Late on July night, 1952, the news flashed round the word that another champion had joined the immortals of athletic history.
 
He was Bob Mathias, the twenty-one year old one man track team from Tulare, California, who had just outdone his own 1948 Olympics performance, and set a new world record at the Helsinki Olympics for the grueling two-day decathlon, severest of all athletic tests. In this achievement a handsome, likable American boy established himself as the world's greatest all-around athlete, and became an international hero. 
 
Bob Mathias had fought his way to the top of the athletic world over the tremendous obstacle of childhood anemia. After years of demanding practice, strict obedience to his coaches, courageous self-denial, he became the acknowledged track and field champion of all time, as well as a basketball and football star. 
 
This authorized biography tells of his life in intimate detail: the hard struggles of an athlete, the rules and methods of training he follows. His perfect form is not only described but illustrated. Above all, there shines out the pages the generous, unassuming personality of a great sportsman, setting a superb example for American youth.