Abebe Bikila 1960 Rome Olympics What did Abebe do in the 1960 Olympics? breaking Popov's world record by eight tenths of a second.
Was he expected to do well or was he an underdog?
Was Adebe Bikila expected to do well or was he an underdog?
In July 1960, Abebe won his first marathon in Addis Ababa. A month later he won again in Addis Ababa with a time of 2:21:23, which was faster than the existing Olympic record held by Emil Zatopek. Niskanen entered Abebe Bikila and Abebe Wakgira in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics, which would be run on September 10. In Rome, Abebe Bikila purchased new running shoes, but they did not fit well and gave him blisters. He consequently decided to run barefoot instead.  The late-afternoon race started at the foot of the Capitoline Hill staircase and finished at the Arch of Constantine, just outside the Colosseum. The course twice passed Piazza di Porta Capena, where the Obelisk of Axum was then located. When the runners passed the Obelisk the first time Abebe Bikila was at the rear of the lead pack, which included, among others, Rhadi Ben Abdesselam of Morocco.  Between 5 km (3 mi) and 20 km (12 mi), the lead changed hands several times. By about 25 km (16 mi), however, Abebe and ben Abdesselam moved away from the rest of the pack. Trailing by about two minutes at the 30 km (19 mi) mark were New Zealand's Barry Magee, who was to finish third in 2:17.18.2 and Sergei Popov, the world marathon record holder at the time, who finished fifth.  Abebe and ben Abdesselam remained together until the last 500 m (1,600 ft). Nearing the Obelisk again, Abebe sprinted to the finish. In the early-evening darkness, his path along the Appian Way was lined with Italian soldiers holding torches. Abebe's winning time was 2:15:16.2, twenty-five seconds faster than ben Abdesselam at 2:15.41.6, and breaking Popov's world record by eight tenths of a second. Immediately after crossing the finish line Abebe began to touch his toes and run in place, and later said that he could have run another 10-15 km (6-9 mi). CANNOTANSWER
In July 1960, Abebe won his first marathon in Addis Ababa.
Shambel Abebe Bikila (; August 7, 1932 – October 25, 1973) was an Ethiopian marathon runner who was a back-to-back Olympic marathon champion. He is the first Ethiopian Olympic gold medalist, winning his first gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome while running barefoot. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won his second gold medal. In turn, he became the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title. In both victories, he ran in world record time.

Born in Shewa, Abebe moved to Addis Ababa around 1952 and joined the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Ethiopian Imperial Guard, an elite infantry division that safeguarded the emperor of Ethiopia. Enlisting as a soldier before his athletic career, he rose to the rank of shambel (captain). Abebe participated in a total of sixteen marathons. He placed second on his first marathon in Addis Ababa, won twelve other races, and finished fifth in the 1963 Boston Marathon. In July 1967, he sustained the first of several sports-related leg injuries that prevented him from finishing his last two marathons. Abebe was a pioneer in long-distance running. Mamo Wolde, Juma Ikangaa, Tegla Loroupe, Paul Tergat, and Haile Gebrselassie—all recipients of the New York Road Runners' Abebe Bikila Award—are a few of the athletes who have followed in his footsteps to establish East Africa as a force in long-distance running.

On March 22, 1969, Abebe was paralysed due to a car accident. He regained some upper-body mobility, but he never walked again. While he was receiving medical treatment in England, Abebe competed in archery and table tennis at the 1970 Stoke Mandeville Games in London. Those games were an early predecessor of the Paralympic Games. He competed in both sports at a 1971 competition for the disabled in Norway and won its cross-country sleigh-riding event. Abebe died at age 41 on October 25, 1973, of a cerebral haemorrhage related to his accident four years earlier. He received a state funeral, and Emperor Haile Selassie declared a national day of mourning. Many schools, venues, and events, including Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa, are named after him. He is the subject of biographies and films documenting his athletic career, and he is often featured in publications about the marathon and the Olympics.

Biography

Early life

Abebe Bikila was born on August 7, 1932, in the small community of Jato, then part of the Selale District of Shewa. His birthday coincided with the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic marathon. Abebe was the son of Wudinesh Beneberu and her second husband, Demissie. During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935–1937), his family was forced to move to the remote town of Gorro. By then, Wudinesh had divorced Abebe's father and married Temtime Kefelew. The family eventually moved back to Jato (or nearby Jirru), where they had a farm.

As a young boy, Abebe played gena, a traditional long-distance hockey game played with goalposts sometimes kilometres apart. Around 1952, he joined the 5th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Guard after moving to Addis Ababa the year before. During the mid-1950s, Abebe ran  from the hills of Sululta to Addis Ababa and back every day. Onni Niskanen, a Swedish coach employed by the Ethiopian government to train the Imperial Guard, soon noticed him and began training him for the marathon. In 1956, Abebe finished second to Wami Biratu in the Ethiopian Armed Forces championship. According to biographer Tim Judah, his entry in the Olympics was a "long planned operation" and not a last-minute decision, as was commonly thought.

Abebe was 27 when he married 15-year-old Yewebdar Wolde-Giorgis on March 16, 1960. Although the marriage was arranged by his mother, Abebe was happy and they remained married for the rest of his life.

1960 Rome Olympics

In July 1960, Abebe won his first marathon in Addis Ababa. A month later he won again in Addis Ababa with a time of 2:21:23, which was faster than the existing Olympic record held by Emil Zátopek. Niskanen entered Abebe Bikila and Abebe Wakgira in the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics, which would be run on September 10. In Rome, Abebe purchased new running shoes, but they did not fit well and gave him blisters. He consequently decided to run barefoot instead.

