Early Life
Speedie was born in Odell, Illinois, but attended high school in Utah. As a child he had Perthes Disease, a condition where growth or loss of bone mass in the hip joint affects blood supply to the area. He had to wear a brace for four years to correct the condition; one of his legs came out shorter than the other. Despite his struggle with the disease, Speedie became a star athlete at South High School in Salt Lake City, playing football, basketball and track. He was the center on the school's basketball team and was named to a list of Salt Lake's best athletes as a halfback on the football team. Getting out of the braces "was like turning a frisky colt out to pasture after a year in a box stall," Speedie once said. "I had such a backlog of athletic ambition that I wanted to play football, basketball, and track all at one time."
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