Vol. 3 No. 52 A Track Museum Sans Pareil (Without Equal) and An Example of Amish Life

Continued from previous posting

The third day of Steve, Bill and George's excellent adventure found us aimlessly adrift in Amish country south of Canton, Ohio where preparations were well underway for the annual NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremonies the following week.  We elected to pass on that one. We stormed through the town of Millersburg, where a week earlier a friend, Dr. Sylvia Gleason, an ultra marathoner and former racing cyclist, had broken down on a bike ride from Columbus to Cleveland.  She was rescued by an Amish man on a steel/carbon fiber bike. He whipped out his cell phone and called for help from a friend with a truck.  The guy arrived, speaking low German, put Sylvia's bike in the truck and drove her to   Raber's an Amish bike shop four miles out of town  in the middle of nowhere.  The shop was closed so he called his sister who worked there and she came and opened the shop, got the parts Sylvia needed, and Sylvia left money for the owners and $10 dollars extra for letting her in the shop after hours.  Of note was that in Amish tradition, the shop had no electricity and was lighted by oil lamps that evening.  She saw that there were some very expensive bikes in the shop and was very grateful for the unsollicted help that she received.  The next day she got a phone call from the owner who said she had paid too much and should return to get her $10 and that he had also fixed the broken part of the bike.  When we stopped to see the shop it was closed, being Sunday, but we noted that the place was powered by solar cells, no electric wires running to the building.   Definitely some lessons to be learned about running a small business.  I don't think it's worth trying to teach this type of customer relations to 'corporate America'.



Raber's Bike Shop outside of Millersburg, Ohio

Eventually we arrived in the village of Sunbury, Ohio about 20 miles northeast of Columbus.    Sunbury is the home of Big Walnut High School whose track teams were coached for many years by Don "Red" Edwards.  Don still lives on the small farm where he grew up on the edge of town.  His boyhood home has been converted to a track and field museum containing a large collection of awards, medals, vaulting poles with a spike on the end going back to the pre vaulting box era , photographs, journals, stopwatches, etc., etc., etc.   The house is decorated in the Yellow and Red colors of Big Walnut.  Below are some of the pictures we took inside the 'museum'.

Red Edwards and Bill Schnier looking at a bamboo vaulting pole

Steve and Bill browsing and perusing



Red and Bill with the first issue of Track and Field News

Vol 1  No. 1  Feb. 1948



Cornelius Johnson 1936 Berlin



old track cards

Analog Stopwatches

Brutus Hamilton, Olympic Decathlete , later Cal Berkeley Coach

Charlie Betham  NCAA 880 champion



Publicity photo of Jerry Welbourne and Harry McKnight  Ohio Track Club 1953

Jimmy Meeks  West Coast Hurdler 1930's  

Willie Davenport in a high school race in Ohio

Lower right gold medal won by first Ohio High School Cross Country Champ
Medallian with a C was a participant medal for all athletes taking part in the national scholastic championships held annually at the U. of Chicago.  Last held in 1932  due to the Great Depression.  I found it in an estate sale several years ago and donated it to the museum.

Even some football gear

Red's business card reads

Wanted 

Track and Field Memorabilia

Don Red Edwards

(740) 965-1918

11848 E. St. Rt. 37

Sunbury, OH 43074

Maybe you have some old stuff your children will throw in the trash some day.  If you want to give it a loving home, keep Red in mind.  Or if you want to see a great collection,  call Red and make an appointment to stop in.  

Vol. 3 No. 13 Never Look a Gift Vaulting Pole in the Mouth

In the previous posting about Gerald Pratt , the outstanding Texas Southern University pole vaulter of the 1960's it was mentioned that Pratt said he had been given his first fiberglass vaulting pole by a couple of University of Oklahoma vaulters who were practicing at his high school in Los Angeles in 1959.  Having attended Oklahoma just after 1959, I decided to contact J.D. Martin who could have been one of those vaulters to ask him about the story.    This was J.D.'s reply.