Due to Rome's blistering heat, the race started in late-afternoon at the foot of the Capitoline Hill staircase and finished at night at the Arch of Constantine, just outside the Colosseum. The course twice passed Piazza di Porta Capena, where the Obelisk of Axum was then located. When the runners passed the obelisk the first time, Abebe was at the rear of the lead pack, which included Great Britain's Arthur Keily, Moroccan Rhadi Ben Abdesselam, Ireland's Bertie Messitt, and Belgian Aurèle Vandendriessche.

Between  and , the lead changed hands several times. By about , however, Abebe and ben Abdesselam moved away from the rest of the pack. Trailing by about two minutes at the  mark were New Zealand's Barry Magee, who was to finish third in 2:17:18.2 and Sergei Popov, the world marathon record holder at the time, who finished fifth.

Abebe and ben Abdesselam remained together until the last . Nearing the obelisk again, Abebe sprinted to the finish. In the early-evening darkness, his path along the Appian Way was lined with Italian soldiers holding torches. Abebe's winning time was 2:15:16.2, twenty-five seconds faster than ben Abdesselam at 2:15:41.6, and breaking Popov's world record by eight tenths of a second. Immediately after crossing the finish line Abebe began to touch his toes and run in place, and later said that he could have run another .

1960–64

Abebe returned to his homeland as a hero. He was greeted by a large crowd, many dignitaries and the commander of the Imperial Guard, Brigadier-General Mengistu Neway. Abebe was paraded through the streets of Addis Ababa along a procession route lined with thousands of people and presented to Emperor Haile Selassie. The Emperor awarded him the Star of Ethiopia and promoted him to the rank of asiraleqa (corporal). He was given the use of a chauffeur-driven Volkswagen Beetle (since he did not yet know how to drive) and home, both owned by the guard.

On December 13, 1960, while Haile Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil, Imperial Guard forces led by Mengistu Neway began an unsuccessful coup and briefly proclaimed Selassie's eldest son Asfaw Wossen Taffari emperor. Fighting took place in the heart of Addis Ababa, shells detonated in the Jubilee Palace, and many of those closest to the Emperor were killed. Although Abebe was not directly involved, he was briefly arrested and questioned. Mengistu was later hanged, and his forces (which included many members of the Imperial Guard) were killed in the fighting, arrested or fled.

In the 1961 Athens Classical Marathon, Abebe again won while running barefoot. This was the second and last event in which he competed barefooted. The same year he won the marathons in Osaka and Košice. While in Japan, he was approached by a Japanese shoe company, Onitsuka Tiger, with the possibility of wearing its shoes; they were informed by Niskanen that Abebe had "other commitments". Kihachiro Onitsuka suspected that Abebe had a secret sponsorship deal with Puma, in spite of the now-abandoned rules against such deals.

Abebe ran the 1963 Boston Marathon—which was between his Olympic wins in 1960 and 1964—and finished fifth in 2:24:43. This was the only time in his competitive career that he completed an international marathon without winning. He and countryman Mamo Wolde, who finished 12th, had run together on record pace for 18 miles, until cold winds and the hills in Newton caused both to fall back. The race was won by Belgium's Aurele Vandendriessche in a course record 2:18:58. Abebe returned to Ethiopia and did not compete in another marathon until 1964 in Addis Ababa. He won that race in a time of 2:23:14.8.

1964 Tokyo Olympics

Forty days before the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Abebe began to feel pain while training in Debre Zeit. He was brought to the hospital and diagnosed with acute appendicitis, and had an appendectomy on September 16. Back on his feet in a few days, Abebe left the hospital within a week.

He entered the October 21 marathon wearing Puma shoes. This was in contrast to the previous Olympics in Rome, where he ran barefoot. Abebe began the race right behind the lead pack until about the  mark, when he slowly increased his pace. At , he was in third place behind Ron Clarke of Australia—who had been upset by Billy Mills in the 10,000 meters—and Jim Hogan of Ireland. Shortly before , Abebe took the lead; only Hogan was in contention, as Clarke began to slow. By , Abebe was almost two-and-a-half minutes in front of Hogan and Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan was 17 seconds behind Hogan in third place. Hogan soon dropped out, exhausted, leaving only Tsuburaya three minutes behind Abebe by the  mark.

Abebe entered the Olympic stadium alone, to the cheers of 75,000 spectators. The crowd had been listening on the radio and anticipated his triumphant entrance. Abebe finished with a time of 2:12:11.2, four minutes and eight seconds ahead of silver medallist Basil Heatley of Great Britain, who passed Tsuburaya inside the stadium. Tsuburaya was third, a few seconds behind Heatley. Abebe did not appear exhausted after the finish, and he again performed a routine of calisthenics, which included touching "his toes twice then [lying] down on his back, cycling his legs in the air".

He was the first runner to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title.  Abebe, Waldemar Cierpinski, and Eliud Kipchoge are the only athletes to have won two gold medals in the event, and they all did it back-to-back. For the second time, Abebe received Ethiopia's only gold medal and again returned home to a hero's welcome. The Emperor promoted him to the commissioned-officer rank of metoaleqa (lieutenant). Abebe received the Order of Menelik II, a Volkswagen Beetle and a house.

1965–68

On April 21, 1965, as part of the opening ceremonies for the second season of the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair, Abebe and fellow athlete and Imperial Guardsman Mamo Wolde, ran a ceremonial half-marathon from the Arsenal in Central Park (at 64th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan) to the Singer Bowl at the fair. They carried a parchment scroll with greetings from Haile Selassie.

