Raymond Chris McCubbins, 63, of Winnipeg, Canada, formerly of Enid, was born Nov. 22, 1945, in Enid and died Aug. 21, 2009, in Winnipeg after a six-month battle with leukemia.
Arrangements were by Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, Winnipeg.
He was a graduate of Enid High School, Oklahoma State University and the University of Manitoba. He was an NCAA All-American, & was a middle-distance runner from the United States winning the Pan American Steeplechase in 1967.
He immigrated to Winnipeg, where he taught school and represented Canada in the 1976 Olympics. McCubbins' 8:38.2 gold-medal performance was the fastest time in the world that year and established him as the man to beat internationally. Then, at the height of the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the U.S. army. A commanding officer recognized McCubbins' athletic talent and assigned him to Special Services, where he competed in the modern pentathlon, a hybrid event that combines fencing, swimming, horseback riding, marksmanship and cross-country running. McCubbins served his two-year term of duty without ever leaving U.S. soil.
McCubbins left behind a legacy, having rewritten the Manitoba record books and mentored three generations of the province’s top distance talents. Most of all, he had reset the competitive bar - if you wanted to win at the provincial level, you had to train as hard as the world’s best. “What set Chris apart was his mental outlook,” said a friend and teammate. “He tackled everything he did with complete tenacity and perseverance. I remember visiting him in hospital soon after he was diagnosed with leukemia and he just had that old look in his eye. He said, ‘I’m going to beat this.’”
A trail system he established for cross-country runners and skiers at Kilkona Park in Winnipeg and the Cross Country Ski Association Manitoba Inner City Schools Ski Program have been named in his honor posthumously.
Arrangements were by Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, Winnipeg.
He was a graduate of Enid High School, Oklahoma State University and the University of Manitoba. He was an NCAA All-American, & was a middle-distance runner from the United States winning the Pan American Steeplechase in 1967.
He immigrated to Winnipeg, where he taught school and represented Canada in the 1976 Olympics. McCubbins' 8:38.2 gold-medal performance was the fastest time in the world that year and established him as the man to beat internationally. Then, at the height of the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the U.S. army. A commanding officer recognized McCubbins' athletic talent and assigned him to Special Services, where he competed in the modern pentathlon, a hybrid event that combines fencing, swimming, horseback riding, marksmanship and cross-country running. McCubbins served his two-year term of duty without ever leaving U.S. soil.
McCubbins left behind a legacy, having rewritten the Manitoba record books and mentored three generations of the province’s top distance talents. Most of all, he had reset the competitive bar - if you wanted to win at the provincial level, you had to train as hard as the world’s best. “What set Chris apart was his mental outlook,” said a friend and teammate. “He tackled everything he did with complete tenacity and perseverance. I remember visiting him in hospital soon after he was diagnosed with leukemia and he just had that old look in his eye. He said, ‘I’m going to beat this.’”
A trail system he established for cross-country runners and skiers at Kilkona Park in Winnipeg and the Cross Country Ski Association Manitoba Inner City Schools Ski Program have been named in his honor posthumously.
Raymond Chris McCubbins, 63, of Winnipeg, Canada, formerly of Enid, was born Nov. 22, 1945, in Enid and died Aug. 21, 2009, in Winnipeg after a six-month battle with leukemia.
Arrangements were by Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, Winnipeg.
He was a graduate of Enid High School, Oklahoma State University and the University of Manitoba. He was an NCAA All-American, & was a middle-distance runner from the United States winning the Pan American Steeplechase in 1967.
He immigrated to Winnipeg, where he taught school and represented Canada in the 1976 Olympics. McCubbins' 8:38.2 gold-medal performance was the fastest time in the world that year and established him as the man to beat internationally. Then, at the height of the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the U.S. army. A commanding officer recognized McCubbins' athletic talent and assigned him to Special Services, where he competed in the modern pentathlon, a hybrid event that combines fencing, swimming, horseback riding, marksmanship and cross-country running. McCubbins served his two-year term of duty without ever leaving U.S. soil.
McCubbins left behind a legacy, having rewritten the Manitoba record books and mentored three generations of the province’s top distance talents. Most of all, he had reset the competitive bar - if you wanted to win at the provincial level, you had to train as hard as the world’s best. “What set Chris apart was his mental outlook,” said a friend and teammate. “He tackled everything he did with complete tenacity and perseverance. I remember visiting him in hospital soon after he was diagnosed with leukemia and he just had that old look in his eye. He said, ‘I’m going to beat this.’”
A trail system he established for cross-country runners and skiers at Kilkona Park in Winnipeg and the Cross Country Ski Association Manitoba Inner City Schools Ski Program have been named in his honor posthumously.
Arrangements were by Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, Winnipeg.
He was a graduate of Enid High School, Oklahoma State University and the University of Manitoba. He was an NCAA All-American, & was a middle-distance runner from the United States winning the Pan American Steeplechase in 1967.
He immigrated to Winnipeg, where he taught school and represented Canada in the 1976 Olympics. McCubbins' 8:38.2 gold-medal performance was the fastest time in the world that year and established him as the man to beat internationally. Then, at the height of the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the U.S. army. A commanding officer recognized McCubbins' athletic talent and assigned him to Special Services, where he competed in the modern pentathlon, a hybrid event that combines fencing, swimming, horseback riding, marksmanship and cross-country running. McCubbins served his two-year term of duty without ever leaving U.S. soil.
McCubbins left behind a legacy, having rewritten the Manitoba record books and mentored three generations of the province’s top distance talents. Most of all, he had reset the competitive bar - if you wanted to win at the provincial level, you had to train as hard as the world’s best. “What set Chris apart was his mental outlook,” said a friend and teammate. “He tackled everything he did with complete tenacity and perseverance. I remember visiting him in hospital soon after he was diagnosed with leukemia and he just had that old look in his eye. He said, ‘I’m going to beat this.’”
A trail system he established for cross-country runners and skiers at Kilkona Park in Winnipeg and the Cross Country Ski Association Manitoba Inner City Schools Ski Program have been named in his honor posthumously.
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