1977 WORLD SUPERSTARS

After four years of competitions across the globe, the best Superstars performers gathered in Callaway Gardens, Georgia for the first ever World Superstars. Just a week before the event, three-time Superstars champion Kyle Rote, Jr. and 1975 champion O.J. Simpson withdrew from the competition. Neither cited a reason. Rote was possibly preparing for the N.A.S.L. season and Simpson may have been working on a film or TV project. I do not know why two-time U.K. champion David Hemery was not in attendance, but he was missed. The athletes qualified largely thorough the European finals and the U.S. Finals as well as Canadian champion Tony Gabriel. The competition boiled down to a duel between the old pole vault rivals Bob Seagren and Kjell Isaksson.

The first event, rowing, would signal the high level of competition that the event would display as the first six athletes in qualifying were separated by less than half a second. Dutch hurdler Frank Nusse defeated New Zealand miler Peter Snell in the heats of the rowing, but the two men had recorded the two fastest times. Nusse was leading slightly in the final when he lost grip on an oar and Snell surged to victory. Snell's winning time of 36.17 was not recognized as a Superstars record, and I am not sure why. The soccer event, new to the Americans, was simply five penalty kicks against Paul Hammond of the Tampa Bay Rowdies. Welsh rugby union star Gareth Edwards was the last Superstar in the order and five men had already scored four goals. Edwards made the first four, but missed the fifth putting six men in a tie. French Olympic champion hurdler Guy Drut won the shoot-off and five men tied for second place. Snell had aggravated a hamstring injury from the Superstars finals in the 100 yard dash heats and did not qualify for the final, while Oakland Raider tight end Dave Casper qualified in bare feet. Houston Oiler return specialist Billy "White Shoes" Johnson easily ran away from the field in 9.90 seconds. Casper out lifted the much lighter Isaksson to win the weightlifting, Isaksson weighing less than 160 pounds lifting 265 overhead. Seagren won the half mile as Drut pulled out with about 300 yards remaining with a sore hamstring while in second place.

Snell downed former Green Bay Packer Jim Taylor in the tennis final and Seagren won his second event with an easy victory in the swimming. Isaksson defeated his pole vault rival in the gym tests, which for the first and only time were a combination of chin-ups (which would become a part of the World Superstars gym tests in future years) and parallel bar dips. The bike race was to be about four and a half laps of the track, but the lap counter missed a lap and as Seagren sprinted for second place there was still one lap remaining. By Isaksson taking second place at the end of the fifth lap, Seagren entered the obstacle course with a three point lead over Isaksson and Snell. As expected, Seagren finished with the second best time to record holder Lynn Swann and captured the first World Superstars as he had captured the first Superstars, defeating Isaksson by 8 points. Seagren was quick to note that he had an advantage over Isaksson. Since Isaksson was still an amateur athlete with an eye on the 1980 Olympics, he was ruled ineligible to run in the track events (100 yards and half mile) by the I.A.A.F. Had Isaksson been eligible for these two events as pole vaulter Seagren was, he would have likely turned the tables on his former rival. As it was, the top nine places were either track and field athletes or football players.

Callaway Gardens, Georgia

Competition Dates: March 15-16, 1977.

Air Date: March 27, 1977.

Announcers: ABC - N/A; BBC - David Vine and Ron Pickering.

PLC. NAME, SPORT	ROW	SCCR	100	WL	HALF	TEN	SWIM	GYM	BIKE	OC	TOTAL	MONEY
1. Bob Seagren, USA, Pole Vault	2	x	2	x	10	x	10	7	2	7	40	$37,000
2. Kjell Isaksson, SWE, Pole Vault	4	x	x	7	x	0	2	10	7	2	32	$24,600
3. Peter Snell, NZL, 800/1500 Meters	10	0	0	x	x	10	x	0	10	0	30	$14,000
4. Lynn Swann, USA, Football	x	0	7	1 1/2	0	1	x	1	x	10	20 1/2	$11,150
5. Dave Casper, USA, Football	0	0	1	10	x	x	7	0	x	0	18	$8,400
6. Frank Nusse, NED, 400 Hurdles	7	2 4/5	x	0	x	4	4	x	0	0	17 4/5	$7,340
7. Billy Johnson, USA, Football	x	2 4/5	10	0	0	0	x	2	x	1	15 4/5	$4,740
8. Jim Taylor, USA, Football	1	2 4/5	x	4	x	7	x	0	0	scr	14 4/5	$4,440
9. Guy Drut, FRA, 110 Hurdles	0	10	x	0	0	0	0	x	x	4	14	$4,200
10. Karl Schnabl, AUT, Ski Jumping	0	x	x	1 1/2	2	x	1	4	1	0	9 1/2	$2,850
11. Rudi Krol, NED, Soccer	0	x	4	x	0	0	0	x	4	0	8	$2,400
12. "Corky" Bell, BEL, Basketball	x	0	0	x	7	0	x	0	x	scr	7	$2,100
13. Gareth Edwards, GBR, Rugby	0	2 4/5	0	0	0	2	x	0	x	x	4 4/5	$1,440
14. Tony Gabriel, CAN, Football	0	0	x	0	4	0	x	x	0	0	4	$1,200
15. John Conteh, GBR, Boxing	0	2 4/5	0	0	1	x	x	0	x	0	3 4/5	$1,140