The following month, Abebe returned to Japan and won his second Mainichi Marathon, held in Shiga Prefecture. In 1966 he ran marathons at Zarautz and Inchon–Seoul, winning both. The following year, Abebe did not finish the Zarautz International Marathon in July 1967. He had injured his hamstring, an injury from which he would never recover. Abebe had begun to limp, and the 1966 Incheon–Seoul Marathon was the last marathon he ever completed.

In July 1968, he travelled to Germany for treatment of "circulatory ailments" in his legs; the German government refused to accept payment for the medical services. Abebe returned in time to join the rest of the Ethiopian Olympic team training in Asmara, which has an altitude () and climate similar to Mexico City (the host of the next Olympic Games).

Seeking a third consecutive gold medal, Abebe entered the October 20 Olympic marathon with Mamo Wolde and Gebru Merawi. Symbolically, he was issued bib number 1 for the race. A week before the race, Abebe developed pain in his left leg. Doctors discovered a fracture in his fibula, and he was advised to stay off his feet until the day of the race. Abebe had to drop out of the race after approximately  and Mamo Wolde won in 2:20:26.4. This was Abebe's last marathon appearance. He was rewarded with a promotion to the rank of shambel (captain) upon his return to Ethiopia.

Accident and death
On the night of March 22, 1969, Abebe lost control of his Volkswagen Beetle and it overturned, trapping him inside. According to biographer Tim Judah, he may have been drinking. Judah quotes Abebe's account of the accident from the biography by his daughter, Tsige Abebe, that he tried "to avoid a fast, oncoming car". Judah wrote that it was difficult to know for certain what happened. Abebe was freed from his car the following morning and brought to the Imperial Guard hospital. The accident left him a quadriplegic, paralysed from the neck down; he never walked again. On March 29 Abebe was transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, where he spent eight months receiving treatment. He was visited by Queen Elizabeth II and received get-well cards from all over the world. Although Abebe could not move his head at first, his condition eventually improved to paraplegia, regaining the use of his arms.

In 1970, Abebe began training for wheelchair-athlete archery competitions. In July, he competed in archery and table tennis at the Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Games in London. The following April, Abebe participated in games for the disabled in Norway. Although he had been invited as a guest, he competed in archery and table tennis and defeated a field of sixteen in cross-country sled dog racing with a time of 1:16:17.

Abebe was invited to the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich as a special guest, and received a standing ovation during the opening ceremony. His countryman Mamo Wolde did not match his back-to-back Olympic marathon victories, finishing third behind Frank Shorter of the United States and Karel Lismont of Belgium. After Shorter received his gold medal, he shook Abebe's hand.

On October 25, 1973, Abebe died in Addis Ababa at age 41 of a cerebral hemorrhage, a complication related to his accident four years earlier. He was buried with full military honours; his state funeral was attended by an estimated 65,000 people including Emperor Haile Selassie, who proclaimed a day of mourning for the country's national hero. Abebe is interred in a tomb with a bronze statue at Saint Joseph Church in Addis Ababa.

Legacy 

Abebe began, and largely inspired, East African preeminence in long-distance running. According to Kenny Moore, a contemporary athlete and writer for Sports Illustrated, he began "the great African distance running avalanche." Abebe brought to the forefront the now-accepted relationship between endurance and high-altitude training in all kinds of sports. Five years after his death, the New York Road Runners inaugurated the annual Abebe Bikila Award for contributions by an individual to long-distance running. East African recipients include Mamo Wolde, Juma Ikangaa, Tegla Loroupe, Paul Tergat, and Haile Gebrselassie.

He is a national hero in Ethiopia, and a stadium in Addis Ababa is named in his honour. In late 1972, the American Community School of Addis Ababa dedicated its gymnasium (which included facilities for the disabled) to Abebe.

On March 21, 2010, the Rome Marathon observed the 50th anniversary of his Olympic victory. The winner, Ethiopian runner Siraj Gena, ran the last  of the race barefoot and received a €5,000 bonus. A plaque commemorating the anniversary is mounted on a wall on the Via di San Gregorio, and a footbridge in Ladispoli was named in Abebe's honour.

According to Abebe's New York Times obituary, Abebe and Yewebdar had three sons, along with their daughter Tsige. In 2010, the Italian company Vibram introduced the "Bikila" model of its FiveFingers line of minimalist shoes. In February 2015, Abebe's surviving children Teferi, Tsige and Yetnayet Abebe Bikila, along with their mother, filed a lawsuit in United States federal court in Tacoma, Washington, claiming Vibram violated federal law and the state's Personality Rights Act. The case was dismissed in October 2016 on the grounds that the plaintiffs were aware of Vibram's use of the name in 2011, but did not file suit until four years later. According to judge Ronald Leighton, "this unreasonable delay prejudiced Vibram."

It came to light in December 2019 that the family of Abebe received his Olympic ring that he lost at the Tokyo Olympic stadium's bathroom. Abebe left his winning ring in a bathroom after he won the Olympic medal. A woman who was working in the bathroom at that time took it home with her. The woman has since died, but her son said his mom later regretted taking the ring and was waiting for an opportunity to return it. He gave the ring to Yetnayet, son of the late Abebe when Yetnayet came to Kasama City in Japan in December 2019 as a guest of honour for the half marathon competition conducted in honour of his father.

