Curt Tesar
Curt Tesar 75' Track
Curt Tesar was a highly prized recruit from Normandy High school in Parma, Ohio.
There have been many athletes who have been able to compete in multiple events in the perennially short-handed Cleveland State track program. Nobody was better than Tesar. He was a hurdler, a quarter-miler, a long and triple jumper, a high jumper, and a pole vaulter. Annually, he led the team in pints scored-usually by a large margin. In one season he accumulated 89 meet points for the Vikings while his nearest teammate was collecting 31 meet points. Undoubtedly, his best even was the decathlon.
In only the third decathlon competition of his career, he placed third in the 1973 NCAA College Division Championships to become Cleveland State's second track All-American. He is still the only Viking ever to win All-American honors in that event.
He scored a total of 6,819 points on that weekend in Wabash, Indiana. He was also leading the field after eight events when he pulled a back muscle which hampered him severely in the final two competitions.
The heavy schedule of events he competed in took a toll on his body. Once Curt said, "I just about have to do a decathlon in every dual meet." Because of this, he could never match his previous performance in the NCAA competition.
Nevertheless, he later raised his top decathlon pint total to 6,846 points. This is a record that still stands at CSU. He set a varsity triple jump mark of 47' 1 ½', which has yet to be broken. In 1974 and 1975, he was named the winner of the CSU Athletic Association Award as the "Most Outstanding" in CSU track.
After graduating in 1975, he began his teaching career at Mentor High School. There, he also coached track, football, and basketball.
His life took a different direction in 1980 when he accepted a position in Eastern Airlines' In-Flight Department and moved from Cleveland to Atlanta, Ga.
He still makes his home there with his wife Kathy and young son, Curtis Ford, while training flight crews in safety and service.
