A journey of leaps and bounds
Damarcus Simpson's long jumping career just taking off.
Standing 5-foot, 7inches tall and registering just over 140 pounds on the scales, Damarcus Simpson doesn’t exactly look the part of a world-class athlete, especially not when it comes to the long jump.
World-record holder Mike Powell was 6-2 and 175 pounds, Carl Lewis — one of the most decorated track athletes in history — competed at 6-2, 180, and defending Olympic champion, Britian’s Greg Rutherford, checks in at 6-2, 190.
Bob Beamon, who stunned the world by becoming the first man to jump over 29 feet in competition during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, stood 6-3 and weighted close to 160 pounds and even the great Jesse Owens, who competed during a time when most people — athletes or otherwise — were significantly smaller, still had three inches and nearly 25 pounds on what Simpson is listed as today when he won gold in Berlin in 1936.
But then Simpson goes flying down the runway, hits his mark and takes off and suddenly all bets are off.
In the midst of a college career that is only two years old, the former LaFayette High Rambler is already a two-time national outdoor college champion and a two-time national indoor college runnerup. He has competed internationally and he has more than held his own against the best the United States has to offer.
And the best is likely still to come.
Simpson’s rise from small-town athlete to the cusp of being one of the world’s elite long jumpers can only be described as meteoric.
After winning a Georgia state title as a junior in 2011 — with a winning jump of 23feet, 11-inches — and earning state runner-up honors as a senior, he originally signed to join the then-new track program at Chattahoochee Tech.
However, he said it didn’t take long for him to realize that Chattahoochee Tech was not the best fit for him.
“It was a junior college and the coaching wasn’t as serious as I thought it would be,” he explained. “I wanted to be smart about it and not waste my eligibility, so I dropped out of there and decided to go home to figure out what I wanted to do. But I kept training every single day with the hopes of getting back in college.”
Chattahoochee’s track program would dissolve shortly thereafter, but Simpson’s career would soon be taking off.
A friend pointed him toward NCAA Division II Chadron State College in Nebraska, who had a previous interest in signing Simpson for football. But he said things changed when the football coach found out the size of the athlete he was getting.
“When I told him I was 5-7, 140, it kind of scared him and he referred me to the track coach,” Simpson said. “He thought I might have some success with them, and even though football was my first love, I said I’d give it a try. I was confident that I hadn’t peaked (as a track athlete) yet and I thought I could compete and things just went from there.”
Of course, being a couple of years older than the typical incoming freshman recruit, Simpson would have to prove to CSC track coach Brad Gamble that he still had the goods to compete.
That would take all of one meet.
In Simpson’s track debut with the Eagles in December 2014, he tied the school’s long jump record of 24-feet, 8.5-inches. Two months later, he jumped 25-3.5, which set a new school record and gave him the lead among all Division II jumpers that season.
Simpson, however, was just getting started.
Later that month, he set a new Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) indoor record in the long jump (25-4.5) at the conference meet, a meet in which he also finished second in the triple jump, took third and set the school record in the 60-meter dash and placed sixth in the high jump.
Just two weeks after that, he won silver at the 2015 NCAA Division II Indoor Nationals with another leap of 25-4.5 and added AllAmerican honors by placing sixth in the 60.
During his first outdoor season with the Eagles, he set a new
“Follow your dream because no dream is too big. Small-town guys like me can make it if you put your mind toward it. Keep setting goals higher than you can achieve them, then reach them.” -- Damarcus Simpson
jumping 25-1.5 during a meet in Colorado and jumped 24-10 at the RMAC Outdoor Championships later in the season to win gold. Another gold medal would come a few weeks later when he shattered his personal best with a jump of 26-3.5 to win his first NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship.
From there, Simpson set a new personal best of 26-4.25 at the U.S. Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where he finished seventh among the nation’s 19 top long jumpers. That performance earned him an invite to represent his country at the North American, Central American, Caribbean Championships in Costa Rica in August of 2015, where he jumped 24-11 to place fourth.
More success followed this past season.
He won two more conference long jump titles and thrilled the crowd at the 2016 RMAC Indoors by running the 60 in 6.7 seconds and taking second place in the high jump with a mark of 6-7.05, clearing his own height by a foot.
“That was a fun track meet,” he said with a smile. “When I have fun, I can do some pretty outrageous stuff.”
Following another NCAA Division II silver at Indoor Nationals, Simpson finally got a chance to compete against the Division I big boys in April at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious track meet.
On his fourth jump, Simpson reached 2510.25 and no one else in the meet would jump further.
He called it one of his proudest moments.
“I knew I was good, but being at a Division II school, no one really knew who I was and I told my coach I wanted to get some more name recognition,” he said. “That was the first time I ever competed in front of a big, outrageous crowd. It gave me that extra push and it carried throughout the rest of the season. I knew if I could get a crowd like that one behind me, I knew was going to be known.”
One month later came another personal mark of 26-4.5, which earned him a second consecutive NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championship. And with the back-toback titles under his belt, Simpson could finally turn his attention toward something he could have only dreamed about a few years early — the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Having already met the Olympic Trials standard before the DII Outdoor Nationals, Simpson said he put the Trials in the back of his mind for a while. But knowing a spot on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team was up for grabs, he said he tried to stay focused as he arrived back at the University of Oregon late last month.
