As a big fan of DaVanche (Ron) Galimore, the gymnast, back in the day, I was happy to see this retrospective feature appear, posted by one of his former teams:
Iowa State gymnast Ron Galimore took his sport by storm en route to becoming one of the greatest gymnasts of all-time. The Cyclone also blazed a trail to where no African-American had gone before after coming to the Iowa State campus in the fall of 1980. …
Ed Gagnier was Galimore’s coach at Iowa State. During the three years Gagnier coached Ron, he viewed him as the most explosive gymnast he had ever seen or had the opportunity to coach.
“Ron was a fit gymnast,” Gagnier said. “For starters, he had the muscular structure that no one else did, the unique ability to be able to explode in his performances. He seemed to be ahead of everybody else. He was so spectacular and could achieve such great height in his moves. It made him stand out.”
While at Iowa State, Galimore enjoyed unprecedented success. Perhaps his most notable achievement was scoring a perfect 10 on the vault at the 1981 NCAA Championships. This feat marked the first time in NCAA history any athlete had reached the perfect plateau. Galimore did it in his final collegiate vault, which made it more remarkable. …
Bruce Davis:
Among my favorite memories of Ron were his sky high double backs performed on crude mats in 90 degree heat at Miami Central HS during JO training sessions. He made the other black kids who were in the gym playing basketball, eyes pop, when he performed his floor exercise routine.
Ron was also an expert on trampoline. I remember him bouncing at my private gym with 20’ high ceiling beams. He would go up and catch the steel beam with his hands and hang and attract my attention by kicking and laughing. Pretty soon he had worked out a ten bounce routine after each beam grab executing a different trick every time he returned to the trampoline. …
The United State’s First African-American Male Gymnastics Olympian
Today Ron is Chief Operating Officer for USAG.
