One of the greatest athletes ever produced by the University of Kansas, Bausch starred in track, basketball and football, earning the nickname of "Jarring Jim" for his exploits as a fullback. He started his college career at Wichita State, where he competed in football, basketball and track before transferring to Kansas. As a track athlete at Kansas, Bausch threw the discus, javelin and shot, but wasn't quite good enough to win a national championship in any of these events. After becoming a multi-event competitor, he won the National AAU pentathlon in 1931 and was sixth in the decathlon. A year later, he won the AAU decathlon in his second try at the 10-event competition. At the Olympics, he made his third decathlon truly memorable, setting a world record while capturing the gold medal. He won four of the ten events, including the pole vault, where he cleared 13' 1 1/2", which would have earned him fifth place in the Olympic vault competition. His Olympic victory helped him win the 1932 Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete of the year. Bausch later played pro football, served in World War II and was an insurance salesman.
1932 Olympics: Decathlon - 6735 pts. (1st) 1931 AAU: Pentathlon (1st) 1931 AAU: Decathlon (6th) 1932 AAU: Decathlon (1st)
Professional football player Insurance salesman