In popular culture 

Abebe has been featured in several documentaries about his life and the Olympics in general. His victory at the 1964 Olympics was featured in the 1965 documentary, Tokyo Olympiad directed by Kon Ichikawa. Footage from that film was recycled in the 1976 thriller, Marathon Man directed by John Schlesinger and starring Dustin Hoffman. Abebe was the subject of Bud Greenspan's 1972 documentary, The Ethiopians. The documentary was incorporated into "The Marathon", a 1976 episode of Greenspan's The Olympiad television documentary series. "The Marathon", which chronicles Abebe's two Olympic victories, ends with a dedication ceremony for a gymnasium named in Abebe's honour shortly before his death.

In 1992, Yamada Kazuhiro published the first full biography about Abebe, written in Japanese and published in Tokyo; it was entitled Do You Remember Abebe? (). Since then, there have been at least three biographical works based on his life. Among these is Triumph and Tragedy, written in English by his daughter Tsige Abebe and published in Addis Ababa in 1996. The other two, also written in English, are Paul Rambali's 2007 fictional biographical novel Barefoot Runner and Tim Judah's 2009 Bikila: Ethiopia's Barefoot Olympian. According to the journalist Tim Lewis's comparative review of the two books, Judah's is a more journalistic, less-forgiving biography of Abebe. It refutes the mythical aspects of his life but recognises Abebe's athletic accomplishments. Judah's account of Abebe's life differs significantly from Rambali's, but confirms (and frequently cites) Tsige's biography. For example, Lewis cites the discrepancy in the circumstances surrounding Abebe's car accident:

Abebe is also the subject of a 2009 feature film, Atletu (The Athlete), directed by Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew. The film starring Rasselas focuses on the final years of Abebe's life: his quest to regain the Olympic title, the accident and his struggle to compete again.

Robin Williams referred to Abebe's barefoot running during his 2009 stand-up comedy tour, Weapons of Self-Destruction: "[Abebe] won the Rome Olympics running barefoot. He was then sponsored by Adidas. He ran the next Olympics; he carried the fucking shoes". Abebe did not carry his shoes but wore them; he was not sponsored by Adidas but was perhaps secretly sponsored by Puma.

Marathon performances

See also

Ethiopia at the Olympics
Sport in Ethiopia
Marathon world record progression
List of athletes who have competed in the Paralympics and Olympics

Notes

References

Sources

External links

 
 
  
 Video footage of Abebe Bikila at the 1960 Summer Olympics
 Marathon portion of 1965 documentary Tokyo Olympiad.

1932 births
1973 deaths
Ethiopian male marathon runners
Olympic male marathon runners
Olympic athletes of Ethiopia
Olympic gold medalists for Ethiopia
Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Japan Championships in Athletics winners
BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year winners
Oromo people
Deaths by intracerebral hemorrhage
An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the outcome is an upset. An "underdog bet" is a bet on the underdog or outsider for which the odds are generally higher.

The first recorded uses of the term occurred in the second half of the 19th century; its first meaning was "the beaten dog in a fight".

In British and American culture, underdogs are highly regarded. This harkens to core Judeo-Christian stories, such as that of David and Goliath, and also ancient British legends such as Robin Hood and King Arthur, and reflects the ideal behind the American dream, where someone who is poor and/or weak can use hard work to achieve victory. Underdogs are most valorized in sporting culture, both in real events, such as the Miracle on Ice, and in popular culture depictions of sports, where the trope is omnipresent. The idea is so common that even when teams are evenly matched, spectators and commentators are drawn to establishing one side as the underdog. Historian David M. Potter explained that underdogs are appealing to Americans not because they simply beat the odds, but overcome an injustice that explains those odds - such as the game being unfairly rigged due to privilege and power. Sometimes a team or competitor may be technically the favorite in a game but be an underdog in the big picture, as they weren't expected to be in that kind of position, such as a Cinderella team in sports.

In a story, the Fool is often an underdog if they are the main character. Their apparent ineptitude leads to people underestimating their true abilities, and they are able to win either through luck or hidden wisdom against a more powerful, "establishment" villain. An example in film is The Tramp portrayed by Charlie Chaplin.

See also 
 Cinderella (sports)
 Dark horse
 Rags to riches

References

External links 

Competition
Sports terminology
19th-century neologisms
Majority–minority relations This is a list of the characters in the Underdog series.

Underdog
Underdog is an anthropomorphic dog, who is a superhero parody of Superman and similar heroes with secret identities. The premise was that "humble and lovable" Shoeshine Boy, a cartoon dog, was in truth the superhero Underdog. When villains threatened, Shoeshine Boy ducked into a telephone booth where he transformed into the caped and costumed hero, destroying the booth in the process when his superpowers were activated. In the live action film, he appeared as a beagle who became Jack Unger's pet. In 2008, he appeared in a Super Bowl advertisement for Coca-Cola.

Underdog is voiced by Wally Cox in the television cartoon. In the film adaptation, he is voiced by Jason Lee and portrayed onscreen by a lemon beagle named Leo sporting a red sweater and a blue cape.

Allies

Sweet Polly Purebred
Sweet Polly Purebred is a female anthropomorphic dog TV news reporter and Underdog's love interest; she serves as the damsel in distress of most episodes. When being pursued by an antagonist, Polly is apt to start singing, "Oh where, oh where has my Underdog gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?", in a whiny voice, hoping for the object of her affections to come and rescue her. Polly's face is slightly similar to that of Underdog's, with a large muzzle and nose, she wears her platinum blonde hair styled in a pageboy, and her wardrobe consists of a black skirt, white shirt, red sweater, and black high-heels. In a few episodes it is hinted that Polly shows her love for Underdog. For example, in the episode "March of the Monsters", she is caught by a robot and calls for Underdog. He then saves Polly, but after Underdog uses his supersonic hi-fi voice and breaks all the glass, the townspeople complain about his voice. However, Polly defends the hero and tells the people that they should thank him for saving everyone from the robots. She then goes to reward Underdog with a big kiss, but the hero backs away and flies off. Also, in the episode "The Vacuum Gun", when Polly is caught by Simon Bar Sinister's vacuum gun, she calls for Underdog and her song annoys Simon. Later in the episode, she retrieves Underdog's ring.

