V 5 N. 37 April, 1965

APRIL 1965

On the third day of April retired Olympic champion, now dental school student Dallas Long, holds the world record in the shot put at 67-10. But this afternoon's events at the Texas Relays must have forewarned him that the record will not be his long. Twenty year old Randy Matson has just thrown 67-9. It is only a matter of time.

As it turns out, it is a matter of very little time, six days to be exact. Competing in a quadrangular meet at his home track in College Station, Texas, the Texas A&M sophomore drops the iron ball 67 feet 11¼ inches from the toe-board to claim the world record.

"Okay Mr. Long, this is how it's gonna be now."

 To top off the day, Matson ups his PR in the discus to 190-7. A few days later he betters this with a throw of 201-5, becoming the tenth member of the 200 foot club. He finishes up his day tossing the shot 67-0¾ to top his previous record for the best one day weight double on the Portuguese Tables.

The first two international indoor meets for the US are in the books. On April 3-4 in London our lads best the Brits 70-47. On April 7-8 we top Germany 101-56 in Berlin. The difference between the two meets is concisely summed up in the 400 and 800 times. In London Mike Larabee and Jack Yerman run 1-2 in 50.7 and 51.0. In Berlin they finish in the same order in 46.8 and 46.9. Ted Nelson wins the London 800 in 1:52.5 then repeats in 1:47.4 in Berlin. The improvement can be attributed to the size of the tracks. The track in London is 145 yards, over 12 laps to the mile. The Berlin track allows a bit more room as it is 190 meters or 207+ yards. The additional 62 yards seem to make a difference.

In London Olympic long jump champion Lynn Davies tops world record holder Ralph Boston by ¾ of an inch at 25-9¼. Ralph busies himself in other events, winning the hurdles in 7.4 and taking third in the HJ at 6-7. In Berlin he wins the long jump at 25-10¼ then places fourth in the HJ at 6-6¾. Just to fill out the week, he joins the 60 yard hurdle field as a non-scorer and wins in 7.1, beating Willie Davenport and Russ Rogers.

It appears that UCLA's Bob Day is on his way to a pretty good year. His 4:02.8 leads US milers, but the real surprise is his 8:35.4 2 mile which takes the collegiate record away from Dyrol Burleson.

Imagine that you are Bob Steinhoff and have just vaulted 16-1, the second best mark in the world this year. It is the second best mark in the United States. It is also the second best mark in high school. Pretty amazing, huh? Wait, it gets better. You don't even hold the school record because you aren't even the best vaulter at your high school. This is because you attend Warren High School in Downey, Californina and your teammate is Paul Wilson whose 16-6¾ is the top mark in the world this year. As Robert Ripley would have said, “Strange, but true”.

Steinhoff is not auditioning for a role as Wilson's sidekick. In a ten day period he has beaten his illustrious teammate two out of three times with Wilson's world leading mark sandwiched between Steinhoff victories.

In doing his usual industrious research, our reporter came across this tidbit which is too good not to include. Yes, the Warren kids are 1-2 on the high school list, but the young man with the third best vault, 15-1¾, has a name for the ages. This lad from Cooper HS in Abilene, Texas, bears the moniker Pinto Beene. Hopefully this a nickname. If not, his parents have a perverse sense of humor.

Wanna know more about Pinto Beene?    Click here

and here

BEENE
Eugene Carlton "Pinto" Beene, Jr. passed away July 28, 2009 after a battle with Cancer. He was preceded in death by his father E.C. Beene, Sr. He is survived by his loving wife of 33yrs Denise Beene, 3 children -

Speaking of high school athletes, Jim Ryun has added two national records to his resume in the last month. In the Kansas state indoor meet he sets the national indoor record of 4:07.2. Then on March 30, he debuts outdoors in 4:04.4, breaking Gerry Lindgren's record of 4:06.0. Alert readers (do we have any other kind?) may be saying, “Wait a minute. He ran 3:59.0 last year.” True, he did, but that was in an open race and at this unenlightened point in history the record must be set in closed high school competition. Yes, we feel your indignation and sympathize.

Here we have a couple quotes as viewed through the prism of history. Brutus Hamilton, the much respected retiring coach at the University of California states, “There has to be a limit to human speed and I think it has been reached with 9.1 in the 100 and 20.2 in the 220 around the curve”. Ed Conley, the coach at Citrus JC in California, warns, “One trouble with foam rubber landing pits is that the vaulter gets used to it and can get hurt when he returns to sawdust. With foam, most vaulters simply let go and land spread-eagled on their backs. But this hurts on sawdust.”

Next month the season gets rolling in earnest. Drake, Penn and Mt.SAC all take place on April 23-24. The West Coast Relays in Fresno are on May 8 and the Coliseum Relays are a week later on May 14. We'll cover them all in our next report. Stay tuned.