Vol. 2 No. 62 May 1962 Throwers Excel but Greta Garbo Steals the Show

MAY 1962

Generally, as we age, adding pounds is not a good idea. Al Oerter is the exception to the rule. As the 19 year old Olympic champion in 1956 he weighed 228. As the 23 year old Olympic champion in 1960 he weighed 235. Now, as a 25 year old he weighs 250. He is older, bigger and better.

                                                                          Al Oerter

                                                                Al Oerter at Rome

                                                                    Dallas Long

                                                                   Fortune Gordien

On the afternoon of April 28 he tangles with world record holder Jay Silvester in the Mt. SAC Relays. Silvester throws 195-7, good enough to win nearly any time, anywhere, but not today as the Olympic champ slings one 198-6, the second best throw ever.

Three weeks later on the evening of May 18, Big Al is giving it a go again in the Coliseum Relays. Silvester and past world record holder Rink Babka are the prime competition. After a fling of 186-9 in the first round, Oerter gives warning of what is about to happen. His throw of 198-7 is a personal best, just inches from Silvester's record. Finally on his fourth effort history is made. He becomes the first to surpass the 200 foot barrier. It is measured at 200-5½. The throw is witnessed by three former record holders, Sylvester, who instantly gained that status, Babka and Fortune Gordien who is the official. Babka's 193-9 edges Silvester for second by 5 inches but no one notices.

Now to less weighty matters, in particular Dallas Long. The SC star finished last season at 274. Today as he steps into the shot put ring at the Coliseum he is a trim 246. This is the long awaited match with Gary Gubner.

Gary Gubner

 In the second round, with retired record holder Bill Nieder standing nearby, Long puts together the second record breaker of the night, a 65-10½ throw which better's Nieder's record by half an inch. He finishes with throws of 63-11½, 64-10, 65-0 and 64-6. Gubner is never close, but has no reason to be disheartened. In the last round, he drops one 64-11, good enough to win nearly any other place, any other day, but not here and not today. Rest assured they will meet again.

Paul Drayton

    

 

                                                  Frank Budd

The throwers aren't the only guys setting records. On May 12 in a dual meet with the Quantico Marines Frank Budd of Villanova ties Dave Sime's 20.0 WR in the 200 (straight). Teammate Paul Drayton is second at 20.1. Budd, the 100 yard WR holder at 9.2, wins that race at 9.3 to tie Sime's 1958 performance in Sanger, CA for the best sprint double, 9.3 and 20.0.

              John Uelses and Dave Tork

                                                                                      Dave Tork

                                                                                           

How about a jump world record? Hey, we got that too. On April 28 at the Mt. SAC Relays Marine lieutenant Dave Tork vaults 16-2 to steal the record from fellow Marine John Uelses.

(U. of Oregon Library)

Okay, WRs in the throwing events, sprints and jumps, but what about the distances? Just a minute, let me look. Yep, we have one of those also. It is the noon May 12 and we are in Fresno for the West Coast Relays. The Oregon Ducks are taking a crack at the 16:23.8 WR held by Peter Snell's New Zealand national team. Archie San Romani leads off. His opening go round of 60.2 is followed by a 64.0. This is cause for concern as San Romani is a great talent, but he has been erratic. Not to worry. The sophomore rights the ship and cranks out final laps of 58.1 each for a 4:03.5. Canadian Vic Reeves is up next, but after a 58.5 opening, he too suffers from the second lap slows, clocking 64.6. Like San Romani, Reeves rallies to run 62.2 and 60.1 to finish at 4:05.4. With Keith Forman up and Dyrol Burleson waiting in the wings, the record is not in doubt. Now it is only a question of by how much. Forman is a model of consistency, lapping 60.7, 61.5, 60.7 and 59.4 for 4:02.3. Burleson is the American record holder at 3:57.6. As long as he is not struck down by lightning, there will be a new record. Burley demonstrates his resolve, running 56.4 for the first quarter. The pace slows to 61.1 and 62.0 before he kicks home in 58.2 for a 3:57.7 and a new world record of 16:08.9. Keith Forman is not content to bask in the afternoon's glory. He returns eight hours later to win the open mile in a PR of 4:00.7.

This issue of TFN, like the last, reports by the event rather than the meet, so we shall do the same. We have covered the highlights in the 100 and 220. The 440 leaders remain Adolph Plummer and Ulis Williams at 46.0. Only four tenths of a second separate the top five in the 880: Burleson 1:48.2, Jerry Siebert 1:48.4, John Bork 1:48.5 with Jack Yerman and Ray Van Asten both at 1:48.6. At Mt. SAC in a race not described, Jim Grelle becomes the fourth American to break four minutes with a 3:59.9 win. Burleson's 8:42.5 still leads the two mile.

