' 7" as a junior, and 244' 1" his senior year, 1956. That year, Conley's 239' 11" throw in an NCAA meet made him collegiate javelin champion of the United States.[6]

Later life

Conley remained active in athletics through most of his adult life. After finishing his career he served as a volunteer assistant coach at Stanford University, and also competed in masters events. In 2014, shortly after his death, he was inducted into the Cal Tech Sports Hall of Fame. Besides athletics, Conley worked as a financial consultant specializing in venture capital. His wife, Frances Krauskopf-Conley was a prominent neurosurgeon, and the first woman to chair a major academic neurosurgery department in the United States.[1]

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Phil Conley Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
2. Independent Coast Observer, March 28, 2014
3. "Caltech News". Volume 18, Number 4, August 1984. August 13, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
4. "The Caltech Basketball Beavers Blog". November 1, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
5. "Caltech Magazine". Caltech. March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
6. ""NCAA Summary"". Independent Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California). June 17, 1956.