Ken Flax, 1981, track and football—Flax was the best field man in Redwood’s track history, a powerful young teen who hurled the shot 57 feet—second all-time best in the MCAL. He was also a starting tailback on the football team, averaging 100 yards rushing per game until sidelined permanently with a dislocated shoulder.
But it was after high school that Flax exploded on the scene, becoming a standout in the hammer throw who indirectly put Redwood with his performances in college and in the Summer Olympic Games at Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.
In college:

• He was named All-American four times in the hammer at the University of Oregon.
• He was the 1982 U.S. Junior Nationals Champion
• He was member of the university’s 1984 NCAA championship track and field team.
• In 1986, he set the still-standing American collegiate hammer throw record of 257 feet, 7 inches at the NCAA Championships.

After college, Flax’s momentum increased:

• He won the U.S. Olympic trials in the hammer throw in 1988.
• He was the gold medalist in the event at the 1991 World University games.
• His teammates voted him as their captain in the 1991 USA/USSR/Great Britain Meet.
• Track & Field News ranked him as the number-one U.S. hammer thrower in 1988, 1990 and 1991.
• He currently holds the third all-time longest hammer throw by a U.S. athlete, 262 feet, 3 inches.

Flax, who now lives in Los Gatos, Calif., is a charter board member of The USA Track and Field Foundation, an independent non-profit group that supports emerging elite track athletes and helps fund youth track programs throughout the country.