Bob Crumley, native of Lovilia wrote: In reading your recent blog about Les Steven’s death,I thought about him and some of his story. In an interesting way he was really a famous son of Lovilia. His folks, Floyd and Aimee Amsberry, ran the grocery store downtown in the corner building that burned down a few years ago. (the one next door to the former Masick barber shop). His brother, Kenny Stevens, who died recently was a classmate of my sister and graduated with the LHS Class of 1957. I remember as a kid, Les was very interested in track and field. We younger kids use to get a kick out of watching him practice his pole vaulting in the yard at his house. He was the only kid in school who seemed to be interested or good enough to stick with his love of the sport. I remember him being a hurdler and he was really good as a pole vaulter. He’d go to track meets and be the only Lovilia kid competing. There were newspaper stories about him and his gaining the reputation as “Lovilia’s One Man Track Team”. He was talented enough that he went on to participate in track at the University of Iowa. We were all proud of him and I think he was a track star at Iowa. If my memory serves me, he went on to have a long and successful career as a high school and college track coach. His story is a most interesting and inspiring one. He certainly inspired a bunch of kids around Lovilia to work hard and to be as good as they might be in their pursuit of worthwhile goals in life. I’m sure there are many others from home that have great memories of Les Stevens, our one-man track team.
The following facts were gleaned from google:
In 1951 he won 3 individual events in a single state track meet in 180 low hurdles, 120 high hurdles, and the high jump.
At the University of Iowa he was the leading scorer of track and field for 3 years. His best events there were hurdles and high jump.
He later coached high school, junior college, and at the University of Iowa and Central Missouri State University.