Kamy Keshmiri couldn’t have asked for a better discus coach and teacher.
Jalal “Joe” Keshmiri was a four-time Olympian for his native Iran. Kamy followed his father’s footsteps. Like his father, Kamy competed for the Nevada Wolf Pack where he became the Big Sky Conference’s only three-time NCAA Champion.
Keshmiri ranks 11th on the Big Sky Conference’s list of “50 Greatest Male Athletes.’’
“Wow,” said Keshmiri. “It is nice to be recognized for all of the hard work, pain, sweat, blood and tears out on the field everyday with my dad. My father passed away about 12-years ago. Those are memories I will always cherish with my dad, being out on the fields.”
Kamy Keshmiri started throwing the discus when he was 9-years old. His father, a standout at Nevada in 1969-70, was his coach and they are the only father/son duo in the Nevada Wolf Pack Hall of Fame.
The Reno native attended UCLA before transferring to Nevada in 1990. That year he won the discus and the shot put at the Big Sky Outdoor Championship.
“I was one of those guys that relished competition,” said Keshmiri. “It was fun competing at the Big Sky meets. I think one year I won both the shot put and discus. It was really funny because I didn’t even train for the shot put. They wanted me to do it for points, so I went ahead and did it and won.”
In 1990, Keshmiri went on to compete in the discus at his first NCAA Championship in Durham, N.C. He won the meet with a throw of 207 feet, 1 inch. The second-place throw was 195-11 by John Nichols of LSU.
Keshmiri came back the next season and won the discus again at the Big Sky Championship. He went to Eugene, Ore., and won the NCAA Championship with a throw of 218-5. The heave, on this third throw, set the collegiate and meet record. Throwing in the second flight, he was second to California’s Ramon Jimenez-Gaona after the first round, but he took the lead with a throw of 205-4 on his second effort.
Jimenez-Gaona finished second in the meet with a throw of 202-7. The old collegiate record was 217-11 set in 1985 by Mike Buncic of Kentucky and the previous NCAA meet record was 216-2 set in 1983 by Dean Crouster of Oregon.
“I knew it was a good throw, but I didn’t think it was a national record,’’ Keshmiri said after the meet. “When they brought the steel tape out, I thought this might be it. If I was going to break the record, I wanted to do it in Eugene because of the crowd and it being the NCAA Championship. I felt good coming into the NCAAs. I was telling people I thought I could break the record. I felt confident, and I had some pretty good throws in warm-ups. I think the excitement just drained me for the rest of my throws. I know this is just a stepping stone for me. There’s more in me.”
He was right. There was more to come from Keshmiri. In his senior season, he set the championship record at the Big Sky Championships with a throw of 218-0.
Keshmiri won both the discus and the shot put again at the Big Sky Championship. He was named the meet’s Outstanding Field Athlete for the third consecutive year.
“It was fun collegiately,” said Keshmiri. “I enjoyed competing with the Big Sky. It was exciting.”
Keshmiri capped his collegiate career in Austin, Texas, with his best results yet.
He broke his own NCAA meet record with a throw of 220-0. That record still stands to this day. He also set the stadium record, breaking the mark of 218-3 set in 1977 by Ken Stadel.
Before Keshmiri ever competed at Nevada, he was a player on the international scene. He won the discus title at the Mobile TAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship in 1988 at age 20, becoming the youngest thrower to win a national discus title since 1899. In 1989, he captured the gold medal at the 1989 World University Games. In 1990, he finished second at the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Wash.
Joe Keshmiri, who set the Iranian national discus record with a throw of 200-4, wanted his son to compete in the Olympics for Iran. Kamy won the discus at the U.S. Olympic trials in New Orleans in 1992. He officially retired from throwing in 1993.
“For me the discus wasn’t something I wanted to do as a career,” said Keshmiri, a five-time Big Sky champion. “I wanted to be a business person. Business was something that was real strong for me. I have thrown so long in my life. So my body was really taking a toll by the time I was getting into my early 20s. I didn’t really have much life left for my back.”
Keshmiri still resides in Reno. He is an entrepreneur and owns several properties.
