Vol. 1 No. 64 September, 1959

September, 1959
The front page is devoted the Pan American Games held in Chicago from Aug. 28 to Sept. 2. The headline reads, “U.S. Sweeps Pan Am”. Ray Norton cements his position as the favorite for next year’s Olympics with 10.3 and 20.6 marks, the second being submitted for a world record run on a curve. Whereas the US dominates the meet, there is an unexpected chink in our armor, specifically the event we traditionally dominate, the 400 meters. George Kerr (46.1), Basil Ince (46.4) and Mal Spence (46.6) run 1-2-3 for the West Indies. This does not bode well for our lads in the 1600 meter relay. In what was probably a moral victory, we come in half a second behind the West Indies’ 3:05.3.
Good marks are the exception. Hayes Jones edges Lee Calhoun, both 13.6. Al Oerter dominates the discus with a throw of 190-8 to win by 12 feet. Parry O’Brien completely dusts Dallas Long in the shot, winning with a throw of 62-5½, with his worst throw better than Long’s best, 60-8¾. Dave Davis can only manage 55-9½ but is never in danger of losing third as Latin America and Canada don’t bring much to the shot put table. Fourth is 50-8. Irv Roberson who had bested 26 feet for the first time a week earlier, does so again and hands Olympic champ Greg Bell a lopsided defeat, 26-1¾ w to 24-11¾.
Ernie Cunliffe, as is his wont, leads the field in the early going of the 800, but his splits of 27.1 and 54.5 are unCunliffelike. The field takes advantage of his fatigue from a long season and his Air Force duty and by the 600 mark, he is fifth, where he finishes. Tom Murphy takes control and has five yards on George Kerr as they enter the straight. Kerr finds an extra gear and gains all the way to the tape, but comes up inches short as the two run 1:49.4. Tony Seth of British Guinea and Michigan takes third in 1:50.0. There is no fourth place finisher listed, though by process of elimination, it had to be Mel Spence. Cunliffe runs 1:51.1.
Dyrol Burleson (3:49.1) leads a US 1500 sweep with Jim Grelle and Ed Moran in close attendance. Bill Dellinger edges 10,000 winner Osvaldo Suarez of Argentina by a tenth to take a slow 5000 in 14:28.4.
The hammer throw has an odd ending. World record holder and Olympic champion Hal Connolly throws 195-11½ to edge teammates Al Hall at 195-10¾ and Bob Backus at 195-6½. Close enough for you? Wait, it gets closer. After the medals were presented “to the clowning trio”, the marks are remeasured. Connolly’s throw landed over the crown of the field and a centimeter is subtracted for measuring over that small height. Now he and Hall have the exact same distance and Hall is the winner by virtue of a best second throw.
On page five there is a headline, “Yerman Runs 1:17”. In the Buffalo Firemens meet Aug. 23, Jack Yerman and Ernie Cunliffe tangle in a “handicap race” over 660 yards, the East Coast version of Cal vs. Stanford. No details are given, but they both break Mal Whitfield’s 1:17.3 American best for the distance with 1:17.0 and 1:17.2.
In Bert Nelson’s “of People and Things” column, the editor addresses the problem of being all things to all people. “Mrs. Grace Butcher, U.S. women’s champion at 800 meters, writes, ‘Where are your women’s results of the Russian meet? Oh honestly, I could just sit down and cry. There are few of us girls in this country who are trying to do the impossible job of putting the U.S. on the map in women’s athletics, and when the biggest meet of the year comes along you don’t even indicate we were there.’” (My note: “girls”?.....“sit down and cry”? This is obviously before “I am Woman, Hear me Roar”.) But then we come to another letter concerning this matter. “Henry Chase, a long time subscriber from Scottsville, N.Y., writes, ‘Now that they’ve started to make track and field meeting coeducational, my interest is dead. Send me your magazine until my subscription expires, then cancel me out. The baseball people may be pretty bad. But they’ve got too much sense to put on a women’s game during their world championship.’” Bert gives these diverse points of view full analysis and decides in Henry’s favor. “Personally, I can’t get very excited about girlish athletics. Maybe it’s the old fashioned streak in me. Or maybe it’s that I am so wrapped up in what the better known, more talented men are doing that there just isn’t emotional room for the ladies. Whatever the reasons, I seem to feel about the same as 99% of the track fans I know.” Bottom line, there will be no women’s coverage in Track and Field News.
Sweden’s Dan Waern’s photo graces the front page. Unfortunately it is reversed. His #7 is backwards and he is running the wrong way on the track. In spite of this, he is having a great season. In 45 days he has raced 23 times between 800 and 3000 meters and won 22, including Swedish records at 800, 880 and 3000 and two WRs at 1000 meters, 2:18.0 and 2:17.8. His only loss came when he was edged by Poland’s Stefan Lewandowski in a photo finish 1500 in 3:41.1.
This issue seems to include more ads than previous issues. There are ads for Puma, Gill hurdles, Allsport Training Weights, Bob Richard’s book- “Heart of a Champion” and Aluminum Athletic Equipment (hurdles, blocks, crossbars, standards, poles and batons). But most significantly, Cliff Severn’s monopoly on Adidas in the U.S. has taken a hit. On page 8 there is a quarter page ad alerting you to the fact that you can now buy Adidas, “The World’s Best Fitting Shoe” from Van Dervoort’s of Lansing Michigan. Somehow this just seems wrong.