"Hey George good to hear from you.   I think that might have been (Aubrey) Dooley or (Jim) Graham because I hardly had any fiberglass poles at that time and do not remember working out at Dorsey high school .

I was in California a few times but just competing and not for any length of time.

In 1959 I had two fiberglass poles which were both broken in the parking lot of the hotel in Austin Texas while going to the Texas Relays.  In those days you didn't just make a phone call and get them replaced within a day or 2,  it took months.  So I borrowed a Steel pole from the Nebraska vaulter and  competed with it at the Texas Relays and finished second.  I continued to improve that year so I never went back to a fiberglass pole. 

Hope this is helpful."

J.D. also informed me that Jim Graham is a veterinarian in Oklahoma City, but did not know where Aubrey Dooley could be found.    I've since learned that Aubrey Dooley died in 2002.  Today I called Jim Graham and chatted briefly about the subject with him.   Jim stated that it wasn't him or Dooley, because Jim only had one fiberglass pole ever, and Dooley broke it.  He went back to steel and never vaulted again on anything but steel.    I looked up Jim's history in Olympic Trials and saw that he qualified for the American Olympic team in 1956 with a leap of 14'8" and no misses until that height.  The Olympics were held late in the year (Nov. -Dec, of 1956), and in September Jim injured his ankle.  He could have made the trip to Melbourne, but Bob Gutowski jumped 15'5" in October and Jim graciously ceded his place on the team to Gutowski.  Bob Gutowski went on to win the silver medal behind Rev. Bob Richards.  Jim did not make the team in 1960 finishing 5th at 15'0".  His teammate Aubrey Dooley was 6th also at 15'0".  In 1959 Jim was the NCAA pole vault winner.

It becomes more and more difficult to understand the version about the gift of a fiberglass pole, but nevertheless one has also to feel that there  is some credibility.   It comes from a desire to see good in people rather than the negative.  Where could that pole have come from.?  Who could give away a pole  at a time when it was so hard to replace one?   These events are very minor historical trivia, and so could easily have been brushed under the rug of someone's memory.  I'm now in the process of finding Gerald Pratt to hear the story directly from him.  I have word that he is currently living in Houston. 

After speaking with Gerald Pratt, now a retired VP of Gulf Oil,  he confirmed that the donor was Aubrey Dooley

