Tom Pappas has the credentials, but has become a forgotten man in the decathlon

Maybe people have forgotten about Tom Pappas. Maybe they think he’s too beat up, after all those decathlons and all those injuries, or too old, at 31.

The tall, soft-spoken athlete from little Azalea in southern Oregon who went from Glendale High School and Lane Community College to stardom and an NCAA title at Tennessee and then to international prominence, has quietly won the last two national championships, the fourth and fifth of his career, but he was outranked at the end of each of those years by fellow American Bryan Clay, and last year he fell out of the world rankings for the first time since college.

It’s been five years since Pappas won gold at the international level. In 2003, he was the IAAF World Outdoor champion, and Track & Field News ranked him No. 1 in the world.