Services are set March 22 for Olympic and Pan American Games eventing medalist Kevin J. Freeman, 81, who died March 18 in Portland, Oregon. His passing came six weeks after the death of his teammate and close friend of 57 years, Jimmy Wofford.
Kevin, who represented the U.S. at three Olympic games and the Pan Ams, was also a successful businessman, as well as coach and mentor to equestrians around the world. He earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife of 52 years, Barrie, who were best friends in high school, lived in Portland at Clodomir Farm.
Kevin Freeman and Good Mixture.
Kevin’s equestrian accomplishments include winning a gold medal as part of the U.S. team that competed at the 1963 Pan-American Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he also won an individual silver. He helped the U.S. team win silver medals in the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympic Games, and in 1964, he was the U.S. National Three-Day Event Champion and won the Olympic Trials in Gladstone. At the 1968 Olympics, Kevin competed on Chalan, a horse he’d ridden only once before. Kevin capped off his Olympic career at the 1972 games, finishing fifth individually and leading the American contingent to a team silver as the highest-placed U.S. rider. He had one of only three clear rounds on cross-country aboard one of his longtime partners, Good Mixture.
Kevin also placed third in the Maryland Hunt Cup and won the 1968 Iroquois Steeplechase in Tennessee, the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup in 1969, and the New Jersey Hunt Cup in 1970. He then turned his attention to show jumping, winning at the highest levels across North America, including at Spruce Meadows and Thunderbird venues in Canada.
As a coach, Kevin delighted in sharing his knowledge with the hundreds of horses and riders he trained over the last 50 years at Clodomir Farm. He also hosted the Freeman Farm Horse Trials at his family’s Molalla farm for several years, attracting competitors from around the country.
An all-around athlete, Kevin was a varsity athlete for the 1961-62 Cornell University men’s polo team and an avid skier. He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the United States Eventing Association Hall of Fame in 2009, along with Good Mixture.
Kevin worked closely with his father, Percy, and brothers, Michael and Perk, to run J.A. Freeman and Son, a farm-implement manufacturing company based out of Portland for more than 100 years. When the family sold the business to Allied Systems Co. in 2004, he and his two brothers continued working together, creating the Freeman Group, a commercial real estate company that he helped run until his death.
In addition to his wife, Kevin is survived by his children, Eric (Stephanie); Peter (Anna); Kevin and Wendy Freeman Gallo (Edgar); his brother, Perk; sister, Laurie Freeman; his six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The March 22 memorial service will be held at 10 am at St. Mary’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, followed by a reception. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Kevin’s name to the United States Equestrian Team Foundation or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.