Vol. 1 No. 72 December 1959

DECEMBER 1959
Front page photos are of Ray Norton, winner of the top US trackman award, Parry O’Brien, the top field event man, and Martin Lauer, the Athlete of the Year. Vasiliy Kuznyetsov, the Russian decathlon WR holder, is named the best field event performer, but doesn’t rate a photo.
Let’s run through the events. Norton edges Kansas’ Charlie Tidwell for first in the 100. Bobby Morrow is sixth. Norton repeats in the 200, this time beating out Italy’s Livio Berruti. Eddie Southern certainly did not have a dominant year, losing four of his ten races, but somehow he beats out undefeated George Kerr who won their only match up. Chuck Carlson, who had the year’s fastest time, 45.9, is third.
Stefan Lewandowski of Poland is the 800 winner. As in the 400, it could have been one of several. His 1:46.5 is the second fastest time of the year and his victory over WR holder Roger Moens apparently is enough to rank him one spot above. But wait a minute, neither of them won that race. They were beaten by five meters by Sweden’s Dan Waern. Waern is only seventh. The fastest time of the year, 1:46.2, belongs to sixth ranked Paul Schmidt of Germany. If there is any truth to the adage that 88% of success is showing up then Schmidt got screwed. He ran an amazing 23 800’s in 1959.
Istvan Rozsavolgi of Hungary is the clear number one in the 1500. He has the year’s fastest time, 3:38.9, and is undefeated. Dan Waern is second. Where is Herb Elliot you may ask? That would be sixth. He concluded his season on March 14 and raced only four times, all miles, with a best of 3:58.9, never leaving Australia. Poland’s Kazimierz Zimny tops an exclusively European top ten in the 5000/3M. Third ranked Pyotr Bolotnikov of Russia tops the 6M/10K rankings which, with the exception of the eighth placer, Pan Am winner Osvaldo Suarez of Argentina, are also all-European.
Although Americans fill seven of the ten places in the high hurdle rankings, the top spot is taken by Martin Lauer of Germany, based primarily on his questionable 13.2 WR, four tenths better than his next fastest time. He lost only once, but never ran against the Americans. Hayes Jones and Lee Calhoun are second and third. High schooler Rex Cawley makes the list in tenth.
An undefeated season and the year’s fastest time, 50.1, puts South Africa’s Gert Potgieter atop the 400 hurdles list. Dick Howard is second and Olympic champion and WR holder Glenn Davis is sixth. And here is Rex Cawley again, this time ranked 8th. The kid may have a future in this sport.
The achievement of the seven foot high jump hasn’t seemed to have had a lasting effect. It has been done only once in 1959, appropriately enough by Charlie Dumas who jumped exactly 7’0”. This jump combined with an undefeated season up to a lackluster 4th in the dual meet with the Soviet Union is enough to rank him first.
The pole vault belongs to the U.S. Don Bragg, Jim Graham and Aubrey Dooley all have vaulted 15’5”, but Bragg’s consistency earns him the #1 ranking. Other Americans are Graham, 2nd, Bob Gutowski, 3rd, Mel Schwarz, 4th, Dooley, 6th, Ron Morris, 8th, George Mattos, 9th, and J.D. Martin, 10th.
As good as we are in the PV, we aren’t in the Hop-Step-Jump. No American makes the list. Russia’s Oleg Fyedoseyev wins 8 of 10 competitions and has the best mark, 54-9½, to take first in the rankings.
Our guys do better in the broad jump. Greg Bell, whose 26-7 is only an inch off Jesse Owen’s WR, takes first. The soon-to-be-great Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the USSR is second. Irv Robertson is third. Not to be over looked in the soon-to-be-great department is 8th placer Ralph Boston.
If there is an event that looks rosy for the US in next year’s Olympics it is the shot put. Only seven putters have bested 60’ and five of them are Americans. Parry O’Brien’s first place ranking is the seventh of his storied career. He is followed by Dallas Long, Bill Nieder and Dave Davis in the 2-3-4 spots. Charlie Butts is 7th.