In the live-action film, Polly is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel owned by a girl named Molly, a classmate of Underdog/Shoeshine's owner, Jack. She is based upon Superman's romantic interest Lois Lane.

In the 1976 Western Comics Underdog #7, it is revealed that Sweet Polly has a young nephew named Wilbur.

She was voiced by Norma MacMillan in the cartoon and voiced by Amy Adams in the live-action film.

Dan Unger
Appearances: Movie

Dan Unger is Jack's father. He was once a police officer, but quit the force after his wife died and worked as a security guard at the scientific institute where Simon Bar Sinister hid out after hours. Using Underdog's stolen collar, Simon and Cad were able to determine where he lived and captured him in order to lure Jack and Underdog to them. After Simon Bar Sinister fed an antidote pill to Underdog and left to forcefully negotiate with the Mayor, Dan learned that Shoeshine was Underdog. After Underdog freed the Mayor, Dan was reinstated and promoted by the Mayor and helped Underdog arrest Simon while Underdog buried a bomb Cad placed on the roof. Dan was later seen placing Simon into solitary confinement where Cad was also held.

In the movie, he is portrayed by James Belushi.

General Brainley
Appearances: Weathering the Storm

General Brainley is in charge of the moon launch at Cape Canaveral. When he was about to send a pair of astronauts and Sweet Polly to the moon, Simon Bar Sinister and Cad Lackey hijacked the spaceship and held Sweet Polly prisoner so they could use the Weather Machine against Earth. When anything goes awry, he deems the problem an outrage.

He is voiced by Allen Swift.

Jack Unger
Appearances: Movie

Jack Unger is Underdog's human companion. He is a teenager and Dan Unger's son. His mother has died some time ago. Although Dan is very understanding, Jack's relationship with him is not very smooth. When Dan brings him the dog Shoeshine which he found in the street, Jack at first does not want him. When the dog talks to him, he is understandably upset and wonders whether he is going crazy. However, soon he decides he wants to keep him.

After Shoeshine defends Molly (Jack's classmate and the teenage female owner of the female dog he fancies) against robbers, Jack convinces him to use his powers to fight more evil, arguing that one cannot always just do what one likes. They decide that for his superhero actions Shoeshine takes on the secret identity of "Underdog", using Dan's college sweater, which has a big U on it, as his hero attire.

Jack is played by Alex Neuberger.

O.J. Skweez
Appearances: Fearo, The Gold Bricks, The Phoney Booths, RiffRaffville, The Vacuum Gun

O.J. Skweez is the owner of the TTV (Total Television) building and is Sweet Polly's employer.

He is voiced by Mort Marshall.

Professor Moby Von Ahab
Appearances: The Bubbleheads

Professor Moby Von Ahab is one of the world's leading scientists who helped Sweet Polly investigate what was happening beneath the sea when the Bubblehead Empire planned to conquer the surface world. His name is a take-off on both Moby-Dick and Captain Ahab.

He is voiced by Allen Swift.

Officer Flim Flanigan
Appearances: A New Villain, Batty-Man 

Officer Flim Flanigan previously appeared frequently on the King Leonardo and His Short Subjects segment "The Hunter". He was included as the chief of police during later episodes.

Villains

Simon Bar Sinister
Appearances: Simon Says, Go Snow, Zot, The Big Shrink, Weathering The Storm, The Phoney Booths, The Forget-Me-Net, Simon Says "No Thanksgiving", The Tickle Feather Machine, The Big Dipper, Simon Says "Be My Valentine", The Vacuum Gun, movie

Simon Bar Sinister is a mad scientist. He is the wickedest man in the world who precedes all his commands with “Simon Says” and has an assistant named Cad Lackey. A "bend sinister", sometimes, inaccurately, called a "bar sinister", is a diagonal line in heraldry that can indicate that the bearer is a bastard by birth. At the same time, for ancient Jews "bar" meant "son of."  In fact, in scripture, "Simon bar Jonah" became the Apostle Peter.  It was Simon's ambition to rule the world, but each time, Underdog defeated him.

He was voiced by Allen Swift impersonating Lionel Barrymore in the cartoon. In the movie, he is portrayed by Peter Dinklage.

Cad Lackey
Appearances: Go Snow, The Big Shrink, Weathering The Storm, The Phoney Booths, The Forget-Me-Net, Simon Says "No Thanksgiving", The Tickle Feather Machine, The Big Dipper, Simon Says "Be My Valentine", The Vacuum Gun, movie

Cad Lackey was Simon's henchman, who, though generally dull-witted, was occasionally capable of pointing out flaws in his boss's plans. Contrary to the mad scientist stereotype, Simon actually paid good attention to Cad's suggestions in these episodes.

In the live-action film, he was portrayed as more intelligent and level-headed. He was Simon's partner and the security guard of a building where Simon hid out after hours.

He is voiced by Ben Stone impersonating Humphrey Bogart in the cartoon. In the movie, he is portrayed by Patrick Warburton.

Riff Raff
Appearances: The Great Gold Robbery, Fearo, From Hopeless to Helpless, The Gold Bricks, Pain Strikes Underdog, Whistler's Father, RiffRaffville, Just In Case, The Vacuum Gun, movie

Riff Raff is an anthropomorphic wolf gangster. He leads an unnamed gang that often carry out various crime waves until they are stopped by Underdog. In "The Vacuum Gun," Riff Raff and his gang were among the criminals that were recruited by Simon Bar Sinister.

