Jim Bausch

James Aloysius Bernard "Jarring Jim" Bausch (March 29, 1906 – July 9, 1974) was an American athlete who played collegiate and professional football and competed in track and field, mainly in the decathlon.

James Bausch

Bausch in 1931
Personal information
Birth name	James Aloysius Bernard Bausch
Born	(1906-03-29)March 29, 1906 Marion, South Dakota, U.S.[1]
Died	July 9, 1974(1974-07-09) (aged 68) Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S.
Height	188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	95 kg (209 lb)
American football career
No. 47
Position:	Halfback
Personal information
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school:	Wichita Cathedral (Wichita, Kansas)
College:	Kansas
Career history
Chicago Cardinals (1933) Cincinnati Reds (1933)
Career highlights and awards
2× First-team All-Big Six (1929, 1930)
College Football Hall of Fame
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Decathlon
Club	Kansas City Athletic Club
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	PV – 4.05 m (1930) SP – 15.33 m (1932)[2]
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1932 Los Angeles Decathlon

Biography

Bausch grew up in and attended school in Garden Plain, Kansas, before finishing and graduating from Cathedral High School in Wichita, Kansas, and went to college at the University of Kansas, where he starred in football and basketball. He competed for the United States in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles in the decathlon. Bausch only placed fifth after the first day, but splendid performances in the discus throw and pole vault helped him to build an insurmountable lead and win the gold medal over the heavily favored Finnish athlete Akilles Järvinen.^[3]

Bausch played college football at the Municipal University of Wichita, now known as Wichita State University, and the University of Kansas. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.^[4] Bausch also played professional football as a halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.^[5]

After retiring from competitions, Bausch tried a career as a nightclub singer before becoming an insurance salesman. During World War II, while serving with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, he contracted osteomyelitis, and the associated pain resulted in alcoholism. Bausch eventually overcame both problems, and in his later years helped other osteomyelitis patients.^[1]