The hammer throw rankings are a pick ‘em sort of thing. Vasiliy Rudenkov of the Soviet Union has thrown 222-10 and lost only once. Olympic Champ Harold Connolly has thrown 222-8½ and lost twice (once being a lackluster effort in the Pan Am games). More significant is his other loss, a 219-0 to 216-7 defeat at the hands of Rudenkov in the USSR-USA dual. It is enough to give the Russian the first place ranking.
The great Janusz Sidlo of Poland takes the javelin title. His 280’8½ best is short of fourth placer Al Cantello’s WR 282’3½, but though they never met, Sidlo has a better competitive record. Kansas’ Bill Alley is fifth.
The decision as to who is the best decathlete in the world is perhaps the easiest of all. World record holder Vasiliy Kuznyetsov of Russia has had a dominate season. His 8357 total leaves second place in the dust by 362 points. Does that mean he is a shoo-in for the Olympic gold? Maybe not. That second placer is Athlete of the Year Martin Lauer who competed only once, but it is enough to rank him second. C.K. Yang and Dave Edstrom are 3rd and 4th. Wait a minute, where is Rafer Johnson? Not on the top ten list, that’s where. Injuries have made this an off year for the Olympic champion.
But what of the Stanford Fall Championships you may be asking? Sure enough, there is a short story with the lead paragraph, “Ernie Cunliffe, noted as a half miler, switched to the two mile today and ran 9:18.8 at the Stanford Fall Championships”.
The following has been gleaned from various columns. Dyrol Burleson “in a recent attempt to run four quarters in 60 seconds each” “with George Larson and Dick Miller pacing him. His first quarter was 59.5, the half in 1:59.5 and three quarters in 2:58. He was timed a 3:26 with a 220 to go.” The reporter goes on to say that Burleson was losing ground to Miller, didn’t realize how fast the time was and quit. Does this sound right to you? Me, neither. He runs 59.5, 60, then accelerates to 57.5, throws down a 28.5 220……and then quits? First, he had to have timers yelling his splits. This is a time trial set up for specifically for him to run fast. He knows his splits. Secondly, unless it is an extremely slow pace, milers don’t get faster on the third lap. He has accelerated dramatically on the third lap. He continues this pace (actually slightly increases) through the first half of the last lap. He is on world record pace…..and he quits? Something doesn’t ring true here. (Sorry, I couldn’t suppress that; it just popped out.) …….Of the 49 WRs existing in on Jan. 1, 1950, only one remains, Mel Patton’s much-tied 9.3 for 100 yards…….The greatest distance runner of all time? That’s easy, Emil Zatopek. At one time he held every WR above 2 miles, ten in all.
There are three “Profiles of Champions”, Dave Davis, John Macy and Ray Norton. Macy’s is particularly interesting. Thank God he shortened his name from the Jan Miecznikowski he was stuck with at birth in Poland. As a 14 year old, he fought in WWII in which his mother, brother and two sisters were killed. He was a 22 year old senior at an army school when he began his running career after realizing that he was faster than anyone else in the Polish army. In 1954, while in Bern, Switzerland for a meet, he requested and received asylum at the American embassy. He came to the US in 1956 and received a scholarship from the University of Houston.
A sample of his training is included. He trains six days a week, ll months a year. Mon: “trot” six miles; Tues: 12x120, a total of five miles; Weds: 5-7 miles; Thurs: 8-12x440; Fri: trot, exercise, hurdles; Sat: 6x60, total of 8 miles. Doesn’t seem much for a 5000-10,000 guy does it?
The shoe war has heated up. Cliff Severn’s 3/8 page Adidas ad has been countered by a half page Puma ad. Puma now has a dealer in the US, the aptly named Sports Equipment Corp out of Urbana, Illinois. Gill has also bought a half page ad: starting blocks and jump standards.