In the film, Riff Raff is portrayed as a Rottweiler. When he meets Shoeshine, he and his dog henchmen chase him around an alley in an attempt to eat him until he is found by Dan Unger, when they run away. They meet again with Polly (whom Riff Raff tries to flirt with) on the sidewalk. Around the end of the film, Shoeshine barks at Riff Raff enough to remove some of his fur and he and his henchmen run away again for the last time. In contrast to his role as a major villain on the series, Riff Raff is portrayed as more of a comic relief minor villain.

Riff Raff is voiced by Allen Swift impersonating George Raft in the cartoon. In the film, Riff Raff was voiced by Brad Garrett.

Riff Raff's gang
In addition to some unnamed members, the following are members of Riff Raff's gang:

Dinah Mite 
Appearances: Whistler's Father

Dinah Mite is one of the criminals Riff Raff summoned in the episode "Whistler's Father". She is the best bomb-tosser in the crime business.

Mooch 
Appearances: The Great Gold Robbery, Fearo, From Hopeless to Helpless, Pain Strikes Underdog, Whistler's Father, RiffRaffville, The Vacuum Gun

Mooch is the top gunman in Riff Raff's gang and is Riff Raff's right-hand man.

He is modeled after Walter Matthau and voiced by George S. Irving.

Nails the Carpenter 
Appearances: Just in Case

Nails the Carpenter is one of the new members of Riff Raff's gang. He rebuilt the sunken ship of Captain Kidd as part of Riff Raff's ghost ship plot.

Needles the Tailor 
Appearances: Just In Case

Needles the Tailor is one of the new members of Riff Raff's gang. He sewed a sail as part of Riff Raff's ghost ship plot.

Sandy the Safecracker 
Appearances: Whistler's Father, Riffraffville, The Vacuum Gun

Sandy the Safecracker is the best at breaking banks. He just opens safes with his fingers.

Smitty the Blacksmith 
Appearances: Just In Case

Smitty the Blacksmith is one of the new members of Riff Raff's gang. He hammered out an anchor as part of Riff Raff's ghost ship plot.

Voiced by George S. Irving.

Spinny Wheels 
Appearances: Whistler's Father, Riffraffville, The Vacuum Gun

Spinny Wheels is the best getaway car driver in the crime business.

Witch Doctor 
Appearances: Just In Case

The Witch Doctor is one of the new members of Riff Raff's gang. He was the disguised prisoner who went with Riff Raff during the prison break. When asked by Nails, Needles, and Smitty why they should bring him along during the prison break and give him a share of the loot, Riff Raff kept telling them "Just In Case". When Sweet Polly Purebred ends up captured during her infiltration, Riff Raff reveals the disguised prisoner to be a Witch Doctor. When Underdog arrives, the Witch Doctor puts Underdog under a voodoo spell which was instantly broken by Underdog taking his Super Energy Pill.

Voiced by George S. Irving.

Other villains

Batty-Man
Appearances: Batty-Man, The Vacuum Gun

Batty-Man (voiced by Allen Swift) is a vampire villain who commands a massive army of giant bats and lives in Belfrey Castle.

In "Batty-Man", he and his batty army have caused a crime wave nationwide. Underdog, the police, and everyone in the country were baffled because of these crime waves. The crime wave was arranged to make Underdog powerless enough so Batty-Man cannot be stopped from pulling the crime of the century. Soon, Underdog found out Batty-Man was the crook behind the crime wave after Sweet Polly was taken captive. Underdog had to rescue her and defeat Batty-Man, but he failed and was captured. Batty-Man later planned to steal all the gold in Fort Knox and use it to go to Europe by turning the gold into bowling balls. Underdog and Polly escaped before they could get turned into bowling balls and defeated Batty-Man. Everything was then returned to its rightful owners.

Batty-Man was later freed from prison by Simon Bar Sinister. He, along with Riff Raff and the Electric Eel were enlisted to help Simon with his Vacuum Gun plan which Underdog later stopped.

In the 1987 Spotlight Comics Underdog #2, Batty-Man was at home watching the news when he noticed Sweet Polly. He instantly fell in love with Sweet Polly and ordered his right-hand man Georgie and his bat minions to kidnap Sweet Polly and bring her over to his castle in order to woo her. But Sweet Polly did not return his feelings and Batty-Man ordered Georgie to take her down to the catacombs. Shoeshine heard Polly's cries for help and changed into Underdog to rescue her. After Polly was rescued, Batty-Man said to her that "their love was never meant to be."

Georgie
Georgie (voiced by George S. Irving) is Batty-Man's assistant.

The Bubblehead Empire
Appearances: The Bubbleheads

The Bubblehead Empire is a society of people who all wear air helmets and live under the sea, in the city of Maldemare (the name being a take-off on the French phrase mal de mer, meaning “seasickness”). They command sea creatures to do their bidding and deal with their prisoners by feeding them to a giant clam. The city is ruled by the Bubblehead Emperor who in turn was ruled by the Bubblehead Empress.

The Bubblehead Empress was tired of living under the sea, so she wanted to take over the dry land. The Bubblehead scientists worked to destroy the land, using earthquakes and volcanoes, but those two evil plans were foiled by Underdog. As a result, the two scientists were fed to the Giant Clam. The third evil plot was to use a machine creating a tidal wave powerful enough to destroy the Earth. Soon, everybody around the world was aware that something peculiar was happening to the ocean. Sweet Polly Purebred, with the aid from one of the world's leading scientists Professor Moby Von Ahab (the name being a take-off on both Captain Ahab and Moby Dick), investigated what was happening under the sea, but were eventually captured and tossed into the giant clam. Underdog got word that his friends were held captive, rescued Sweet Polly and the Professor and destroyed the tidal wave machine.

