Steve Fritz (born November 1, 1967) is an American retired decathlete.

Fritz, who was born in Salina, Kansas, played basketball and competed in track and field for Kansas State University. He was an All-American and Big 12 champion decathlete in 1989 and 1990.[1] Fritz set the Kansas State school record for points in the decathlon.[1] Fritz represented the United States on 10 national teams for decathlon,[1] including a first-place finish at the 1991 Summer Universiade in Sheffield, England, and a fourth-place finish at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

Fritz was named to the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 and enshrined to the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on October 4, 2020.[1]

Fritz was an assistant coach for the Kansas State track and field team for 21 years, and is currently the assistant basketball coach at Wamego High School. He is also the track coach at Wamego High School.

Personal life

edit

His wife, Suzie Fritz, is the former head coach of the Kansas State Wildcats women's volleyball team.

His son, T.J. Fritz, played basketball for Wamego High School, where he averaged 22.4 points per game in 2018 as a senior, which led Kansas Class 4A. Fritz then reclassified from the class of 2019 to the class of 2020 and enrolled at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, KS,[2] considered one of the best basketball high schools in the world,[3] to play for their postgraduate team. After his season at Sunrise, Fritz committed to the University of Nebraska-Kearney on April 15, 2020.[4]

Achievements

edit
Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing the   United States
1991 Universiade Sheffield, England 1st Decathlon
1993 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 7th Decathlon
1994 Goodwill Games St. Petersburg, Russia 2nd Decathlon
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 4th Decathlon
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France 6th Heptathlon
World Championships Athens, Greece 4th Decathlon

References

edit
edit