                                                                   Buddy Edlen

The single outstanding American achievement in the distances comes from London. Minnesota graduate, Buddy Edelen, now teaching in England, becomes the first American to win an English distance run title since 1887 when he fights off challenges in the last mile to win the British AAA 10 mile track championship in 48:31.8, smashing Johnny Kelley's American record set in 1959 by 2:20 and moving to fourth on the all time list.

In case you're trying to remember more about Buddy Edlen, the following bio is taken from the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame

Buddy Edelen

Sioux Falls (1955 Washington High grad). Minnesota. Edelen's success as a marathon runner inspired a generation of runners, including Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers. Edelen taught in England from 1960-65 and while there entered cross country and marathon races around the world. He set a world record in the marathon (2 hours, 14 minutes, 28 seconds) on June 15, 1963. The 1964 Olympic marathon trial in Yonkers, N.Y., was run in such heat and humidity that seven out of every 10 entrants dropped out; the 5-10, 135 pound Edelen won by almost 20 minutes. Within a week he was having sciatic difficulties. Edelen was sixth in the marathon (2:18:12.4) in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, and his competitive career ended not long after that. At Minnesota he was Big Ten cross country champ as a junior and won the two-mile in track. As a senior at Washington High in the 1954-55 school year, Edelen set records in every cross country and mile race he ran and set state mile record of 4:28.8. Born in Harrodsburg, Ky., and reared in the Twin Cities area. Only lived in Sioux Falls one year.

Ok , so I got a bit carried away with Jerry Tarr pictures ed.

Jerry Tarr and Fran Washington lead the highs at 13.7. Don Styron has run 13.8 but leads the 220LH at 22.5, fitting since he holds the WR at 21.9. Dee Andrews of Long Beach State and Jay Luck of Yale have clocked 22.6 and 22.7. Oddly, while the highs and lows are run and recorded at yards, the intermediates are recorded in meters with three tenths subtracted for 440 races. Rex Cawley, Bruce McCullough and Russ Rogers are the leaders at 51.5. John Thomas, shown placing third in a dual meet 100 (9.9), has yet to get it going in the high jump. His 6-10 is 2¼ inches behind leader Joe Faust.

The junior college ranks have produced two national leaders. Larry Stuart of Santa Ana JC tops the javelin list at 256-2 and Mahoney Samuels of Foothill JC and the West Indies has triple jumped 51-10¾ to set the junior college and freshman records and lead the nation by nearly a foot. Evolutionary note here: This is the first time the hop-step-jump has been referred to as the triple jump by TFN. You might want to make note of this as it may come up as game show question. What was the triple jump first called, Alex?

 Uelses Going Over

In an effort to preserve historical integrity, your diligent reporter presents information in the format used by the magazine. That means that we have “Late News” from meets run on May 18 and 19 in Los Angeles, Eugene and Lawrence.

Aside from the shot and discus records already reported, we have other results but no descriptions from the Coliseum Relays. Professor Peter Snell gives a lesson in miling to those upstart Americans. His 3:56.1 leaves Dyrol Burleson 15 yards in arrears at 3:57.9. The pace is beneficial for the rest of the field as Jim Grelle 3:58.9, Bob Seaman 4:00.6 and Cary Weisiger 4:01.5 all PR. Rex Cawley lowers his national leading time to 50.5 in the intermediates. The much anticipated match between 100 yard record holders Frank Budd and Robert (not Bob yet) Hayes over 100 meters is won by Hayes in 10.2. Budd's 10.3 is matched by third place finisher Henry Carr. John Uelses beats the man who took his record in the pole vault, Dave Tork, with a jump of 16-0¼, but Tork's 16-2 record still stands.

They are not called the Coliseum Relays for nothing. Each of the four relays is outstanding. Florida A&M and Texas Southern trade wins in the 440 and 880 relays. TSU takes the short relay at 40.3 with A&M two tenths back. The Florida kids rally to win the two lapper 1:23.4 to 1:23.7. One assumes that this Hayes kid ran in both races, but there is no narrative to confirm that.

Arizona State beat USC in the mile relay at Mt.SAC 3:07.5 to 3:08.0. These teams are back at it in the Coliseum. The result is the same, but the times are faster: 3:06.1 to 3:07.3 with Texas Southern third at 3:07.8. You want splits? Sorry about that. Texas Southern has a hell of a program. Here they are again in the two mile relay. Their 7:22.1 betters the 7:24.2 of national leader Missouri. What it doesn't better is the winning 7:20.6 of USC. The Trojans' previous best had been 7:28.1. Occidental also betters the national lead with a 7:22.8. Splits? We don hafta give you no stinking splits. Maybe more detail will come to light in the next issue.

