Former
49er voted into hall of fame
By Kristen Force
On-line Forty-Niner
George
Beckstead has learned that you do not have
to be the biggest or the best to achieve
success.
 After
being involved in gymnastics for nearly
50 years, Beckstead has been honored as
one of the newest inductees to the USA Gymnastics
Hall of Fame, officially recognizing his
contributions to the sport.
What began as an interest at San Pedro High
turned into a life-long commitment for the
California native.
“I always loved sports,” Beckstead said.
“But my size — I just wasn’t big enough
for football.”
Beckstead attended Cal State Long Beach
from 1958-1961 on a partial scholarship
and was a member of the men’s gymnastics
team each year. He said he has fond members
of his time at the school.
“The school was relatively new when I was
there,” Beckstead said. “It was really a
great time. We had some of the best professors.”
Throughout the years, Beckstead has remained
friends with his college coach, Ken Bartlett.
“George [Beckstead] was on the very first
team I coached,” Bartlett said. “He was
a very hard worker and was well-liked by
everybody.”
Beckstead received both his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees from CSULB in physical
education.
“I always wanted to become a coach and a
teacher,” Beckstead said. “I thought it
would be a good opportunity to give something
back because gymnastics was part of my motivation
to go to college.”
After college, Beckstead taught at Westminster
High for seven years and then created the
gymnastics program at Goldenwest College.
“Teaching and coaching was a great experience
for me,” Beckstead said. “It was really
what I always wanted to do.”
Beckstead decided to become more involved
in a different aspect of the sport, judging,
after 21 years as a teacher and coach.
With the National Gymnastics Judges Association,
Beckstead was able to judge both collegiate
and NCAA events. Later he was elected to
the Pan American Gymnastics Union, where
he served as the men’s technical director.
In Atlanta in1996, Beckstead was elected
to the International Men’s Technical Committee
and was re-elected in 2000 in Morocco.
“It is a great honor because I’m only the
second person from the United States to
serve on the committee,” Beckstead said.
Each of the six members on the committee
is in charge of one of the six appartus
performed in men’s gymnastics. Beckstead
supervises the parallel bars to ensure that
all judging is standardized and fair.
In August, Beckstead traveled to Cleveland
for the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame induction
ceremony. He earned this spot in history
for his lifetime contributions to the sport.
Throughout his career as a judge, Beckstead
was involved in three Olympic games, numerous
national championships and 11 world championships.
Bartlett was able to accompany him on the
trip to the hall of fame, which Beckstead
said was the highlight of the whole experience.
“Being able to take my college coach with
me was great,” Beckstead said. “I invited
him in appreciation for all he did for me
at Long Beach State.”
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