Vol. 3 No. 25 August , 1963 The European Tour

August 1963

Pack your bags and put on your traveling clothes. We're going on a two week tour of Europe with stops in the Soviet Union, Poland, West Germany and Great Britain.

But first let's chronicle the European efforts of Americans previous to the national dual meets. On July 13 in London's White City Stadium John Pennel betters Brian Sternberg's 16-8 world record by ¾ of and inch.

Buddy Edelen

In the same stadium on the previous day Buddy Edelen runs six miles in an American record 28:00.8 in finishing fourth in the AAA meet.

We have our first Willie Davenport sighting. He is described as “an American serviceman” who hurdles 14.0 and 14.1. Mention is made that he has run 13.9, but the magazine doesn't have the details yet.

An even earlier sighting , Willie Davenport's 7th Grade photo at Warren , OH , Howland HS 1958
He is in the middle row on the left

Last month's issue had an article on Steve Haas' great potential as a half miler. The Occidental student loses a couple tactical 800s then finishes his tour by dropping down to his former specialties, winning a 46.7 400 and losing a wind-aided 21.0 200.

And now, buckle your seat belts. We are off for Moscow for the long awaited dual with the Soviet Union where 140,000 watch the two day affair won by the US by the dangerously close score of 119-114.

If this meet is notable for a single event, it is the high jump where Russian hero Valeriy Brumel tacks half an inch on to his world record with a 7-5¾ jump. Two come through performances keep the US from an embarrassing defeat. Long jump world record holder Igor Ter-Ovanesyan has five jumps over 26 feet to two for Ralph Boston, but Boston hits the big one, 26-10½ to top T-O's 26-5¾.

The other athlete to put on his big boy pants is Hal Connolly. The WR holder in the hammer has been plagued by back pain that kept him from competing in the AAU meet. His back is better and he arrives as a late entry from Tampere, Finland where he has been teaching. After four rounds the Soviets are 1-2. Connolly and Al Hall trail. Given the 5-3-2-1 scoring system, if the event ends this way, the Russians will win 8 to 3, an advantage that would project the meet's outcome to a 117-116 Soviet victory. Not to worry. The Olympic champion steps into a phone booth to put on his Superman costume and returns to throw 219-0 to better the Ruskies by three feet.

Edvin Ozolin

The fact that the Russians were this close can be laid off to surprises in the sprints, hurdles and relay. Bob Hayes wins the 100 easily, but Edvin Ozolin 

catches Johnny Gilbert at the tape for second. Ulis Williams supplies the expected win in the 400 at 46.2, but Lester Milburn fades to third behind Russian Vadim Arkhipcuk whose 46.3 is a Soviet record.

Blaine Lindgren with his University of Utah coaches
Marv Hess and Gordon Mortenson

If there is any running event in which the US has a lock, it is the hurdles, but on this day the world is spinning off its axis. Hayes Jones is a tried and true veteran, the only American to compete in all five dual meets with the USSR, yet he is flustered. He false starts and stops although the starter has not recalled the field. Jones says, “I jumped. I was guilty, so I stopped. I told the starter and he fired the recall.” (You can do that?) In the meantime Russian Anatoly Mikhailov outleans Blaine Lindgren at the tape.

 The race is rerun later in the day to the accompaniment of the whistling crowd. A similar thing happens. Jones, thinking he has false started, slows at the second hurdle before changing gears too late. The starter is saved from a life in a Siberian gulag as Mikhailov once again beats Lindgren, 13.8 to 13.9, with Jones third at 14.0.

Hayes Jones at Pontiac HS in Michigan

Those upsets would have been unnoticed were it not for the major screw up in the 400 relay. The 10 meter run up zone before the 20 meter passing zone has just been legislated. Our team has had a year to become acquainted with the new rule, but instead treats it as if it has fallen from outer space. Johnny Gilbert makes a good pass to John Moon, but then the comedy of errors begins. Moon passes too soon to Paul Drayton who does the same to Bob Hayes. The US goes on to win in an unofficial 39.3, but there is no doubt the disqualification is warranted. The Russians earn five points for 40.2. Our guys had only three days to work on passes, but how tough is it to leave early enough that the incoming runner doesn't reach you in the run up zone? Drayton confuses the situation further with his explanation, “There is a new relay rule, and some confusion about it. You can get the baton in the first ten meters, but you can't run with it.” Paul, grab the other guys and come over here. We need to talk.

