Milan Tiff

Milan Tiff
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing United States
Pan American Games

Milan Tiff (born July 5, 1949) is an American track and field athlete. He is best known for his triple jumping, but his skills pass through several arenas. He was the bronze medalist in the 1975 Pan American Games.^[1] At the Pan Am Games, his name shows the additional name of Abdul Rahman, and in the 1976 Olympic Trials and 1976-1977 National Championships he used the name Caleb Abdul Rahman but he has not gone by that name in other competitions since that period in time. In 1978 he used Milan Tiff in the National Championships. Tiff was an elite black athlete at UCLA at the same time as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in an era when converting to Islam was happening. By 1980, he was a favorite to win the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow before the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.^[2]

Early life and career

A childhood victim of Osgood-Schlatter disease, he did not walk until he was age 8.^[3] He went on to become the first American to jump 57 feet while winning his second USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.^[4]

Growing up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, June 1968, set a state of Ohio high school triple jump record at 49’-11”.^[5]^[6] 1969, he first attended college at Miami University Ohio.^[7] March 1970 (in Detroit) Tiff won the NCAA championship triple jump.^[8] Later, switching to UCLA to work with Jim Bush, where he was a teammate of John Smith and Dwight Stones.^[9] While there he won the 1973 NCAA Championship in the Triple Jump.^[10] Later he joined Bush as an assistant coach^[11] After completing UCLA, he was a member of the Southern California Striders. He was ranked in the world top ten twice, 1975 and 1977.^[12]

A talented painter,^[13] he spends many hours working on art. He approaches many other activities with an artistic perspective. Like several athletes of his era he acted in the 1982 movie Personal Best. Later he trained Emilio Estevez for two of his mid-1990s film roles.^[14] He has continued to train athletes at UCLA including many NBA players.^[15] In 1991 he wrote a book on his own form of exercise called "Traveling light: an original form of exercise".^[16] He was later credited on James Ingram's album "It's Real" as "giving us the map."

In 1979, he was inducted into the Mt. SAC Relays Hall of Fame.^[17]

Tiff's father Benjamin ran on the East Technical High School (Cleveland) sprint relay team with Jesse Owens.^[18]

Tiff's sister, Michele Tiff-Hill was a 1984 Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon.^[19]

Olympic Trials

Tiff placed 10th at the 1972 trials, and competed in the rounds at the 1976 trials.^[20]

Masters

Tiff expected to retire from the sport after the Olympics, but continues to jump in Masters athletics events into his 60s. He has held several Masters World Records as he has passed through the age groups. In 2009, small gust of wind is all that prevented him from equalling the M60 world record.^[21]

As a Masters athlete, Tiff officially has three Masters World Records plus one Masters American Record; and have meet records at the Masters SCA, Masters West Region, Striders Meet of Champions, and the Grandfather Games.^[22]