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In a freshman scrimmage, a kick in the stomach tore loose some of Parry's groin muscles. "Thereafter," he recalls, "any grunting effort would result in excruciating pain. The frosh team was under the direction of Harry 'Black Jack' Smith then. He taught football like it was war. Jeff Cravath was varsity coach. Between the two of them, I about lost interest in the game." Another man who helped ease Parry out of his football pads was Wilbur ("Moose") Thompson, U.S.C.'s 1948 Olympic shotput winner, who had watched the blond, well-larded freshman working out with the track team, and as soon as he got a chance, talked O'Brien into dropping all else for the shot.
Approach Gingerly. Even as a tubby kid enduring the snickering nickname "Podge," Parry O'Brien had always organized his life with a kind of compulsive neatness. Now he rearranged it methodically around an iron ball. Fraternity brothers in Phi Kappa Psi remember how he painted a shotput circle in the alley outside the fraternity house, to practice his technique—even at night. "You had to approach O'Brien gingerly," recalls one brother. "The thing was, you never knew whether he had just let go of the shot and it was headed in your direction."
In those days, Parry put the shot just like everyone else. Standing at the rear of the ring, he would rock back on his right leg, swing his left leg in front of him for balance, hop forward across the circle, and shove the shot for all he was worth.
Even then, he figured there must be some better way. His father recalls his coming home beaten from a collegiate meet and brooding over his failure. At 3 a.m., Parry Sr. was roused from his sleep by repeated, earth-shaking thuds. Parry Jr. was putting the shot by street light. "I think I've discovered something!" he shouted to his sleepy father. "I couldn't wait till morning."
Practical Physics. When he came home from the 1952 Olympics, champion by a bare three-quarters of an inch over Darrow Hooper, Parry was convinced it was time to perfect his private style. Says he solemnly: "It's an application of physics which says that the longer you apply pressure or force to an inanimate object, the farther it will go. My style is geared to allow me to apply force for the longest time before releasing the shot." Boiled down to its essentials, the O'Brien put begins with the putter at the rear of the ring, crouching low over his right leg, his back turned to the shot's line of flight. Since the seven-foot circle allows scant running room, the added speed generated by the 180° spin before the shot is released makes a tremendous difference.
Since he perfected his style, Parry has so successfully demonstrated its value that every topflight shotputter has adopted it.