Vol. 1 No. 37 August, 1957

Issues for May, June and July are not in my possession, so it is.................................................

AUGUST, 1957

Five new world records are mentioned on the front page. Josh Culbreath breaks the WR in the 440 hurdles with 50.5, but the significance of this is lessened by the fact that Glenn Davis's 400 mark of 49.5 is a much superior mark. Russian Yuriy Stepanov bettered Charlie Dumas' HJ record with a jump of 7-1 1/8.
The middle distance runners are the ones who have all the fun. At 7 Pm on the night of July 11 in Turku, Finland, three Finnish runners, Salsola, Vuorisalo and Salonen – all with the first name of Olavi – stand on the starting line for the Finland – Sweden 1500 meters, each with the thought of breaking Rozsavolgyi's WR of 3:40.6. Sweden's Dan Waern is the primary opponent. Waern takes the field through splits of 56.8, 1:57.8 and 2:58.4 with the three Olavis in tow. The Swede holds the lead into the final straight. But then the Olavis put the Finn in finish. Salsola leads the parade, but Salonen closes the fastest, only to come up a couple inches short, as both are clocked in 3:40.2. Vuorisalo also betters the WR with 3:40.3. All that is left for Waern is a Swedish record of 3:40.8.
The celebration in Finland is short lived. On the next afternoon in Stara' Boleslav-Houstka, a small town near Prague, Czechoslovakia, Stanislav Jungwirth is about to shock the track world, or at least that part of the world that is Finland. Running on a 364 meter track with a pace setter for the first 900 meters, he splits 54.9 and 1:54.2. At 1000 he is 2:24.0 before reaching 1200 in 2:53.4, a full five seconds ahead of the previous day's pace. The pace slows as he goes down the homestretch “in his awkward looking, workmanlike form” to finish in 3:38.1 and become the world record holder by a fat two seconds.
But wait, there is more. Seven days later the new 1500 record holder steps onto the track at White City Stadium in London to take on Olympic champion Ron Delany and European mile record holder (3:58.4) Derek Ibbotson in an attempt to break John Landy's 3:58.0 mile record. A pace setter. leads through 55.3 and 1:55.8 and it appears a WR will be run. The question is by whom. Jungwirth has the lead down the backstretch, but his 59.2 third lap of a week ago is not to be repeated. Indeed it is only 63.9 and though he still leads, his ¾ time is only 3:00.0. Big finisher Ibbotson is right there as is the biggest finisher, Delany. On the backstretch Ibbotson moves by and it is apparent that Jungwirth is not going to be the winner. Delany kicks it into gear and goes by the Czech, but still trails Ibbotson around the curve. Ibbotson goes to the afterburners, covering the last 109.2 meters (from the 1500) in 15.4 to Delany's 16.4 and Jungwirth's 17.0 to record a new world record of 3:57.2. Delany is a well beaten 3:58.8 with Jungwirth at 3:59.1.
And now, lets take a run through the European Report. Armin Hary, who will be heard from at Rome in 1960 is one of ten guys who have run 10.4. German teammate Manfred Germar leads at 10.2. He is also top dog in the 200 at 20.8. Olympic champ Tom Courtney took on WR holder Roger Moens in Ozlo. Although Courtney ran 1:46.2, Moens is the European and world leader on the basis of turning back Courtney with a 1:46.0. Martin Lauer of Germany, he of the two 14.7s in last year's Olympics, has improved to 13.7. The great Janusz Sidlo dominates the javelin at 271-11.
The US Report shows one B.Morrow as top dog in the sprints. Milt Campbell has hurdled 13.4 to lead Lee Calhoun's 13.5. Elias Gilbert has also run 13.4, but is ranked behind Calhoun on the basis of losing the AAU to him. Don Bowden has run his AR 3:58.7, but is ranked behind Delany, Tabori and Seaman. (foreigners living in the US count) Gutowski dominates the PV with his WR. Bob Richards trails by half a foot. Don Bragg at 15-1 ¾ is ranked third. Note: This issue is the first issue (I have) where Bragg is referred to as Tarzan. It won't be the last. Gregg Bell leads the country by over a foot with a broad jump of 26-7. The 10th best mark is 24-4 by one B. Gutowski. Perry O'Brien once again is ranked first, no, not in the shot. He is only a well beaten fourth behind Bill Nieder's 61-6 ½ with a 59-7. But...he is numero uno in the discus at 183-3. Ranked second is Al Oerter at 185-4 with wins at the AAU and NCAA. I can see no notation that they have met. I don't 'splain 'em, I just report 'em. Oh, after all the pontification about how the US has to include Olympic events in our meets, there is no ranking for the HSJ, steeplechase or the 400IH. (The 220 lows is there though.)
On page 12 a reader, Howard Shick of Peoria, IL to be exact, writes to decry the fact that most states do not sanction the javelin. Turn back to page 11 and we find that Stan Cox, “was stabbed in the heart by a flying javelin while officiating a meet in London”. Not to worry, he's going to be okay. Those plucky Brits.
It was a different time. “John West, 9.5 LSU sprinter, says he is transferring to Kansas because LSU's rule against interracial competition would prevent him from running in big time track meets.”
More from the different time department: Matthews of Australia has just set the WR in the women's 440 at 57.0.
Cifford Severn shares ad space on the last page with Hollywood's Algiers Motor Hotel, Dick Held Distance Rated Javelins and Archie's Little Black Book.
Remember the two man ten mile relay and the high school two mile team postal competition? Well, they are coming up in the next issue which will be November.