"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams."

—Baron de Coubertin

Those words, spoken during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, are not to be taken lightly.

Ed Burke doesn't. He never has, and he never will.

So important is that oath to Burke, in fact, that he stood up to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) on behalf of all athletes—to plead their case, to make a stand.

To those who know him, it came as no surprise. Ed Burke has spent a lifetime in athletics making a stand and overcoming the odds—as an athlete, as a coach and at the Olympic board level.

It's the measure of the man.

Ed Burke will be honored for his athletic accomplishments as an Olympic hammer thrower, for his contribution to track and field and for his high ideals of the glory that is competition.

Burke will be among the honorees when a new crop of area sports greats earn induction into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 13 at the Compaq Center in San Jose.

It's a fitting tribute for a man who never quite expected this day in the limelight.

"I was asked to be the MC at the second hall of fame induction ceremony," says Burke. "It was an honor to be the MC. I thought at the time, 'This is as close to this place as I'll ever be.' "

He was wrong.

"If you do something for the right reason," says Shirley, his wife of 41 years, "you never expect to be honored for it."

"Ed and I have never been people to look back—it's always been about what we're doing now," she adds. "But it's been fun to look at old photos—to look how far we've come, to see where we were and where we are now. It's wonderful.

"I'm very proud of Ed for receiving this award."

She's also quite proud of her husband for the stance he's taken in recent years as a committee member for the USOC, "fighting the good fight for the purity of athletics," says Shirley.

When others, including New York Yankees principal owner George M. Steinbrenner III, were encouraging the USOC to focus only on athletes with gold-medal potential, Burke stepped forward with a differing view.

"It's all for the glory of sport, not for the gold medal," says Burke. "Those other people aren't losers—these are the finest athletes you can find on the planet."

"Those are some pretty powerful people," admits Shirley. "It took a lot of courage to stand up in front of that board and say, 'No, it's about sport.' I was very proud of him for that."

It's a pride that was born more than 40 years ago on the campus at San José State University.

Photograph by George Sakkestad Former Olympian Ed Burke of Los Gatos is a member of the class of 2002 inductees into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.

Noted sports author Roger Kahn coined the term "The Boys of Summer" with the title of his book about the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s.

Ed Burke, on the other hand, was one of the Boys of Winter. But it had nothing to do with the seasons of the year and everything to do with track and field.

The Boys of Winter are those athletes who competed under the legendary San José State University coach, the late Lloyd "Bud" Winter.

A member of the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame, Winter produced 102 All-Americans at SJSU and 27 Olympians. Burke was one of those Olympians.

Burke was recruited as a football player for the Spartans but gave up the gridiron in favor of the weight circle in his sophomore year. It was a decision that pleased Winter, and a decision that changed Ed Burke's life forever.

"He was responsible for having me try the hammer, for giving me life in the sport," Burke says of Winter.

Burke, who had set a freshman record in the discus in 1958, was a full-time hammer thrower by 1960, when he placed sixth in the NCAA finals and won an invitation to the U.S. Olympic Trials.

He met Shirley in the fall of 1960, and they were married the following February. Their union would transcend a mere marriage.

"Shirley would coach me," Burke says. "She saved Blue Chip stamps to get this 8-millimeter movie camera, which no one had at the time."

They studied the film of his throwing form, and by 1964 Burke was ready for another Olympic try. He set the American record in the hammer that year and won a place on the U.S. Olympic Team, which competed in Tokyo. He finished seventh.

"I went out there and saw these other guys," recalls Burke, "and I didn't do it like that. So I tried some of the things they were doing."

Through it all, Shirley was helping her husband develop his technique.

"She knew more about it than I did," admits Burke. "She could give me a signal and cue me right in. Many, many a meet I won on my last throw."

Burke remained an international competitor, with his sights set on the 1968 Games in Mexico City. In 1967, he set a new American record of 235-11 (71.91 meters), which would stand until 1981.

