An Olympic gold medal is considered by many to be the pinnacle of athletic success across any sport, and Paradise’s Jack Yerman achieved the feat representing Team USA in the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

The Woodland native ran track and field and played football at UC Berkeley before winning the 1,600-meter relay race in Rome with teammates Earl Young, Glenn Davis and Otis Davis. Yerman moved north to Chico High School, teaching from 1967 until 2002. He coached track for 12 years and came out of retirement to be an assistant track coach from 1998-2001.

It was as a coach that Yerman achieved “Hall of Fame” status with his student-athletes to the same degree he did as a Olympian.

Sam Simmons, a former Chico High teacher and basketball coach and member of the Chico Sports Hall of Fame class of 2009, said “The style he had and different take he had on how to get a message across was unique. He was fascinating to me.”

And to thousands of others through the years, too.