Fortunately no such problem presents itself in the 1600 relay. Ulis Williams, Ray Saddler, Lester Milburn and Rex Cawley put it together to thump the Ruskies by four seconds in 3:04.4.

The US has a problem in the 400 hurdles. Jim Allen is injured or Jim Allen is sick, depending on whose report you read. Whatever the case, Jim Allen is not competing. What to do? Wait a minute, Willie Atterberry is competing in Europe. Let's give him a call and see if he is busy. He is not. He arrives the day before the race. Good thing he did because he wins it, passing a went-out-too-fast Rex Cawley for a 50.4 to 50.9 victory.

The 800 provides an anxious moment. Valeriy Bulyshev catches Jim Dupree 30 meters from home, but Dupree holds him off for a 1:47.8 victory. Morgan Groth is third at 1:48.6.

Dyrol Burleson and Tom O'Hara go 1-2 in the 1500 at 3:41.0 and 3:41.2, but that is it for American distance running in this meet. The Soviets sweep the steeplechase, 5000 and 10,000. Same thing happens in the 20,000 meter walk.

Dave Davis and Parry O'Brien take the shot with Davis winning by a quarter of an inch at 61-11¼. Jay Silvester and Rink Babka do the same in the discus though the margin between them is greater. Silvester's 201-7 gives him a 16 foot advantage over his teammate.

There seems to be some disagreement over the way the team conducted itself off the track. Did they go wild under the bright lights and sinful offerings of 1963 Moscow? In his column Jim Dunaway takes on other journalists for erroneously reporting “loose living” and “wine, women and song” stories. On the other hand, Parry O'Brien says, “Some of our people were not a credit to the flag they represented.” Taking a moderate position is head coach Payton Jordan. “The team attitude was not unusual at the start of the trip when you consider all factors. We were together as a team for the first time – on a long trip, with new environment and food, and most important with basically a young team that had to adjust to many new and strange circumstances.”

Five days have passed and now we are in Warsaw to take on the Poles in a two day meet which plays out pretty much as expected. But that doesn't mean there is no drama and a modicum of frustration.

Josef Schmidt

John Pennel jumped 16-8¾ two weeks ago to better the world record. Now, with victory assured, he asks for the bar to be set at 16-9¼ (5.11 meters). The bar is placed and measured at that height. It appears that we are good to go. It is growing dark and for some reason not explained, there are no lights. What to do? That's right, cars are brought onto the field and the rest of the event is illuminated by their headlights. Pennel is a trooper. Down the runway he comes and over he goes with some to spare. A new world record! Not so fast, Bucky. We have to remeasure. For some reason known only to God and the Polish officials the bar is now at 16-9. Okay, still a world record! Once again you are jumping to conclusions. To be submitted for a world record the height must be in meters. Sixteen feet, nine inches converts to 5.105 meters, but only centimeters can be considered so the official height is 5.10 meters. Guess what that is in English measurement. Yep, 16-8¾, equal to his existing record. To recap. He thought he was jumping half an inch over his record, but it was only a quarter inch which turned into exactly the same height he had jumped before.

Fortunately the rest of the meet is less confusing. As expected, Hayes, Carr and Williams take the sprints in 10.2, 20.8 and 45.8, Jones and Cawley are hurdle winners in 13.6 and 50.8 and our relay teams win in 39.6 and 3:03.5. No splits are given.

The feature race for the Polish fans is the 1500 where local hero Witold Baran takes on Dyrol Burleson and Tom O'Hara. Nobody wants to lead so the race comes down to the last lap. Burleson takes over on the backstretch and holds off challenges to win in 3:50.0 to O'Hara's 3:50.2 and Baran's 3:50.4. No splits are given.

A couple collegiate records are set. Villanova's Pat Traynor wins the steeplechase and lowers the record he already owns to 8:43.6. Jim Keefe of Connecticut places a competitive third in the 5000 in 13:59.2, shaving 3.2 seconds off Julio Marin's collegiate record.

After last week's big match up with Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, Ralph Boston can't come within a foot of his mark that day and Darryl Horn tops him 25-10¾ to 25-9.

At the end of what had to be a long two days for the Polish fans, they can take pride in the performance of Josef Schmidt. The world record holder in the triple jump takes the event in 55-03/4, nine inches off his record to lead a Polish sweep. US 125 Poland 85.

