A Homegrown Olympian – Roddy Lee of El Cerrito

Finding himself in the Olympic uniform of the Republic of China (Taiwan) at the 1972 Olympics in Munich was an unexpected twist of fate for Roderick "Roddy" Lee of El Cerrito.

Lee’s house rests on the hill overlooking , where he was a student during the 1960s and where he taught for more than 25 years.

“Basically my whole life has been in a one mile radius of El Cerrito High School,” the 62-year-old said, laughing as he sat near the school’s track.

It was on that same track that Lee began his athletic career as a hurdler, a career that gave him the unique opportunity to leave the comfort of the Bay Area to compete in the 1970 Asian Games and the 1972 Munich Olympics.

But when Lee ran in the 1972 Summer Games, the red, white and blue of his uniform was not for the United States; it was for the Republic of China (Taiwan).

He did not advance past the first heat, but Lee still fondly looks back at his time as an Olympian, his moment in the spotlight, and his opportunity to travel the world.

Local roots

After attending elementary school in Kensington and middle school at Portola, Lee entered his sophomore year at El Cerrito High School in the fall of 1964.

Following in the footsteps of his older brother, Roger, Lee joined the track program and began running hurdles.

Under the direction of Hale Roach (who coached track at ECHS for almost 30 years and was named National Coach of the Year in 1971) and hurdles coach John Nules, Lee developed into one the team’s top competitors.

Though he still holds the record for the 120-yard high hurdles (high school track switched to meters in the 1970s), Lee said he was by no means the fastest hurdler in the league.

“Growing up in high school, there were people just as fast as I was, even at El Cerrito,” he said.

One of Lee’s close friends on the team, Dave Masters, was recruited as a sprinter by UC Berkeley, where Lee decided to study after he graduated from ECHS in 1967.

“I had fairly good success at the high school level, and Dave Masters was being recruited by Cal to run,” Lee said. “I just kind of went in on his coat tails. I didn’t get a scholarship to begin with, but I got into Cal and I said I could run, and they said, ‘Sure, why not.’”

Getting Noticed 

When Lee was a junior at UC Berkeley, a Taiwanese representative approached him about the possibility of competing for the Republic of China in the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand.

Lee said he doesn’t know how the Taiwanese representative found him, nor does he remember much about the encounter.

But Lee—whose Chinese name is Lee Chung-Ping and whose family originates from Taiwan—said he couldn’t turn down the offer of a free ticket to compete at the international level.

So in December 1970, Lee, who held dual citizenship, flew to Bangkok to meet his fellow Taiwanese athletes for the first time.

What Lee remembers best about the Asian Games is not the time he spent on the track, but the daily life outside of competition.

“The Taiwan team would bring their own cook, and he would prepare the food for the whole team,” Lee said. “But I couldn’t eat the Chinese food. I was too westernized. I wanted steak.”

While the hotel restaurant provided a simple solution to the problem of food, Lee said the language barrier was more challenging.

The American-born Lee does not speak any Chinese, so one of the female Taiwanese athletes, Chi Cheng, volunteered as his translator for the entire time he was with the team.

In addition to the obstacles integrating with the team, Lee was not fully prepared to race.

“I was the favorite in the high hurdles, but because it was the beginning of the track season, mentally and physically, I wasn’t ready to run a full flight,” he said.

Nevertheless, Lee won silver medals in both of his competitions, the 110-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles, the latter of which ended in a photo finish.

According to Lee, his success impressed the Taiwanese officials so much that they offered him the chance to compete for the Republic of China at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

“When someone offers you a trip around the world, and a trip to the Olympics, it’s kind of hard to say no,” Lee said.

For Lee, saying yes was even easier after the Taiwanese officials offered to pay his schooling for the coming year. Lee said he asked for a $300 monthly stipend, more than enough to cover tuition, which at that time was only $125 per quarter.

“They asked me what I wanted to cover my expenses,” Lee said. “I could have told them anything. But I was 21, and $300 was gonna do it.”

