Ronald Barak

Ronald S. Barak (born June 7, 1943) is an American gymnast. At the 1961 Maccabiah Games he won eight gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. At the 1964 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships he won the all-around competition, the horizontal bars, and the parallel bars, and at the 1964 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Gymnastics Competition he was the champion in the horizontal bars. He competed in eight events at the 1964 Summer Olympics.[3]

Ronald Barak
Personal information
Full nameRonald S. Barak[1]
NationalityAmerican
Born (1943-06-07) June 7, 1943
Los Angeles, California, United States
Alma mater
OccupationAttorney; author
Height5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[2]
Weight145 lb (66 kg)[2]
Sport
CountryUnited States
SportMen's gymnastics
University teamUSC Trojans

Early and personal life

Barak was born in Los Angeles, California, and is Jewish.[4][5][6][7] He attended Louis Pasteur Junior High School in West Los Angeles, and Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles.[8][9]

He then attended the University of Southern California (USC; B.S. with honors in physics, '64), and was awarded USC's Athlete of the Year Award in 1964.[6] Barak also attended the University of Southern California Law School (J.D., '68), and became a partner at, chairman of the real estate section of, and co-managing partner of the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, and was later a partner at the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.[6][10][11]

He authored the mystery novel A Season For Redemption (2010), and a novel, The Amendment Killer, a political thriller published in November 2017.[12][13][8] He lives in Pacific Palisades, California.[14][15]

Gymnastics career

In 1960 Barak was the LA City Schools horizontal bar champion.[16]

Barak competed for the US in gymnastics at the 1961 Maccabiah Games, winning eight gold medals (including two in the rings, and two in the high bar), one silver medal, and one bronze medal.[6][17][18][19]

In 1962, Barak led the USC Trojans to a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) title in gymnastics, and won the all-around in the Big 6 Conference.[20][2] He sat out 1963 with injuries.[2]

At the 1964 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, Barak won three individual titles—the all-around competition, the horizontal bars, and the parallel bars.[17][20][21] At the 1964 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Gymnastics Competition, he was the champion in the horizontal bars.[17][5] He was named a National Association of Gymnastics Coaches First Team All-American in all-around, high bar, and parallel bars.[22]

Barak was a member of the United States men's national gymnastics team that placed seventh in the team combined exercise competition at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.[17] He was 25th in the rings, 31st in the horizontal bars, 39th in the all-around competition out of 130 competitors, 45th in the parallel bars, 54th in the floor exercise, 67th in the pommel horse, and 95th in the vault.[17][23]

From 1965 to 1968, while attending law school he was head coach of the USC Trojans varsity gymnastics team.[24][8] In 1967 Barak was the coach of the United States gymnastics team that won a silver medal in the 1967 World University Games.[24][25][26]

Halls of Fame

In 1990, Barak was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[27] In 1995 he was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame.[6][17] In 2017 he was inducted into the Los Angeles City Schools Hall of Fame.[16]

References
  1. "Ronald S. BARAK - Olympic Gymnastics Artistic | United States of America". International Olympic Committee. June 13, 2016.
  2. "Olympic Hopeful". Modern Gymnast. March 1964.
  3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ronald Barak Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  4. Wechsler, Bob (2008). Day by Day in Jewish Sports History. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ISBN 9780881259698 – via Google Books.
  5. Martin Harry Greenberg (1979).The Jewish Lists; Physicists and Generals, Actors and Writers, and Hundreds of Other Lists of Accomplished Jews
  6. "Biography: BARAK, Ronald S." Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
  7. Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver (1965). Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports
  8. "More Famous Heritage Hall Medallion Recipients". trojancandy.com. February 2014.
  9. Ingram, Jennika (March 12, 2020). "Palisadian Author Pens Third Thriller Novel". Palisadian Post.
  10. Ronald S. Barak (1981). Foreign Investment in U.S. Real Estate
  11. Sharon Levinsohn (February 2018). "Ronald S. Barak; A Palisadian with the Write Stuff". Malibu to Palisades.
  12. "ron barak". The Olympians.
  13. Ronald S. Barak (2017). The Amendment Killer
  14. "Author Ronald S. Barak donates 50% of book sale royalties to AIDS charity". PRLog.
  15. "FEATURED AUTHOR: RONALD S. BARAK". February 3, 2018.
  16. "2017 L.A. City Schools Hall of Fame". April 30, 2017.
  17. Miloslav Rechcigl Jr. (2016). Encyclopedia of Bohemian and Czech-American Biography
  18. "World Maccabiah Games Ended in Israel; U.S. Teams Win 58 Gold Medals". September 6, 1961.
  19. "Barak Gym Victor". timesmachine.nytimes.com.
  20. "SPORTS SHORTS". Jewish Post. July 26, 1995.
  21. ""NCAA Gymnastics"" (PDF).
  22. "Three SIU Gymnasts Selected All-America", The Daily Egyptian, May 1, 1964.
  23. "USC's Olympic History". USC Athletics.
  24. "RON BARAK; Gymnastics - 1990". Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
  25. Ron Barak (October 1967). "1967 Universiade Games". Modern Gymnast.
  26. "Support for Guest Editorial". Modern Gymnast. January 1969.
  27. "Ron Barak". So Cal Jewish Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
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