Bob Mathias, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Charlie Mathias, was born on November 17, 1930 in Tulare, California. He is a graduate of Tulare High School, Kiski Prep School, and Stanford University. In 1948, at the age of 17, Mathias gained worldwide attention by winning the Olympic decathlon gold medal in London. Four years later, at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, he repeated his victory, setting an Olympic and world record.

After graduating from Stanford in 1953 with a BA in Education, Bob spent two and a half years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as Captain in the the Marine Corps until his honorable discharge.

Some of the many awards Bob Mathias has received include the AAU's Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete of the year, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Award as one of America's ten most outstanding young men. He was elected to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974, the San Francisco Bay Area Hall of Fame in 1980 and became a charter member of the U.S. Olympic Committee's Hall of Fame in 1983. Bob was inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. In January of 1995 he was presented the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the most prestigious award given to an individual by the NCAA.

Mathias starred in four major motion pictures and one television series. He also performed in various television commercials plus announcing for television network sports events.

As a representative of the Amateur Athletic Union and on five trips abroad for the U.S. State Department, Mathias organized and encouraged sports and youth programs in America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Bob was elected to the U.S. 90th Congress in 1966 and was re-elected to the 91st, 92nd and 93rd Congresses. During his eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives he served on the agriculture and foreign affairs committees.

In 1977 Mathias was named, by the U.S. Olympic Committee, the director of the new Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 1983, he became the executive director of the National Fitness Foundation.

Bob passed away at age 75 in his home in Fresno, California on September 2, 2006.