APRIL 1964
In our last report we promised you two
world records and the return to competition of one of the icons in the sport.
That is coming up. But first let's go to Santa Barbara for the Easter Relays on
March 28 where there are many fine early season marks and almost a collegiate
record. Remember the sloppy officiating in the indoor meets reported in the
March issue? Well the outdoor season isn't starting any better.
Fresno State's
Charles Craig is the victim. He triple jumps 52-1½ to better the 51-9¼
collegiate record set by Luther Hayes of USC in 1962 but there is no wind gauge.
hoping this is the Charles Craig of the story
Whoever was in charge of the gauge had taken it home. While it was in use it had
recorded only one race in excess of the limit and witnesses say the wind was
minimal at the time of Craig's jump but without a wind reading, record
recognition is doubtful.
The mile relay is won by the Camp
Pendleton Marines in 3:08.9, the fastest time of the season. One second back are
the Striders who are handicapped by a 49.2 lead off leg from Mike Larabee.
Mike will be a tad faster in Tokyo
The
Striders beat the LATC in an unremarkable distance medley, unremarkable except
that the lead off man for the Striders is comebacking Olympic 400 champ, Otis
Davis, who eases into his season with a 48.6 split.
Otis Davis
The best race of the day is the 880
relay where Adolph Plummer of the Striders takes the baton five yards down to
Darryl Newman of Fresno State and blows by to win by three with a 20.4 split.
Things heat up the next week with three
solid meets. The Texas Relays are held on April 3 and 4. In what is the only
open division race, Ollan Cassell clocks the fastest 440 this year, 46.6.
Perhaps more significant is the second place 47.0 of high schooler Blendon
Johnson who beats established stars Earl Young, Ted Nelson and Ray Saddler.
LSU's Billy Hardin, son of 1936 Olympic champion Slats Hardin, shows genetics
weren't wasted on him as he blisters the 400IH in 50.8 to top the world list.
In
the frosh-junior college division Texas A&M freshman Randy Matson opens eyes
with an amazing PR of 62-11½.
As good as those marks are, the star of
the day is Missouri's Robin Lingle. Lingle, a transfer from the US Military
Academy, anchors the Tigers to wins in the two mile relay and the distance
medley with splits of 1:48.3 and 4:02.3 in posting the year's fastest times,
7:22.3 and 9:45.2. He is voted athlete of the meet.
In 1964 when an athlete wanted to
continue competing after his college career had ended there were three choices:
join the service and compete for the Marines, Navy or Army, join a club or
compete unattached. The first required a serious commitment. The last required
the expense of getting to meets. Club teams flourished. The Grand Street Boys
Club, the Pasadena AA, the Striders, the Santa Clara Valley Youth Village, the
Pacific Coast Club, the San Francisco Olympic Club, the LA Track Club provided
coaching and travel and thus were the choice of many post collegiate stars.
On April 4 two club teams had dual
meets with colleges. The Pasadena AA took on nearby Occidental and the Striders
traveled to Tempe to run against college powerhouse Arizona
State.
Whereas the PAA-Oxy meet was the lesser
of the two, no one went home disappointed after witnessing the performance of
shot put record holder Dallas Long. As you may remember, Long is in dental
school at USC, a commitment that kept him from competing until the last two
weeks of the season last year. Although he produced the best mark in the world,
63-9, it was only by and inch and one had to wonder whether his cloak of
invincibility is gone. That doubt is erased this afternoon. In his first meet of
the year Long throws over 65 feet three times and his 65-11½ breaks his world
record by an inch. Long is surprised, “I felt like I was in the twilight zone,
it came so easy”.
Now we are in Tempe where ASU's 220
world record holder, Henry Carr, takes the baton in the 440 relay well down to
the Strider's Adolph Plummer. Though he doesn't catch the 440 record holder, he
gives an indication of what is to come by gaining five yards. Minutes later he
is in the blocks for the 100. Gerry Ashworth of the Striders leads for 80 yards
but Carr comes on strong at the end to win in 9.5 for both. This victory is not
without cost. The Arizona State star suffers a “muscle injury” during the race.