If this is July 31 we must be in Germany. And indeed it is and we are, specifically Hanover, Germany where we will take on the West German team. Payton Jordan has shuffled his cards. Several athletes are running events in which they usually don't compete.

The spotlight is on Bob Hayes and Henry Carr. Hayes is moving up to the 200 and Carr to the 400. At the end of the two days Payton Jordan says he has witnessed “the greatest 100 meters ever run”. No, not the open hundred which Hayes wins in 10.2, but the anchor leg of the 400 meter relay where he takes the baton five meters down and blazes to a one meter victory. Not sure what Hayes Jones, John Moon and Paul Drayton were doing to produce such a deficit, but they all need to give old Bob a pat on the back.

John Moon in his coaching days at Seton Hall

 For a guy who doesn't train all that often, Hayes looks pretty good in the 200, winning by a meter over Drayton in 20.6.

And now to the 400. Arizona State teammate Ulis Williams has been given a day off and Henry Carr has a much awaited shot at the open 400, his first since high school. Running inside Manfred Kinder, Carr catches him in the 120 meters and pulls away for a 45.4 win, leaving Kinder well back at 46.2.

Think Hayes did well in his anchor leg? Well, so did Carr. With teammates Williams, Milburn and Cawley shooting for the world record in the 1600 relay, Carr sizzles a 44.3. No other splits are given.

Morgan Groth and Tom O'Hara switch events. O'Hara bests Jim Dupree in the 800, 1:49.3 to 1:49.7. Groth tops Cary Weisiger in the 1500 3:42.4 to 3:43.1. Again no splits are given nor are they in any race description on the tour.

A less than a week ago Jim Keefe broke the collegiate 5000 record. Today he adds the 10,000 with his 29:28.4 second place.

Jim Allen just keeps improving. Today he lowers his PR in the intermediates to 50.1 as he and Rex Cawley hit the tape together. Cawley gets the nod, but there is definitely a new kid on the block.

The final tally is US 141 WG 82.

Now the US team is in London for the dual with Great Britain at White City Stadium where the distances will be in English measurement. Like its predecessors, this is a two day meet. The oddity is that there is a day off between the days of competition. As with the other meets, there is no indication of which events are on which days.

Clearly our guys have stayed at the dance too long. They are tired and it shows. This not to say that those who paid their hard earned shillings for a ticket were disappointed. No, indeed, they saw a world record broken and another tied.

Not surprisingly, the broken record is the pole vault and John Pennel is the guy who does it. With two 16-8¾'s in the bank, Pennel decides to try a height high enough not to have the conversion problems of last week. The bar is set at 16-10¼. After two misses, he clears, but once again there are problems in converting. For a height to be recognized by the IAAF as a record the mark must be metric. Pennel's 16-10¼ equates to 5.136 meters. The more alert among you, cognizant of the situation in the Polish meet, realize that 5.136 will be submitted as 5.13 because marks are rounded down to centimeters. Therefore in English measurement Pennel's record is.....”unknown until made official, but perhaps it will be 16-10”. That is the exact quote on page five of this issue. This sort of sloppy math is unacceptable in the offices of OUTV. We put our top math guy on the problem. After hours of laborious calculations, our guy, who got a passing grade in high school algebra, had the solution. Five point one three meters equals 16 feet 9.96840 inches (he could have carried it out further, but didn't want to show off). In English measurement PV records are rounded down in quarter inch increments. Therefore 5.13 meters converts to 16-9¾. To review: 16'10¼” = 5.136 meters = 5.13 meters = 16 ft 9.96840 inches = 16' 9¾”. Yes, you will be responsible for this on the midterm.

Enough with this math mumbo jumbo, you may be saying. What about that tied world record? The US has been trying to break the 400 relay record with no success. Now our lads have a shot at the 440 relay mark, but there is some confusion as to what mark they are trying to break. The University of Texas has the official 440R record of 39.6, but that was run around one turn. Since 1960 the IAAF accepts only marks made around two turns. That record is 40.0 set last year by the University of Oregon.

Are our guys – Jones, Moon, Drayton and Hayes – ready to redeem themselves for the poor passing that required that superhuman effort by Hayes in the West German meet? The answer is a resounding NO! Last time they got Hayes off five meters down and he won by a meter. This time they mess up the passing sufficiently to create a six yard deficit of which Hayes gets five back and they finish in 40.1. The British team of Olympic silver medalist Peter Radford and three guys named Jones ties the record at 40.0. And no, the Jones boys, Ron, David and Berwyn are not related. Payton Jordan does not mince words in naming the culprit, “Our trouble was in passing, especially by Paul Drayton, who, after all, is not a relay runner.”