In Lawrence, the Sooners of Oklahoma dominate the Big Eight meet with 101 points. Anthony Watson has a day to write home about. He broad jumps (no long jumping yet – this evolutionary process takes time) 25-8 and sprints 9.4 and 20.1 (20.0 in a heat). These marks are wind-aided, but nonetheless it is a pretty, pretty, pretty good day for the young man.

The big news from the Far West Championships is the national collegiate record in the high hurdles by Jerry Tarr who lowers his best from 13.7 to 13.3. To fill his afternoon he tours the intermediates in 52.0, perhaps a harbinger of things to come.

And yes, Clifford Severn Sporting Good and Adidas still lay claim to the back page. Assume this is the case in future issues until you are informed otherwise.


Hollywood Goes to the Track  1926

Who said that track and field was all work and no play?    I found this series of publicity photos of +Greta Garbo and the USC Trojans.  She allegedly was sent there by her publicist  against her wishes and posed for a few shots with Dean Cromwell and some of the lads.  This episode in her career  probably was the part of her life experience that led to her famous line, " I want to be alone".  Most likely  the lads in the middle photo had to take cold showers afterward.

"Honey If you don't roll that silk stocking down, you'll never be a Trojan"

"I'll kill that damned publicist"

Let's see Javelin or Self Defense Training? 

Vol. 1 No. 56 April 1959 Relays Special

APRIL 1959

The headline reads “63’7” for Dallas Long”, but the story is only four sentences. He had tied Perry O’Brien’s 1956 WR previously, but now he betters it by five inches. And in which esteemed meet did he produce this great effort? That would be the USC – UCLA freshman dual meet.

Bill Woodhouse has taken over for graduated Bobby Morrow at Abilene Christian. A front page picture shows him hitting the tape in a “wind blown” (no mention of the reading) 19.9 220 on a day in which he also runs 9.1w. One of the timers clearly pictured in the background is the aforementioned Mr. Morrow. The meet is apparently a quadrangular at ACC though the schools are not mentioned.

Other front page photos show John Lawlor of Boston University who has just raised the collegiate hammer record to 204-9 and the finish of a race in Portland where Dyrol Burleson is shown breasting the tape a step ahead of Bill Dellinger in 4:09.1. Front page stories include reports on two esteemed major meets, Drake and Penn, and one newcomer, the Mt.SAC Relays, all contested on the same weekend.

But first, let’s go to Lawrence, Kansas for the Kansas Relays held the previous week. Stars of the meet are New Mexico’s Dick Howard, who hurdles 50.4 (meters) to leave Cliff Cushman, 52.2, in his wake, and the home team’s Bill Alley, who though coming off a week with the flu, manages to toss the javelin a meet record 254-9 to beat Howard’s Lobo teammate, the wonderfully named Buster Quist, by 26 feet. Speaking of teammates, Alley’s, the great Ernie Shelby, easily beats the field in the broad jump with a 25-3 effort. Of special note is the third place finisher at 22-11½, one Bill Toomey wearing the colors of the University of Colorado. Oklahoma’s 1-2 punch in the shot put becomes a 2-1 punch as Mike Erwin, 55-7, upsets Mike Lindsay, 54-8. The Sooners also won the distance medley with a team of Gernert 49.6, Ringo 1:56.4, Kleynhans 3:11.4 and Hodgson 4:17.4, totaling 10:12.8. Hodgson blisters a 1:49.4 to make up ground on Kansas in the sprint medley, but comes up 4/10ths short as the Sooners run 3:21.8. Cliff Cushman is a coach’s dream, the utility infielder you can plug in anywhere. In addition to his hurdle effort, he anchors the winning 2 and 4 mile relay teams with splits of 1:53.9 and 4:13.3. Last seen, he had just finished sweeping out the stands and was washing Coach Easton’s car.

And now to Philadelphia for the 65th running of the Penn Relays before a crowd of 41,123. Elias Gilbert and Bill Woodhouse are the stars. Gilbert anchors Winston-Salem to a “fastest ever 480 yard shuttle hurdles victory”, though the time, 57.5, can only be found by scanning the results. He then ties Lee Calhoun’s meet record in the highs at 13.7 before embarking on his maiden voyage in the intermediates where he leads a 1-2-3 Winston-Salem sweep with a 53.6. “Stubby little Bill Woodhouse” wins the 100 in 9.5 and anchors the ACC relay teams to 40.9 and 1:24.5 victories.