But the Olympic dream became a nightmare for Burke in 1968.

As if the whistles and jeers from the Mexico City crowd weren't enough, the hammer judge continued to cry foul on each of Burke's throws.

"The judge didn't know the rules and gave me three fouls," Burke contends. "When I realized what had happened to me—it all happened so fast—I climbed the fence into the stands, where Shirley was sitting. It meant a lot to her, too.

"That some guy who didn't know the rules could take that away from us ... I quit in disgust."

And quit he did. Burke hung up the hammer after the 1968 Games.

But the story doesn't end there—rather, it only begins.

Photograph courtesy of Ed Burke Muscles ripple as Ed Burke winds up to throw the hammer in competition.

Shirley Burke has been an Ed Burke supporter since that first day they met in August 1960 on the SJSU campus. And it was Shirley who convinced Ed to give it one more try in 1980.

"I was 40 and hadn't thrown in 12 years," says Burke. "I qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1980 after only a few months of training."

There would be no trip to Moscow for Ed Burke, though—he didn't qualify for the team, and as it turns out, the United States did not compete that year. But Los Angeles was only four years away.

"I started training with [Olympians] John Powell and Mac Wilkins," adds Burke, "and I got stronger."

He was throwing the hammer a long way again. He threw 71 meters in the last dual meet of 1984 against the Soviet Union and was close to regaining his American record.

Burke was the leader after the first four rounds of throws at the Olympic Trials in 1984 with a toss of more than 235 feet.

"I don't know what got into me, but I started yelling at them," said Burke, referring to the younger throwers in the field. He inspired two of them to better his distance, but he held on to claim the third and final spot on the team.

"I was so delighted," he remembers. "I controlled that whole competition, and every one of those kids could have been my son—they were that young."

Ed Burke's Olympic dream would come true again. But he didn't know just how great the experience would be until he was actually in Los Angeles for the Summer Games.

There were 22 sports in the 1984 Olympics, and hundreds of athletes—but only one athlete is selected to carry the American flag in the opening ceremonies. Ed Burke was chosen to be that athlete.

"We lined up, and for 45 minutes we were just trudging along. Then we went into a dark tunnel," says Burke. "Just before coming out of the tunnel, they handed me the flag."

"I get hold of it—it's hot, it's that big around," explains Burke, cupping his hand to estimate the diameter of the pole, "and it's shellacked."

So there was the USOC president, David Simon—Bill Simon's father—digging rocks out of the ground with his bare hands to use to scrape enough shellac off the pole so that Burke could get a grip on it.

And he did. He gripped it well enough to carry it with one hand as the American delegation circled the track for the opening ceremonies.

"When you hear the 'Stars and Stripes' you know your country's waiting for you," he says. "When that music started, the flag was easy to hold."

"I wouldn't trade that for anything," he adds, "especially after having endured Mexico City and all of the jeers."

There were no jeers in Los Angeles—just cheers.

Burke's finish at the '84 Games was a distant 20th, but certainly not a disappointment. He would go on to throw in a few more invitational events before hanging up the hammer once and for all—after competing for three Olympic teams, after winning three U.S. National championships and after recording a lifetime best mark of 243-11 (74.34 meters) at age 44.

He had accomplished much in his sport ... but he wasn't finished yet.

Photograph by George Sakkestad Shirley and Ed Burke, owners of the Los Gatos Athletic Club, share a bond that transcends marriage.

Burke pulled out the hammers again in 1985, but not to compete. Instead, his goal was to give something back to track and field by developing young talent.

Ed Burke, leaning on his desk at the Los Gatos Athletic Club, says, "Mac Wilkins and I sat in this very office and decided to start a development camp for high school throwers."

Through local donations, they were able to construct a throwing facility out near Good Samaritan Hospital, and "any high school athlete who wanted to learn any of the four throwing events could come out," says Burke.

And come out they did. Run under the auspices of the Boy Scouts of America Explorer program, the throwing group attracted many of the area's top athletes.

