Avery Brundage
The iron-willed IOC president who enforced a rigid ideal of amateurism for decades, shaping the modern Olympics through controversy and unyielding principle.
1887–1975 (age 88)·President of the IOC from 1952 to 1972·Birthday: September 28·The Lost Generation
Biography
Avery Brundage, a self-made Chicago construction magnate and former Olympic athlete, shaped his worldview at the 1912 Stockholm Games. He became the first and only American to lead the International Olympic Committee, serving as president from 1952 to 1972. His twenty-year tenure was defined by absolutism; he treated the Olympics as a secular religion with amateurism as its supreme dogma, resisting commercialism and political statements. Brundage made monumental, often divisive decisions. He fought to keep the 1936 Berlin Games alive, arguing sport should extend beyond Nazism, a stance later widely scrutinized. In 1972, after the Munich massacre, he insisted 'the Games must go on,' defining his final act. Brundage preserved Olympic continuity but his inflexibility often seemed out of step with a changing world. His legacy remains complex.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Avery was born in 1887, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Avery Was Born
The biggest hits of 1887
Avery's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1887Born
President: Grover Cleveland
1892Started school
President: Benjamin Harrison
1900Became a teenager
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1903Could drive
Wright brothers achieve first powered flight
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1905Could vote
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1908Turned 21
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1917Turned 30
Russian Revolution overthrows the tsar; US enters WWI
President: Woodrow Wilson
1927Turned 40
Lindbergh flies solo across the Atlantic; The Jazz Singer premieres
President: Calvin Coolidge"My Blue Heaven" — Gene Austin
1937Turned 50
Hindenburg disaster; Golden Gate Bridge opens
Gas: $0.20/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" — Ella FitzgeraldBest Picture: The Life of Emile Zola
1947Turned 60
India gains independence; the Dead Sea Scrolls found
Gas: $0.23/galHome: $6,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Near You" — Francis CraigBest Picture: Gentleman's Agreement
1957Turned 70
Sputnik launches the Space Age
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $10,550Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"All Shook Up" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai
1967Turned 80
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1975Died at 88
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Key Achievements
- Served as President of the International Olympic Committee for 20 years, from 1952 to 1972.
- Successfully campaigned against a boycott and presided over the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics as head of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
- Was a key force in maintaining the Olympic amateurism code, resisting athlete compensation and commercial sponsorship for decades.
- Oversaw the expansion of the Olympic Games in the post-war period, including the introduction of the Winter Olympics to new regions.
Did You Know?
He won the U.S. national all-around athletic championship in 1914, 1916, and 1918.
Brundage amassed a significant collection of Asian art, which he donated to the city of San Francisco, forming the core of the Asian Art Museum's collection.
He was a millionaire who built his fortune in construction, with projects including several prominent Chicago landmarks.
He once stated he would rather see his son die than be paid for athletic competition, illustrating his extreme views on amateurism.
“The Olympic Games must go on, and we must continue our efforts to keep them clean, pure and honest.”
