Editing Bob Mathias (section)

==Timeline==
{{prose|date=August 2021}}
{| class="wikitable"
!width=100px | Year !! Comment
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|November 17, 1930||Bob Mathias was born, the second of four children (including older brother Eugene, younger brother James, and younger sister Patricia), to Dr. Charles and Lillian Mathias.
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|1948||At age seventeen, graduated from Tulare high school after an illustrious high school athletic career in football and [[track and field]]. Wins National Decathlon Championship at Bloomfield, N.J. According to the movie (starring himself and his wife) "the Bob Mathias Story" he actually did not have enough credits to graduate from high school, after concentrating solely on all the events of the decathlon- and get into Stanford, so his parents sent him to a prep school out of town where he could make up his academic shortcomings and get into college, as he wanted to be a doctor like his father and older brother Eugene.

He qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team and went on to win gold medal in decathlon at the [[Summer Olympic Games]] in London, England.

After huge celebration and parade in Tulare, presented with "Key to the City" by Mayor Elmo Zumwalt. Enrolls at Kiskiminetas Prep School, Saltsburg, Pa. Honored with the [[James E. Sullivan Award]], presented each year to America's top amateur athlete.
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|1949|| Won National Decathlon Championship at meet held in Tulare.<ref name=tf/>

Enrolled at Stanford University, where he starred in track and field and in gridiron football.
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|1950|| Won National Decathlon Championship at a meet held in Tulare.<ref name=tf/>
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|1951|| Mathias played football during junior and senior years at Stanford. In the [[University of Southern California]] vs. Stanford football game, Mathias returned U.S.C.'s [[Frank Gifford]]'s kick-off 96 yards for a touchdown.

Spent the summer at U.S. Marine Corps boot camp in [[San Diego, California]].
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|1952|| On New Year's Day, he played fullback for Stanford University in the Rose Bowl.

Won the National Decathlon Championship and Olympic Trials at meet held in Tulare.<ref name=tf/>

Won the Olympic gold medal in the decathlon at Helsinki, Finland, setting a |world record.<ref name=tf/>
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|1953|| Graduated from Stanford and commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the U.S. Marine Corps. Drafted by the [[Washington Redskins]], though he never played in [[National Football League]].
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|1954|| Married his first wife Melba. They later had three daughters, Romel, Megan, and Marissa. Mathias and his wife starred in the movie ''[[The Bob Mathias Story]]''.

Entered active duty in the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant.
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|1954–56|| Visited more than forty countries as America's Good Will Ambassador.
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|1956–60|| Continued work for the state department as a good will ambassador to the world.

Acting career took off, employed by John Wayne's [[Batjac Productions]]. Starred in the movie ''[[China Doll (film)|China Doll]]'', the TV series ''[[The Troubleshooters (1959 TV series)|The Troubleshooters]]'', the movie ''[[Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete|Theseus and the Minotaur]]'' and in the movie ''[[It Happened in Athens]]''.
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|1966|| Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican, serving four two-year terms.
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|1974|| Lost his re-election for fifth term.<br>Inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame<ref name=obit/><ref name=usatf/>
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|1976|| Mathias and Melba are divorced.
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|1977|| Appointed director of U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.<ref name=obit/>

Bob and Gwen Haven Alexander married. Gwen has one daughter, Alyse Haven (1968–2014), from a prior marriage to [[William Vollie Alexander Jr.|Bill Alexander]], former U.S. Congressman. On Tuesday, September 14, 1999, Alyse's three children died in a house fire believed to be intentionally set by the children's father.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 1999 |title=Murder-Suicide Suspected in Fiery Deaths of Father, 3 Children |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-17-mn-11286-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=March 7, 2021 |archive-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303023537/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-17-mn-11286-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Bob also has a son Reiner from a prior relationship.

Tulare high school stadium renamed Bob Mathias Stadium on November 10.
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|1983|| Appointed executive director of the National Fitness Foundation. <br>Inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame<ref name=obit/><ref name=usatf>{{cite web |url=http://www.usatf.org/athletes/hof/mathias.asp |title=Bob Mathias Decathlon (Inducted 1974) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303211646/http://www.usatf.org/athletes/hof/mathias.asp |archive-date=2016-03-03 |website=USATFusatf.org}}</ref>
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|1988|| Returned to the Central Valley, in rural Fresno County.
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|1996|| Olympian [[Sim Iness]] died. He was Mathias's high school classmate and teammate at the 1952 Olympics.

Doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in Mathias's throat.
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|June 6, 1998|| A tribute dinner honoring Mathias on the 50th anniversary of his first Olympic medal was held in Tulare. More than 300 people from throughout the state attended, including Olympic medal-winners Sammy Lee, Bill Toomey, Dave Johnson and Pat McCormick, and Sim Iness' widow, Dolores.
|}