VIEW THE COMPLETE BBC VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

INDIVIDUAL EVENT RESULTS

100 YARD DASH - heat 1

1. Billy Johnson	10.29
2. Lynn Swann	10.45
3. Dave Casper	10.65
4. Bob Seagren	10.80
5. John Conteh	11.81

100 YARD DASH - heat 2

1. Rudi Krol	10.66
2. Peter Snell	11.00
3. Gareth Edwards	11.28
4. Corky Bell	11.30

ROWING

1. Peter Snell	38.42	36.17 r
2. Frank Nusse	38.31	37.2e
3. Kjell Isaksson	38.51
4. Bob Seagren	38.64
5. Jim Taylor	38.66
6. Karl Schnabl	38.84
7. Rudi Krol	39.76
8. Dave Casper	40.25
9. John Conteh	41.11
10. Gareth Edwards	42.31
11. Tony Gabriel	42.37
12. Guy Drut	42.86

SOCCER PENALTIES - 5 shots vs. Paul Hammond

1. Guy Drut	4 *
2. John Conteh	4
2. Gareth Edwards	4
2. Billy Johnson	4
2. Frank Nusse	4
2. Jim Taylor	4
7. Dave Casper	2
8. Tony Gabriel	1
8. Peter Snell	1
8. Lynn Swann	1
11. Corky Bell	0

100 YARD DASH - final

1. Billy Johnson	9.90
2. Lynn Swann	10.27
3. Rudi Krol	10.39
4. Bob Seagren	10.40
5. Dave Casper	10.86

WEIGHT LIFTING

1. Dave Casper	270
2. Kjell Isaksson	265
3. Jim Taylor	260
4. Karl Schnabl	240
4. Lynn Swann	240
6. Guy Drut	230
7. John Conteh	220
7. John Conteh	220
9. Gareth Edwards	210
9. Billy Johnson	210
11. Frank Nusse	200

HALF MILE RUN

1. Bob Seagren	2:08.70
2. Corky Bell	2:10.43
3. Tony Gabriel	2:13.30
4. Karl Schnabl	2:15.00
5. John Conteh	2:17.48
Guy Drut	dnf
Billy Johnson	dnf
Rudi Krol	dnf
Lynn Swann	dnf
Gareth Edwards	dns

TENNIS

1. Peter Snell	10
2. Jim Taylor	7
3. Frank Nusse	4
4. Gareth Edwards	2
5. Lynn Swann	1
Nusse d. Bell	6-1
Krol d. Isaksson	6-0
Edwards d. Gabriel	6-1
Nusse d. Swann	6-4
Taylor d. Krol	6-0
Edwards d. Drut	6-0
Snell d. Johnson	6-2
Taylor d. Nusse	6-4
Snell d. Edwards	6-1
Snell d. taylor	6-4

SWIMMING - heat 1 (50 Yards)

1. Kjell Isaksson	28.80
2. Karl Schnabl	30.90
3. Rudi Krol	31.21
4. Guy Drut	31.75

SWIMMING - heat 2 (50 Yards)

1. Dave Casper	27.34
2. Bob Seagren	27.88
3. Frank Nusse	28.31

SWIMMING - Final (100 Yards)

1. Bob Seagren	59.95
2. Dave Casper	1:04.10
3. Frank Nusse	1:05.09
4. Kjell Isaksson	1:06.00
5. Karl Schnabl	1:35.35

GYM TEST - Chin-Ups plus Parallel Bar Dips

1. Kjell Isaksson	33	47	80
2. Bob Seagren	28	46	74
3. Karl Schnabl	27	34	61
4. Billy Johnson	27	24	51
5. Lynn Swann	25	25	50
6. John Conteh	16	33	49
7. Gareth Edwards	22	24	46
8. Peter Snell	16	dns	16
9. Corky Bell	15	dns	15
10. Dave Casper	12	dns	12
11. Jim Taylor	9	dns	9

BIKE RACE - heat 1 (1/2 Mile)

1. Rudi Krol	1:10.70
2. Kjell Isaksson	1:10.95
3. Karl Schnabl	1:11.40
4. Tony Gabriel	1:20.26

BIKE RACE - heat 2 (1/2 Mile)

1. Peter Snell	1:12.90
2. Kjell Isaksson	1:13.00
3. Frank Nusse	1:13.33
4. Jim Taylor	1:13.60

BIKE RACE-final (1 1/3 Miles)

1. Peter Snell	3:12.60
2. Kjell Isaksson	3:18.28
3. Rudi Krol	3:18.59
4. Bob Seagren	3:18.60
5. Karl Schnabl	dnf

OBSTACLE COURSE

1. Lynn Swann	24.21	N/A
2. Bob Seagren	24.64	N/A
3. Guy Drut	24.84
4. Kjell Isaksson	25.81
5. Billy Johnson	26.20
6. Karl Schnabl	29.20
6. Peter Snell	29.20
8. Frank Nusse	29.52
9. Tony Gabriel	34.23
10. Rudi Krol	40.69
11. John Conteh	41.81
12. Dave Casper	dnf

e = estimated time

r = Superstars record

N/A = result not available

dnf - did not finish

dns - did not start

nm - no mark

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