Floyd Simmons

Chunk Simmons went to the University of North Carolina to play tailback on the football team but encountered an obstacle in the form of Tar Heel legend, Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice. Simmons graciously moved to fullback, but he may be Chapel Hill’s greatest all-round athlete, as evidenced by his two decathlon medals. Even as an Olympian though, Simmons was overshadowed by the great Bob Mathias, who defeated him in both 1948 and 1952.

Simmons later had a moderately successful decade as a film actor and stuntman, first with Universal and then with MGM. He played in the 1958 musical “South Pacific,” and after the movie, briefly lived in Tahiti. One of his close friends in his early Hollywood days was another aspiring actor, Clint Eastwood, of whom he noted that they “jogged and surfed together and spent a lot time displaying our sunglasses, like movie stars.” Simmons fought in World War II with the 10th Mountain Division, earning a Purple Heart, serving in Italy. He later became a professional artist and photographer, settling in his native Charlotte. Chunk’s nickname came from his youth, when his mother called him her “little chunk of love.”

Personal Bests: 120yH – 14.4 (1951); Dec – 6945 (1952).