Henry Carr is the odds on favorite for the Olympic gold at 200 meters in six
months. Indeed he is the only man to run faster than 20.5 with two 20.4s and his
WR of 20.3. Obviously the wise thing to do is watch the rest of the meet from a
spot on the infield. No, not Henry. He is a spit on it, rub a little dirt on it,
get back in the game kind of guy. The 220 is coming up and he will take another
shot at Adolph Plummer.
For some reason they are in the lanes
with the tightest curve, Plummer in one, Carr in two. This is no problem for the
ASU star. He leads by four yards off the curve and increases the margin to six
at the tape. The watches read 20.2. Once again the Detroit native has broken the
record. Plummer's 20.8 is hardly noticed.
And now for the return of the former
world record holder and Olympic champion who hasn't competed since the 1960
Olympics. This would be Charlie Dumas, the first man to jump seven feet, but
only a figure in history for the last four years. Where has Charlie's road taken
him? After the Games he tried out for the San Diego Chargers but was cut early
on. As he was never paid, his AAU eligibility was reinstated just last month. An
effort to join the Marines had come to naught because of a bad knee. In the time
that he was out of the track spotlight he returned to USC and earned his
teaching credential. Now Charlie is employed by the Inglewood, CA school
district. As satisfying as making lesson plans and grading papers may be, he has
decided to give track one more shot.
Charles Dumas
And what a shot it is. Not certain of
his fitness, he opens at 6-0. As that goes well, he skips 6-2 before clearing
6-4, then 6-6, then 6-8. He misses at 6-10 but at this point he has to be happy
with 6-8 in his first meet back. Not bad for an old timer. But Charlie is buying
none of this old guy stuff. He clears 6-10. Now he is back in the Olympic team
picture. With the bar set at 7-0½, all eyes are on him as he readies himself on
the apron. Over he goes and the crowd erupts. Charlie D hisownself is back. He
decides to end the evening on a high note and retires with a seven foot
clearance in the books. Time to work on Monday's lesson plans. Good to have you
back, Charlie.
Richard Romo leading a stellar field of milers
Oddly, there is no report of a meet on
the weekend of April 11. We move ahead two weeks to the Kansas Relays held on
the 17th and 18th. Robin Lingle proves his performance in
the Texas Relays wasn't an aberration. He anchors the Missouri four mile relay
team to victory with a 4:01.0 split on Friday and returns the next day to take
the Tigers to the victory stand in the two mile relay in 7:26.6 with a 1:49.9
split. The college distance medley is won by Emporia State on the strength of a
4:02.3 anchor by John Camien. Richard Romo nearly matches that with his 4:02.5
anchor to bring Texas in second in the four mile relay.
Richard Romo, president U. of Texas San Antonio
where Jerry Dyes is now cross country coach
Jerry Dyes displays his significant
decathlon potential by scoring 7059 to defeat veteran Phil Mulkey who scores
6961. Mulkey's 15.2 to 17.0 advantage in the hurdles is more than made up by
Dyes' 249-1 javelin effort which puts him 63 feet ahead of Mulkey.
Olan Cassell of Houston betters his yearly world best at 440 yards. His
46.4 gives him a full second advantage over Ted Nelson of Texas
A&M.
Apparently no meet would be complete without the mention of poor
officiating. The 10,000 winner is John Macy in 29:49.0 with the parenthetical
note that the race might be a lap short and that no other times are
available.
Under the heading of Profiles of a
Champion we have two in hammer thrower Ed Burke and triple jumper Charlie Craig.
Unfortunately their photos are transposed making Craig the thickest necked
triple jumper ever.
A check of the US Report listing the
top marks in each event finds that Bob Hayes has equaled his own WR at 100 yards
in 9.1....Jerry Siebert hasn't raced since the USSR meet in 1962. Jerry's work
for a doctorate in physics has taken priority over training. Yet on March 28,
while at the track “to trot around”, he was talked into competing by coach
Brutus Hamilton just 20 minutes before the start of the half mile. The former
Cal star clipped off a 1:50.2 for the second fastest time in the country this
year. Still he says that the doctorate comes first and that he isn't considering
a return to serious running and a shot at the Olympic Games......The national
leader in both the mile and two mile is Bob Schul of Miami (OH) with times of
4:00.9 and 8:47.3.
Coming up in the next issue are the
major relay meets: Drake, Penn, Mt. SAC. West Coast (Fresno), Coliseum and
California (Modesto).