Irving and Ralph
Appearances: Zot

Irving and Ralph are a two-headed dragon that are known as the legendary enemies of the planet Zot. For every task they do, they do it with teamwork as noted by the quote "Teamwork! Teamwork! That's what counts!". When they attacked while Underdog was to forcibly wed Glissando, Princess of Zot, Underdog easily defeated them and they promised never to bother Zot's inhabitants again. Upon their defeat, Underdog was allowed to return home to Earth, knowing that he had helped Glissando find her future husband: Zot's Prime Minister.

The Magnet Men
Appearances: The Magnet Men, The Flying Sorcerers

The Magnet Men are evil robots from another planet. The Magnet Men feed on metal. They demanded that the Earth give them all of its metal. When the Earth refuses, the Magnet Men use their Great Gravity Gun to pull the Earth towards them. As the Earth moves away from the Sun, the planet plunges into a deep freeze. Underdog defeats the Magnet Men, destroys the Great Gravity Gun, and puts the Earth back in its correct position in space.

In "The Flying Sorcerers," one Magnet Man was abducted by Prince Bric and Prince Brac to make a cake for their father King Cup. Unfortunately, all cakes the Magnet Men make are made of metal.

The Marbleheads
Appearances: The Marbleheads

The Marbleheads are people made of marble. Captain Marblehead (voiced by Allen Swift) is the dictator of their planet. Captain Marblehead holds their most powerful weapon, the Granite Gun, that could turn anyone into solid stone and used it on Underdog, but to Marblehead's shock he breaks free. Underdog defeats the Marbleheads and the Granite Gun and frees all the slaves.

The Molemen
Appearances: The Molemen

The Molemen are an evil society of giant moles who live underground, led by the evil King Mange (voiced by Allen Swift). They plan to conquer the world by stealing all the food in the world, thus making everyone weak, sluggish and without energy. With this advantage, the Molemen and their ants would have no problem conquering the world.

As Sweet Polly was investigating the thefts, she was captured by King Mange and Underdog was called to rescue her, but he succumbed to the Mole-Hole Gun, the Molemen's secret weapon. Afterwards, he was captured. King Mange threatened to destroy Sweet Polly if Underdog did not do what Mange said. Underdog got Sweet Polly free and soon had the answer to everyone's energy problems. He filled every water reservoir in the world with his Super Energy Pills, filling the water with tremendous energy. Soon afterward, the citizens had enough energy to escape the Molemen's attack and the Army had the strength to fight. King Mange was eventually defeated and arrested.

Overcat
Appearances: Underdog vs. Overcat

Overcat (voiced by Allen Swift) is a giant anthropomorphic cat who was once the infamous ruler of the planet Felina. He is a bully, very arrogant and also has all of Underdog's powers.

One day on Felina, the milk wells ran dry, so Overcat stole the cows from the Earth, kidnapped Sweet Polly Purebred and forced her to milk the cows so the giant cats of Felina can have a lifetime supply of milk. After Underdog rescued Polly and the cows, Overcat challenged Underdog to a winner-take-all fight. Unless Underdog fought Overcat, the giant cats of Felina would destroy the Earth. As Underdog fought Overcat, it appeared Overcat had the upper-hand, but due to Overcat's size and lack of speed, Underdog came out the victor. Underdog promised the giant cats of Felina to give them milk growing from coconut trees if the giant cats banished Overcat from Felina and let the other worlds live as they pleased. Underdog carried out the promise and all the cats were happy, because with the coconut trees, the cats will not run out of milk. After being banished from Felina, Overcat swore he would find another planet to conquer, train harder to become stronger and one day return to Earth to wipe out Underdog.

Slippery Eel (a.k.a. The Electric Eel)
Appearances: A New Villain, The Vacuum Gun

Slippery Eel is one of the world's most dangerous criminals. He got the name The Electric Eel after he was electrified by the gates of the prison's electric fence while he was trying to escape. After being electrified, he gained the power to control electricity.

Electric Eel was the only villain who ever actually defeated Underdog, using his electrical powers and apparently killing Underdog. However, before he "died", Underdog requested that he not be thrown into the lake. Eel, being the villain that he was, naturally decided to throw Underdog into the lake – which drained the electricity from Underdog's body and restored him to "life", whereupon he polished off Eel and his gang. Eel was then confined in a glass prison cell.

In "The Vacuum Gun," Electric Eel and his gang were recruited by Simon Bar Sinister when he found Eel's sewer hideout.

Tap Tap the Chiseler
Appearances: From Hopeless to Helpless, Tricky Trap by Tap Tap 

Tap Tap the Chiseler is a criminal that chisels jewelry, making them into smaller pieces of jewelry. He bears an amazing resemblance to Underdog, and Tap Tap can use this advantage to impersonate Underdog. However, unlike Underdog, he does not speak in rhyme. He also seems to be close friends with Riff Raff. He is voiced by George S. Irving.