“I was definitely blown away, but I tried to hold it together,” he recalled. “I had competed at the U.S. Championships before and in Costa Rica, so I kind of knew what to expect. I just told myself not to worry about the crowd and not to worry about them not really knowing my name. I just tried to go out there and think of it like any another track meet.”
He reserved himself a spot in the men’s finals, and set yet another personal record, when he jumped 26-6.5 on his first jump to place fourth in the preliminary round on July 2. He would break that mark again with his first jump in the finals the very next day as a leap of 26-7.75 would earn him three final jumps to try and get a top-three finish and a spot on the Olympic team.
Unfortunately, Simpson would foul on all three of those final jumps and he would have to settle for eighth place.
But despite the result, Simpson knew more than ever that he had arrived.
“The guy that won, (27-year-old professional) Jeff Henderson, pulled me in and said ‘You’re next. You’re a young guy, so hold your head up’,” said Simpson, who turned 23 less than two weeks after the Trials. “I was devastated that I didn’t get one of those top three spots, but that was some encouragement I really needed and he’s right, I’m still a young athlete.”
Still, Simpson said the experience of the Trials was something he would never forget.
“It was a great group of guys. Even the professional guys, we all treated each other like brothers,” he added. “It was something really special. I can say that was probably the best long jump competition in U.S. history, hands down. So to know I was a part of it and know I had a chance to get in (the top three) was still an honor and I left there having earned their respect.”
The long jump has been a family tradition for Simpson. His grandmother held the LaFayette High girls’ record for a number of years before it was broken by his late mother, Michelle, who set the mark at 19-4.
“It definitely came from mom’s side of the family,” Simpson said. “I probably have to contribute this all to my mom.”
He added that going from jumping 23 feet in high school to approaching 27 feet today was mostly due to growing up and finally taking the sport seriously.
“I had great coaching up at Chadron, but I think I’ve always had the ability to jump a long way,” he explained. “I probably could have jumped longer in high school had I really practiced and put forth the effort like you have to in college. But it was high school so I didn’t take it as seriously as I could have. I knew I had it in me, but it took me growing and maturing as an adult and as an athlete.
“It’s mostly my mind maturing, not so much my body. I talk to athletes all the time when I go to these big meets. When I tell them I’m 23 and just a college sophomore, they almost all say they kind of wish they had waited a while after high school to start their track careers. It’s gotten better as I have gotten older. Just having that mindset and maturity has given me that extra push.”
The U.S. Nationals and Olympic Trials in Eugene also gave Simpson close-up, first-hand looks at one of the premier facilities and one of the premier college track programs in the nation. It also helped cement his decision to transfer to Oregon to compete for the Ducks for his final two collegiate seasons.
The men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track programs at Oregon, along with the school’s cross country teams, have won a total of 28 national championships.
“The deciding factor wasn’t coaching or anything like that,” Simpson explained. “(Oregon) is just the dream school I’ve always wanted to go to. There I’ll get the publicity that will make it easier to transition from being a Division I athlete to a professional athlete.
“This is going to be my career, for sure, and I don’t even think I’ve peaked yet. These next couple of years with Oregon, their program and their trainers, I think it’s going to be something special. I really believe 28 feet or mid-28’s is going to be achievable really soon.”
While he looks forward to getting the chance to compete at historic Hawyard Field, he said the decision to leave Chadron was not an easy one. He said he also considered joining another storied program at the University of Houston before following his heart and selecting the Ducks.
“I have to thank (Chadron State long jump coach) John Ritzen,” Simpson said. “He got me to this point and kept me humble. It came down to Oregon or Houston, but (Ritzen) sat me down and said, ‘Oregon is your dream school. Sure, you could go get coached by the greatest track athlete in history (Lewis, a Houston assistant), but you need to go where you are going to be happy. Eventually, you will get the coaching you want.’ Ritzen’s been behind me from day one, so it was really hard to leave him.”
While two more seasons of being a college track athlete are still front of him, Simpson is already eyeing a trip to Tokyo, Japan four years from now where he hopes to wear the Red, White and Blue in the 2020 Olympics.
However, he says there are plenty of things still left to accomplish along the way.
His personal best of 26-7.75 is just 7.5 inches shy of Rutherford’s winning mark in the 2012 Olympics in London and it is less than one inch from breaking Oregon’s outdoor mark of 26-8.5 set by Latin Berry back in 1989.
“(The) 2020 (Olympics) couldn’t get here any faster,” he said. “But first, I want to get to Oregon and break their long jump record. That would be a great accomplishment and the Oregon coaches told me to come and get it. I want to contribute to those national championships that they’ve always been able to win and just be a part of something great.”
And while he looks forward to donning the Green-and-Gold and showing what he can do at the (NCAA) Division I level, he knows he has the support of friends and family back home in northwest Georgia.
“I’ve gotten a lot of love out there on Facebook and, clearly, everyone in LaFayette is behind me, cheering me on,” he said with a smile. “It really kind of hit me the last day of the Trials, the day before we left. I was sitting there just thinking, gosh, I got a lot of people behind me. I don’t think I let anyone down. It was great.”
Damarcus Simpson is living proof that greatness can come from anywhere and he has advice for any kid who dreams of glory.
“Follow your dream because no dream is too big,” he added. “Smalltown guys like me can make it if you put your mind toward it. Keep setting goals higher than you can achieve them, then reach them.”