In Des Moines, Iowa “the golden anniversary of the Drake Relays is blessed with the golden rays of sunshine for two days” and 14 records are set. Texas tops ACC’s efforts at Penn, running 40.6 and 1:23.9, then finishes the meet with Eddie Southern running 45.9 to hold off George Kerr and Illinois in the mile relay in 3:11.3 for both. Kerr may have come up short in this effort, but he is the star of the day. He splits 45.7, but he has already anchored the Illini to the fastest sprint medley time ever, 3:17.8, with a sizzling 1:46.6. Has the world stopped spinning on its axis? Bobby Morrow is beaten by Ira Murchison 9.4 to 9.6 in a race aided by a 5.7 mph wind. It is only the second time Murchison has beaten Morrow in twelve attempts. But wait, Morrow is back, taking a rare shot at 400 meters. The 400 is greatly anticipated because it matches upstart Dave Mills, the Purdue freshman against the great Glenn Davis. A week ago Mills beat the Olympic champion twice at the Ohio Relays, 46.5 to 47.0 in the 400 and again in the 300, 29.5 to 30.2. Seven days later it is a different story. Davis turns the tables 46.5 to 47.1 with Willie Atterberry third in 47.3. Morrow is fourth at 48.0. There are two mile races. Jim Grelle takes the college race in 4:09.5, but is overshadowed by Dyrol Burleson who wins the open division, edging Lazlo Tabori by a tenth in 4:06.7. Stanford has eschewed the much closer Mt SAC meet to run the distance medley here. Ernie Cunliffe assumes an unusual role to anchor the Indians to a 9:56.5 win with a 4:10.5 split. Michigan State and Oklahoma finish a close second and third. Oregon wins a pedestrian 4 mile relay in 17:15, an event only worth mentioning because Phil Knight (yes, that Phil Knight) runs the second leg in 4:26. The OU shot put duo has righted itself with Lindsay 57-7 and Erwin 56-7 going 1-2. No report of a Midwest meet would be complete without mention of Cliff Cushman. He leads off the winning KU shuttle hurdle team then anchors the winning 2 mile team with a 1:52.8 split before driving the team bus back to Lawrence.

The Mount San Antonio Relays has an auspicious start. “The west coast’s only two-day affair, which will continue to occupy the same dates as the much older Penn and Drake Relays, outclassed the old established meets by a wide margin in comparison of winning marks.” Jerome Walters moves up from the mile to challenge Bill Dellinger at twice the distance and almost pulls it off. Dellinger holds on for an 8:48.2 victory, two tenths off Phil Coleman’s American record, but only after a heated battle with Walters who runs 8:49.4. England’s Gordon Pirie is third at 8:59.3. Max Truex, after an easy 13:59.5 three mile win the night before, attempts to become the first American to break 30 minutes at 10K. ‘Twas not to be. Within range at five miles and reportedly looking good, he walks the backstretch on the 21st lap, then resumes running only to drop out at the end of the lap. His five mile time of 24:15 betters the American record at this distance, but his name doesn’t go into the record books as a runner must finish the attempted distance to receive credit for a record set en route. Bob Soth wins in 30:42.2, the fifth fastest time recorded by an American. The early rumblings of Speed City can be heard as Ray Norton and Bobby Poynter clock 9.5 and 9.6 to go 1-2, then combine with two other San Jose students to run the 440 relay in 40.4, “the best ever by a west coast quartet”. Dallas Long holds off Bill Nieder in the shot, 61-10 to 61-6 as Perry O’Brien confines himself to the discus where he throws 181-2 to finish behind Rink Babka’s 189-4. In a near exhibition, Hal Connolly throws the hammer 215-4 to win by over 30 feet.

Cordner Nelson’s column, Track Talk, analyses the coming NCAA meet. UCLA and USC are ineligible this year. San Jose, lead by Norton, looks strong. Oregon, Cal and Penn State are listed as outsiders. Houston and Arizona State have the potential to win. Texas, riding the broad shoulders of Eddie Southern, has a good shot and Michigan is a “solid threat”. Then there is Oklahoma. “Coach Bill Carroll has Mike Lindsay, a 16-20 point man in the shot and discus, Gail Hodgson, who might win the mile, and Dee Givens, who could score 12 points or so in the sprints. Add 56’ shot putter Mike Erwin and 14-6 vaulter Larry Neely, and the total could be well over 40 points.” But Nelson’s favorite is Kansas. With Charlie Tidwell (100 and LH), Ernie Shelby (BJ and LH) and Bill Alley (JT), the Jayhawks could score 40 right there. Add Billy Mills in the 3M, Cliff Cushman in the 400IH and a host of other potential scorers, the boys from Lawrence could run away with it. We’ll find out.

The coach at North Phoenix seems to have a pretty good handle on field events. Two years ago Vern Wolfe produced the national record holder in the pole vault, Jim Brewer 15-0 1/8. Last year Dallas Long crushed the NR in the shot with a throw of 69-3. This season it is the turn of Karl Johnstone who has thrown the discus 185-2 to break Al Oerter’s NR by a foot. Seems like some enterprising university might want to snatch up a coach like this.

In this time of world turmoil it is comforting to know that Cliff Severn is still selling Adidas, “the three striped sport shoes” and TFN subscription continues to go for $3.