In "From Hopeless to Helpless", after Riff Raff stole the Hopeless Diamond, Tap Tap was hired to help cut it into little pieces so that Riff Raff could sell it and impersonate Underdog in order to commit crimes all over town. Everyone, including Sweet Polly (this is the only episode in the series where even she begin to doubt about Underdog, due to her being fooled by Tap Tap and mistaking him for Underdog after he snatched her purse), thought Underdog had turned to crime and he was sent to jail, much to Underdog's shock. Tap Tap pulled off the crimes so excellently that even Underdog (thanks to Sweet Polly's biased lecturing) was convinced he was guilty, believing that he had sleepwalked when the crimes were committed. However, Riff Raff needed Underdog to break the Hopeless Diamond into a million pieces after Tap Tap had failed to cut it, so they broke Underdog out of jail and told Underdog that Tap Tap had imitated him and framed him for the crimes all over town. Now knowing that Tap Tap had been responsible for the crimes that were supposedly committed by him, Underdog pretended to really turn to crime in order to fool the gang. When he finally retrieved the Hopeless Diamond from Riff Raff, Mooch and Tap Tap, he apprehended them and explained to the townspeople, including Sweet Polly, how Tap Tap had imitated him and framed him for the crimes. The townspeople, including Sweet Polly apologized to Underdog for the misunderstanding and falsely accusing him, and prior to the episode "Tricky Trap by Tap Tap", Tap Tap was sent to prison.

At that point, Tap Tap once again disguised himself as Underdog again and broke out of jail on the same day Underdog was visiting the prison. Part of his plan was to first purchase a bomb from a bomb factory and borrow a policeman's handcuffs. He used the handcuffs to cuff himself to Sweet Polly and threatened to use the bomb to blow himself and Sweet Polly to bits if Underdog did not do what he said. Underdog stopped him by melting the handcuffs with his cosmic vision, then tackling Tap Tap, accidentally detonating the bomb in the process. Underdog was, of course, unharmed, while Tap Tap was left singed and dazed.

Wicked Witch of Pickyoon
Appearances: The Witch of Pickyoon

The Wicked Witch of Pickyoon is an evil witch who rules over the strange land of the Pickyoons and has enslaved all who inhabit the land. She lives in a castle in the mountains of Pickyoon.

She wishes to be the most powerful being in all of Pickyoon and she was-that is, until Underdog came along. She planned to capture Sweet Polly and put Underdog in her power. She put a spell on Sweet Polly, causing her to fall asleep for 1,000 years. The Witch was the only one who knew how to break the spell (although, everybody knows the only way to break a spell is as if the hero kisses someone under the spell). If she was going to tell Underdog how to undo the spell, he had to perform three tasks: steal water, steal diamonds and help her assemble an army to conquer the world. Unless Underdog helped the Witch with those tasks, she would not break the spell that had been cast on Sweet Polly. Underdog refused to accomplish the tasks, for it would make him as wicked as the Witch. But every time Underdog refused to do the tasks, the Witch reminded him that Polly would sleep for 1,000 years unless he did what she said. Underdog struck water by burrowing through the underground depths of Pickyoon and made diamonds out of coal. Soon, all that was left was to help the Witch conquer the world. When Underdog refused to perform the final task, he eventually got into a fight with the Witch. After the fight, the Witch disappeared forever after Underdog destroyed her broom. Afterwards, Underdog awakened Polly with a kiss and the people of Pickyoon were freed from the Witch's power.

Zorm
Appearances: Round and Round

Zorm is the ruler of a strange planet. He plans to take over the world, but in order to do that, he needs to keep Underdog from interfering. He sent Cron to Earth. Cron put a charm around Underdog's neck, causing him to fall under his dizzy spell when he is standing up. But when Underdog sits down, he feels perfectly fine. Underdog eventually got the charm off of him and foiled Zorm's plan.

Cron
Appearances: Round and Round

Cron is Zorm's henchman.

Reformed villains
The following villains gave up their evil plans after being thwarted by Underdog:

The Cloud Men
Appearances: The Silver Thieves

The Cloud Men are a race of ghost-like creatures. They live on the Planet Cumulus and are led by King Cumulus Regulus (voiced by Allen Swift). When people "interfere with them" by "attacking them", they lightning jolt them by shooting out electric bolts from their fingers that turn them into silver statues. They steal all the silver on Earth, including Underdog's ring, because everything they have is made of gold and "every Cloud Man must have a silver lining". When Underdog and Sweet Polly head for a conveyor belt, Underdog finds his ring and takes his Underdog Super Energy Pill, then defeats the Cloud Men. In the end, the Cloud Men trade gold for silver with the Earth.

The Flying Sorcerers
Appearances: The Flying Sorcerers

The Flying Sorcerers are a strange alien race led by King Cup (voiced by Allen Swift).

King Cup sent his twin sons Prince Bric and Prince Brac to find someone who can bake a cake for his people after the old royal baker was fired for his cake not being good. The first two baking slaves they found upon King Cup firing a dart at three possible planets were a Magnet Man and an inhabitant of Zot, but they could not bake a cake that tasted like cake (the Magnet Man's cake was made of metal and the Zot's cake didn't taste good) and were imprisoned. Then they made Sweet Polly their new baking slave. Before Underdog could rescue her, Bric and Brac transformed him into a bouncing ball. Sweet Polly was forced to bake 500 cakes for the Flying Sorcerers, but her weariness from baking the cakes made her fall into the giant mixing bowl she was using to make the cakes. Underdog freed himself from Bric and Brac's spell and defeated the Flying Sorcerers. At first, King Cup was upset that Underdog was taking his baking slave home, but after vowing he would not abuse others again, he received one of Sweet Polly's cake recipes so that he could make cakes for his people.

Other characters

Helen Patterson
Appearances: Film

Helen Patterson is the Principal of Molly and Jack's school.

She is portrayed by Samantha Bee.

References

Underdog