Floyd Simmons, Olympic athlete turned actor, 84
Chuck
Floyd 'Chunk' Simmons was something unusual in Charlotte --
unconventional.
The winner of two Olympic bronze medals, he acted in Hollywood movies,
lived for a time in Tahiti and worked as a photographer without much
concern for making money.
Surveying his life, one writer asked, 'Didn't F. Scott Fitzgerald make
him up?'
A great talker with impeccable manners and a playful spirit, Simmons
has died, the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner office confirmed
Tuesday. There was no information about the time or cause of death. He
was 84 years old.
'He had all these wonderful Hollywood stories but I think he always
thought the acting thing was overrated,' said architect Murray
Whisnant, a friend. 'He was proudest of his athletic accomplishments.'
Raised in Charlotte, Simmons was nicknamed 'Chunk' as a baby by a
nurse impressed with his size. His father, once football coach at
Davidson College and called 'Coach' for the rest of his life, was a
builder who developed Hermitage Court off Providence Road in Myers
Park.
Chunk Simmons was a star athlete at Central High School, scoring five
touchdowns in a 1940 game against a strong Spartanburg team.
He played football at UNC Chapel Hill but in the shadow of Charlie
'Choo Choo' Justice. Until recent years when knee and hip problems
slowed him, he competed successfully in senior events and was a
regular at the Dowd YMCA, as much for the conversation as the
exercise.
He served with the 10th Mountain Division in World War II and was
awarded a Purple Heart.
In 1948 in London and 1952 in Helsinki, Simmons won bronze medals in
the decathlon. 'They gave us a thunderous ovation,' he told a reporter
about the London games, the first after WWII. 'We were quite aware of
being Americans.'
In California after the war to study art, Simmons got into films. He
became a contract player at Universal-International and appeared in
several small roles in the mid-'50s.
He became friends with a younger contract player, Clint Eastwood.
Simmons' best-known part was as Cmdr. William 'Bill' Harbison in the
1958 musical 'South Pacific.'
Back in Charlotte, he worked as a photographer specializing in outdoor
portraits. In his 50s Simmons was married for a short time but had no
children.
Simmons and Whisnant sometimes met for lunch.
Once, Simmons came in the Rheinland Haus restaurant dragging a leg,
pretending he was handicapped. Another time, he picked up the desserts
tray and went to a table of ladies pretending to serve them.
'What I loved about Chunk was his whacky sense of humor,' said
Whisnant. 'He was always sort of playful. He never lost that.'