Credit has to be given to Ralph Boston, who does his impression of a utility infielder, winning the broad jump at 25-10, placing third in the high jump at 6-6 and fourth in the triple jump at 51-1. Guess there wasn't a lane available in the hurdles. Our guys win 120-91, not that anyone really cares.

Elsewhere in this issue we learn that on August 7 16 year old junior Jim Ryun ran two miles in a high school record of 9:13.8. Good as that is, there is a fasrter 16 year old. The wonderfully named Rex Montague Maddaford of New Zealand holds the 16 year old best of 9:09.3 set in March of this year just nine days after his birthday.  (Rex  Montague Maddaford would go on to make the finals of the 5000 and 10 ,000 meters at Mexico City in 1968 finishing 10th and 12th in those two races.  At least his folks didn't name him Reginald.  His best 10,000 was 28:17.8 on April 17, 1968  while finishing second at the New Zealand Olympic trials.   Speaking of names  Theordorus Jacobus Leonardus  Quax would shorten the whole thing to Dick Quax. ed.)

Jazy in a 1200 m training run prior to Tokyo games

Cordner Nelson predicts that Janis Lusis of Russia will soon break the world record in the javelin. He is more exact in his prediction that France's Michel Jazy will break Peter Snell's mile record. It will happen on August 16 in Goteborg, Germany. 

We'll find out how accurate he is on at least one of those predictions in the next issue.

Page 7 has a photo that causes you to look twice. It is a shot of the handoff to the anchorman in a 440 relay in Dublin, Ireland. Larry Questad is making the pass. The teammates previous to him were Steve Cortright and Steve Hass. Clutching the baton is anchorman Pat Boone. Yes, the singer, that Pat Boone. He holds a sizable lead at this point with no opposition in sight, and holds off “fast closing” Noel Carroll for a narrow win. No other information is given.  (I am looking for evidence of this relay with Pat Boone, and will publish any confirmation at a later date.  ed. 

Bill Crothers and Harry Jerome

Talk about provincial, until this year if a Canadian were to set a national record, it had to be on Canadian soil. Marks that didn't qualify are last year's 46.2 by Bill Crothers, Harry Jerome's 20.7 and Bruce Kidd's 13:17.4 3M. Imagine setting a world record and/or winning Olympic gold and not having it count for a national record. Silly Canucks.

Bruce Kidd

Each year Track and Field News publishes its national record relay rankings, a subjective listing of seven relays (440, 880, mile, 2M, 4M, sprint medley and distance medley) and awards points on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 basis. This year's winner is Texas Southern with 34 points, followed by Arizona State 26, Oregon State 20, USC 17 and the Striders 16. TSU is first in the 440 and second in the 880, mile and sprint medley. Arizona State and Oregon State are ranked first in two events: ASU 880 and mile, OSU 2M and DMR. USC and Fordham are the other first place winners in the SMR and 4M respectively.

As long as we are on the subject of relays, a round of applause is warranted for the NCAA rules committee's decision to include the 440 relay and the mile relay in future championship meets, an inclusion a long time coming. The committee also decided that the NCAA indoor meet will be held February 29 in Portland and Louisville “and perhaps elsewhere”. Not sure how that works.

Page 22 is filled with letters to the editor. We will close with the most poignant. Mrs. Dorothy B. Juola of East Lansing, Michigan writes “Enclosed please find $.50. Would it be possible to send the July, 1963 copy of Track and Field News to me as quickly as possible? You see, while cleaning house this morning, I misplaced my husband's copy. (“You threw it away.”) As you must know, that is practically grounds for divorce, and we have been married only four months. Please help me save this otherwise very short-lived marriage.” Questions abound. Did the brothers Nelson comply and eat the cost of postage? Did this save the marriage? Are the Juolas still together and living in a retirement community in Tarpon Springs, Florida?  (Mrs. Juola may want to pick up a copy of the 1962 best seller "Sex and the Single Girl" by Helen Gurley Brown, if she doesn't come up with the July issue.)

Here are two obituaries I found while researching this current issue.  Both Willie Davenport and Pat Traynor are mentioned in this posting. ed. 