Kevin McMahon would go on to place second in the NCAA hammer throw for Georgetown, and he and fellow Explorer David Popejoy would qualify for the Olympic Trials.

Damon Felice, Jeremy Robinson, Bill Stengele, David Charlesworth ... the list goes on.

"I feel like I replaced myself," admits Burke, who coached young throwers until 1998. "I feel like athletes have a great opportunity and a gift—you can never repay it, but you should at least pass the gift on."

It was through the Explorer program that Burke got involved at the national committee level. There was no place for young hammer throwers to compete nationally, so Burke went to work.

"That's where I was taking it," he says. "I was making sure we could open doors for the kids."

"There really was no development program," adds Shirley. "He decided that instead of complaining about it, the best way to make that happen was to get involved at the top. That's why he got involved with the committee—not for his own self-aggrandizement, for development."

It was through Burke's effort that 37 of 44 sports have added Junior Olympic development to their programs.

He served on the USOC Junior Olympic Committee from 1985 through 1996, ending up as its chairman, before becoming a member of the USOC Athlete Identification and Development Committee in 1996.

It was there that Burke made his stand on behalf of the athletes.

"George [Steinbrenner] had an attitude at the time to just pay them, and only take those athletes who were going to medal," says Burke. "He was so wrong.

"I told them, 'If you just count medals, you'd better be counting your pipeline. If you think Nancy Kwan is going to be a skater for you forever, you're wrong.' "

It was that mentality, however, and the fact that the Olympics had become such big business, that Burke decided to step away.

"I went to a meeting, and it all became very clear," he says. "It was so far from my love, which is to help develop young athletes, especially in those sports you can't learn in school."

So today Ed Burke spends his time riding his mountain bike, surfing and helping with the development of another youngster—his 3-year-old grandson, Peter—and enjoying the time he can spend with daughters Ann Martin (Peter's mother) and Claire Whitehead (mother of 2-month-old Emma), and, of course, Shirley.

But he will always hold firm to his principles and his belief that competition in the Olympic Games is all about "the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport."

Baron de Coubertin could have well been writing about Ed Burke.

Photograph by George Sakkestad One of the athletic joys these days for former Olympic hammer thrower Ed Burke is surfing.

Burke earns place in SJ Hall of Fame

Ed Burke will be a member of the class of 2002 at the eighth annual San Jose Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies scheduled for Nov. 13 on the floor of the Compaq Center in San Jose.

Joining Burke on the list of inductees will be former basketball great Dennis Awtrey, golf legend Betty Hicks, baseball superstar Carney Lansford and Super Bowl quarterback Craig Morton.

Also honored during the evening's ceremonies will be five amateur athletes of the year: High school—Los Gatos quarterback Trent Edwards and Santa Teresa soccer player Adrienne Herbst; college—Logan Tom, Stanford women's volleyball, and Jeremy Guthrie, Stanford baseball; and Special Olympics—Lynbrook's Lindsay Mibach.

A bronze relief of each of the inductees will be permanently displayed on the concourse level of the Compaq Center in San Jose.

Class of 1995

Donna de Varona

Lee Evans

George Haines

Jim Plunkett

Charlie and Lucy Wedemeyer

Bud Winter

Class of 1996

Peggy Fleming Jenkins

John Hanna

Julius Menendez

Yosh Uchida

Class of 1997

Payton Jordan

Angelo "Hank" Luisetti

Bob Mathias

Al Ruffo

Tommie Smith

Chris von Saltza Olmstead

Class of 1998

Hal Davis

Pablo Morales

Buck Shaw

Debi Thomas

Bill Walsh

Class of 1999

Millard Hampton

Claudia Kolb Thomas

Pat Malley

Patty Sheehan

Class of 2000

Don Bowden

Jack and John Elway

Francie Larrieu Smith

Charles "Chuck" Taylor

Class of 2001

Joe Leonard

Ernie Nevers

John Ralston

Dave Righetti

Carroll Williams