Dallas Long, a brawny shot-putter who established himself as one of the best of his era by equaling or setting the world record in that track and field event seven times and winning a gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, died on Nov. 10 in Columbia Falls, Mont. He was 84.
Suzanne Long, his caregiver and former wife, said he died in hospice care from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He lived in Whitefish, Mont.
During a long period of American domination in the shot-put, the 6-foot-4 Long’s success made him a bridge between Parry O’Brien, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1950s who revolutionized shot-putting technique, and Randy Matson, who in 1965 was the first to break the 70-foot shot-put barrier.