Doug Roby Douglas Fergusson Roby ( March 24 , 1898 – March 31 , 1992 ) was an American athlete and Olympics official . After playing football at Phillips University and the University of Michigan , he worked for American Metal Products Company , an automobile parts manufacturer , from 1923 to 1963 . From 1951 to 1953 , he was the president of the Amateur Athletic Union , then America ' s governing body for many amateur sports . He was vice president ( 1953 – 65 ) and president ( 1965 – 68 ) of the United States Olympic Committee and one of two American members of the International Olympic Committee ( 1952 – 84 ) . As president of the USOC during the 1968 Summer Olympics , he issued the order expelling African - American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos after their raised - fist Black Power salute during a medal ceremony . Early years . Roby was born in Port Tobacco , Maryland , and grew up in Chicago , Illinois where he attended Wendell Phillips High School . In 1916 he received a scholarship to the Michigan Military Academy at Brighton , Michigan , where he helped the football team to an undefeated season that fall . Phillips University . While attending the academy , Roby became friends with John Maulbetsch , a star halfback at the University of Michigan . After graduating , Maulbetsch accepted the head football coaching job at Phillips University in Enid , Oklahoma . Phillips was a small , private school without a well - known athletic program . Roby was Maulbetsch ' s first recruit to play at Phillips . With Roby as team captain and future Pro Football Hall of Fame r Steve Owen also on the team , Phillips lost only one game in 1918 and 1919 , including a 10 – 0 – 1 record in 1919 . The Phillips “ Haymakers ” defeated Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns , gaining a reputation as “ one of the strongest teams in the southwest . ” When Phillips defeated Texas 10 - 0 in Austin , Texas in October 1919 , the Longhorns had not lost a game since 1917 . One Texas newspaper reported that Phillips had " whitewashed the Longhorns in their own corral . " University of Michigan . In February 1920 , Roby transferred to the University of Michigan , where he worked his way through college by racking balls in a billiards parlor six hours a day . He played for the Michigan Wolverines in 1921 and 1922 both as a left fielder in baseball and a fullback in football . He graduated in a degree in business administration in 1923 . Professional football and squash . Roby played professional football for one year with the Cleveland Indians in 1923 . Roby was the starting tailback in all seven games for the Indians in 1923 , scoring one touchdown and also kicking an extra point . Statistics are not available for his yardage gained . He later played squash for the Detroit team from 1928 – 1936 , winning the national championship in 1932 . American Metal Products Company . Roby joined the American Metal Products Company , a Detroit - based automotive parts manufacturer in 1926 , and retired as board chairman in 1963 . Roby was the company ' s president in 1958 when a furnace being used to temper automobile seat springs exploded , collapsing the roof of the company ' s three - block - long plant , causing injury to several workers . Amateur athletics official . Roby began a fifty - year career as an athletic official by serving several terms on the University ' s Board in Control of Athletics . From 1951 to 1953 , he was the president of the U . S . Amateur Athletic Union , then America ' s governing body for many amateur sports . And in 1952 , he was selected to serve on the International Olympic Committee and was one of two American members on the IOC from 1952 - 1984 . He also served as vice president of the United States Olympic Committee from 1953 – 1965 and as the president of the USOC from 1965 - 1968 . Roby was also elected as the third president of the Pan American Sports Organisation for the 1955 - 1959 term . Detroit ' s Olympic bids . From 1939 through the 1960s , Roby sought to bring the Olympics to Detroit . When Detroit was selected over Los Angeles as the USOC ' s proposed site for the 1968 Summer Olympics , IOC member John Garland from California declined to support the American bid . Roby noted : " John Garland of California - - I doubt if he will support us . He was quite hurt that Detroit prevailed over Los Angeles in the competition before the American Olympic Committee for the right to bid for the games . But I don ' t think that will hurt us . On the contrary , the propaganda by people in California against us might help because it has been unsportsmanlike . " Mexico City won the bid for the 1968 Games . Controversy at the 1968 Olympics . Roby is most remembered as the president of the USOC during the political turmoil in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City . The biggest controversy he faced came when African - American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised black - gloved fists and bowed their heads while the " The Star - Spangled Banner " was played during a medal ceremony . Roby allowed Smith and Carlos to keep their medals but ordered the two to be removed from the Olympic village and sent home . Later in the week , Roby was the medal presenter in a track event won by U . S . athlete Lee Evans ; Evans , wearing a black beret , shunned Roby at the medal ceremony , refusing to shake his hand . While Roby was criticized for having overreacted , his initial decision had been to take no action . Roby had called the USOC executive board into session immediately after the protest ; they issued a two - page statement apologizing to the IOC and the Mexican hosts for the act , saying no action was planned but hinting that no further demonstrations would be tolerated . Hours later , the USOC was asked to withdraw its statement . Roby explained , " At 6 p . m . I had a call from the IOC to meet with them at 9 p . m . When I got there , I found the committee was adamant that severe action be taken against the offending athletes . I told them our committee was undecided . I asked , ' What if we do nothing ? ' They told me quite firmly that if the United States found that it could not control its athletes , then the IOC might be forced to firm action . I was led to believe that there was a threat of throwing out the entire U . S . team . " Other accounts have confirmed that the USOC refused to ban the two but gave in when the IOC threatened to expel the entire US track team . The USOC went back into session after midnight and ordered the removal of Smith and Carlos . Whether or not he agreed with the decision , Roby later defended the decision in an interview with " The New York Times " , saying : At the 1968 Olympics , Roby also dealt with controversy when members of the rowing team from Harvard publicly endorsed the protests of black athletes and expressed support for the Olympic Project for Human Rights . Roby was incensed with the actions of the Harvard crew and sent a letter to Harvard ’ s coach criticizing his involvement in the protest . Roby wrote : Controversies over China and South Africa . In 1979 , Roby voted against the readmission of China to the Olympics , but China prevailed by a vote of 62 - 17 . In 1984 , he advocated the readmission of apartheid - era South Africa to the Olympics . Roby resigned from the IOC in 1985 and retired from the USOC in 1986 . Later years . Roby died of heart failure at a nursing home in Ann Arbor . He was 94 years old at the time of his death in 1992 , making him the oldest living U - M letterman . He was survived by a son , Douglas F . Roby Jr . , two daughters , Hermine Roby Klingler , and Ruth Roby Glancy .