Vol. 1 No. 44 July, 1958

JULY, 1958

And a very good issue it is with reports on the NCAA meet in Berkeley and the AAU in Bakersfield.

Glenn Davis might turn out to be pretty good. In the NCAA meet he sets the WR around two turns, running 45.7 to crush Eddie Southern’s 46.5. Jack Yerman is third at 46.6. Eight days later Davis breaks Josh Culbreath’s 50.5 WR in the 440 hurdles with a 49.9. Admittedly the metric times in both these races are superior: Lou Jones 45.2 and Davis 49.5, but, hey, a WR is a WR.

Hal Connolly sets a monster WR in the hammer, 225-4, after a Bakersfield blacksmith repairs the ball that had been “flattened” by hitting a wall in practice. Connolly’s wife, “the pretty Olympic discus champion” Olga, apparently makes her husband nervous when she watches so she hides behind some bushes, only to run out at the announcement of the record, “crying with joy” and gives her “embarrassed husband a bruising hug and kiss”. No mention is made of what happened at the motel later that evening.

Olympic champions of past and future win the miles in these meets. In the NCAA Ron Delany runs 4:03.5 to leave Jim Grelle 4:04.8 and Gail Hodgson 4:04.9 in his wake, then doubles back to take the 880 in 1:48.6 over Frank Murphy’s 1:49.4 to complete a great career at Villanova.

The AAU mile is Herb Elliot’s time to shine. Though countryman Merv Lincoln throws down a 54.7 final lap, Elliot covers it with his own 54.1 to finish in 3:57.9, his second best time and maybe a new world record, but actually only tying a previous WR which wasn’t allowed. Confused? I’ll bet. Sit down, listen carefully and I’ll tell you how this worked. Derek Ibbotson’s 3:57.2 and Elliot’s own 3:57.8 may not be approved because they were….are you ready?... “paced”. Imagine someone resorting to that. If they are not approved, then this time would beat John Landy’s record of 3:58.0. But wait, there’s a catch to that too. Landy actually ran 3:57.9, but four years ago in the dark ages of 1954, records in the mile were not recognized in tenths of a second. Bet you can’t wait to run this by the guys at the Dew Drop Inn tonight.

But not to discredit the rest of the AAU field. Lincoln runs a stout 3:58.5. He is followed by Ed Moran of Penn State, who until three weeks ago had never broken 4:10, but this night clocks 4:01.7, the same time as fourth and fifth placers Jim Grelle and Jerome Walters. They are followed by Don Bowden, 4:02.9, and Gail Hodgson, 4:04.5. Oh, and the future of American miling was visible in the heats. High schooler Dyrol Burleson ran a nonqualifying 4:12.2.

The giants of the discus world tangle in both meets. Rink Babka and Al Oerter “tie” at 186-2 in the NCAAs. The rule to break a tie with the second best mark was not yet in place. Babka takes the AAU 187-10 to 181-6.

As far as developing international competitors, the AAU has made the effort by including the intermediates, hammer and hop-step-jump. The NCAA has none of these. What is does have is team scoring. The first person to recognize a major southern school (think current SEC or ACC), raise your hand. USC 48, Kansas 40, Villanova 33, San Jose State 20, Winston-Salem 20, Illinois 17, the Ohio State University 17, Nebraska 14, California 13, Manhattan 12, Texas 12, Western Michigan 12, Indiana 12, Arizona State 11, SMU 10, Pacific Lutheran 10, Occidental 9, Oregon 9. While there were a lot of fractions in those scores (which I am not doing), what there wasn’t were any relays.

And Negroes are still being identified. Ernie Shelby, who wins the BJ in both big meets, is a regular run of the mill Negro, but Hayes Jones is a medium-sized Negro, Ray Nickleberry a short Negro and John Thomas a thin Negro.

The Frosh and JC Marks list contains a triple-double-double. That would be three sets of twins, each making the list in two events. The Styron twins are in the house. Dave has run 9.6 and 21.2. Don has hurdled 14.5 and 22.8 for NE Louisiana State. The McKeever twins are freshmen at USC. Mike has weight marks of 52-6 ½ and 153-3 ½ while Marlin has thrown 52-5 and 156-8. Finally, we have Mel and Mal Spence of Arizona State. Mel has a 47.9 to his credit while Mal is a tenth back. Not sure about the 880. Mel ran 1:52.3 while Mel is credited with 1:53.0. Obviously one of these is supposed to be Mal. I just report ‘em, I don’t ‘splain ‘em.

On the next to last page, sacrilege, a blow has been struck against Clifford Severn and Adidas. Indeed a quarter of a page is devoted to an ad proclaiming the superiority of Rawlings Fleetfoot track shoes, “the shoes built for that ‘fit and feel’ so necessary to track men”. Not to worry. Cliff and Adidas confidently occupy their usual spot on the lower right corner of the last page.