Heading to the Olympics

After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1971 with a major in business and a minor in physical education, Lee went to graduate school—paid for by Taiwan—to earn his teaching credential.

Lee said in that year, he was the fastest Asian hurdler in the world—his one claim to fame. But even with that title, he had low expectations for the Olympics, where he would have to face the fastest runners in the world.

“At that time of my life—I’ve had more time to reflect on it now—it was just take what you get,” he said. “I enjoyed running, I liked running, and I don’t think I wanted anything out of it except the chance to compete and do the best I could.”

But even though he knew his chances of medaling were virtually zero, Lee, who at the time had done very little traveling, said he was excited for the Olympic experience and the chance to travel to foreign countries.

In his Olympic travels during the summer of 1972, Lee’s first stop was in Taiwan, where he trained and bonded with the rest of the nation’s team for about a month and a half.

“At the beginning of the training sessions, I would eat by myself,” he said. “But by the end I’d have four of five teammates with me teaching me how to speak Chinese, and I was teaching them how to speak English.”

Experiencing Munich

Lee’s older brother, Roger, said was surprised his brother had decided to represent Taiwan, but he said it was not uncommon for athletes in the United States to represent the countries of their heritage in those days.

“I was excited for him, but maybe I was a little envious, too,” Roger said. “I was more proud that he was going to the Olympics.”

With the support of his family back at home, Lee headed to Europe for the first time to compete as an Olympian.

He raced three times—in the 100-meter hurdles where he placed 35th, the 400-meter hurdles where he placed 28th, and the 4x100 relay—and he was not fast enough to advance past any of the first round heats.

Lee hardly remembers his races, but what has stood out in his mind over the last 40 years is watching the other events, meeting athletes, and experiencing the city, including the day of the infamous Munich massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by Palestinian terrorists at the Olympics.

Lee still recalls coming back to the Olympic Village that day to a scene of utter confusion.

“You knew something was wrong, but there was not enough communication,” he said. “Until you saw it on the news, you really had no idea.”

The German hosts have been criticized for their lax security measures, and Lee knows firsthand how easy it was to get around security in the Olympic village in 1972.

Several days after the massacre, Lee said one of his fraternity brothers from college was in the city and looking for a place to stay.

“We went down to the train station, we made a pass, took his picture, typed a little something up, put it in a piece of plastic, and that was all the security needed to get into the village,” he said.

The most memorable moment of his Olympic adventure was the closing ceremonies, where Lee had the opportunity to hold the flag for the Republic of China.

According to Lee, because the massacre delayed the competition a day, all of his teammates had to leave for Taiwan on their scheduled flight before the closing ceremonies. As a result, he was the only athlete left to represent Taiwan, and so he carried the flag.

“I did the best I could, I trained as hard as I could, I took my opportunities to run and visit neighboring cities and countries, and I just enjoyed the experience,” Lee said.

Looking back on his Olympic glory

Once his Olympic run was over, Lee never returned to racing competitively.

Upon his return to the Bay Area, he began student teaching, which eventually led to his 38-year teaching career.

Though he coached track when he taught at Kennedy High school during the '70s and '80s with some success, he never coached track during his more than 25 years at ECHS.

Lee, who was a math, business and P.E. teacher at various points in his career, retired two years ago, though he still coaches the ECHS golf team.

With his house only a few minutes away from campus, Lee is still very much a part of the school, actively working on the ECHS Archiving Project, an effort to preserve the school’s history.

And Lee, whose life has revolved around El Cerrito High School for almost six decades and who holds a spot in the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame, is undoubtedly part of that history.

“I think that’s part of being a good Gaucho—you’re part of the community,” he said.

Editor's Note: This is the latest in a series of articles about  as we approach the Summer Olympics in London. Our first one was a July 1 , who represented the U.S. in judo at the Beijing Olympics four years ago. Matsumoto also wrote a  that we reprinted on July 2. Yesterday, July 23, we profiled Teri McKeever, who's now in London and is the first woman in history to be head coach of the US Olympics women's swim team.

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