Pat Traynor - obituary

Clinical pychologist and former track star who was an all-American steeplechase champion at Villanova University, died at home Saturday from apparent heart failure.

Mr. Traynor grew up in Havertown. He signed up for the track team at Monsignor Bonner High School to get in shape for basketball, his first love, his son Patrick Jr. said.

Mr. Traynor played both sports at Bonner, and was Catholic League cross-country and mile champion. After graduating from Bonner in 1959, he moved on to Villanova to run for famed coach Jumbo Elliott.

Elliott determined the 6-foot-2 athlete's strengths. "Traynor can't run very well indoors," he told a reporter in 1962. "He's like a big elephant, flopping around on the track."

Outdoors, though, Elliott said, Mr. Traynor could run anything from a mile on up, and the coach made him a steeplechaser. The event requires running and jumping hurdles and into puddles of water for nearly two miles.

In 1962, Mr. Traynor was voted most outstanding male college athlete at the Penn Relays, in which he won two long-distance races and came in second in the steeplechase to Deacon Jones, a former Olympian.

Mr. Traynor was an NCAA all-American in the steeplechase in 1961 and 1962, and won the national AAU steeplechase championship in 1962 and 1963. He also won the AAU's 10,000-meter cross-country championship in 1963.

"I never saw a kid with more determination," Villanova trainer Jake Nevin told a reporter in 1962. "Tell Pat to take it easy, and he says, 'No, I want to work out twice today.' You find guys who are big stars who don't work half as hard."

Mr. Traynor once told a reporter that he had read Alan Sillitoe's The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner. "The guy in it was a nut," he said, "and all of us have some of him in us."

After graduating with a history degree from Villanova in 1963, Mr. Traynor ran competitively while teaching at Sayre Junior High School in Philadelphia. In 1964, he qualified for the Olympics in Tokyo, but came down with a case of food poisoning at the trials and was chosen as an alternate.

From 1965 to '69, Mr. Traynor served in the Air Force and competed with the track team. He hoped to run the steeplechase at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, but did poorly in high-altitude trials in Lake Tahoe. While competing as a member of the National Track and Field team that year, he ran a mile in just under four minutes (3:59.6).

After his discharge from the service, he returned to teaching and then counseled families and patients at health centers in Philadelphia for 30 years. At the time of his death, he was head administrator at the New Life Clinic, an outpatient mental-health facility in Northeast Philadelphia.

Mr. Traynor was a member of the Monsignor Bonner Hall of Fame and the Villanova University Varsity Club Hall of Fame. He attended the annual Penn Relays and was a fan of Villanova basketball and track and field.

He also enjoyed painting landscapes, Irish music, and spending time with his grandchildren, his son said.

Contact staff writer Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.

Willie Davenport, 59; Olympic Champions

June 19, 2002|JOHN ORTEGA | LOS ANGELES

TIMES STAFF WRITER

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Willie Davenport, the 1968 Olympic champion in the men's 110-meter high hurdles and one of the first African American athletes to represent the United States in the Winter Olympics, has died. He was 59.

Davenport was changing planes at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Monday when he collapsed, apparently from a heart attack. He was pronounced dead at Resurrection Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said.

Vol. 2 No. 30 February , 1961

FEBRUARY 1961

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! At least Valeriy Brummel and Igor Ter-Ovanesyan are here to take on John Thomas and Ralph Boston in the New York AC Games and the National AAU meet, both in Madison Square Garden. Brummel is track and field's newest shining star, having broken Thomas' world record with a 7-4½ last month in Leningrad.

The NYAC games are held Feb. 17. If the Russian youngster is nervous about his first US competition, it doesn't show. When Thomas can't negotiate 7-2, Brummel is on his own. He is over 7-3 on his second jump. To the delight of the crowd, he has the bar placed at 7-5 because, as he says later, “I wanted to do better than I have ever done. He has three good shots, but doesn't clear. There will be another day, specifically eight days hence in same environs.

If Brumel is disappointed, it is nothing compared to the anguish of Ter-Ovanesyan who, presented with a runway 30 feet shorter than he is accustomed, can't get his step down and fouls six times. Boston needs no competitive incentive. He sails 26-1¾ for an indoor world record. Wins for Brummel and Boston, disappointments for Thomas and Ter-Ovanesyan; you could say the jumps had their ups and down.

Don Bragg, not used to being second banana, soars 15-7 for a meet record and has three near misses at 16-0. With that mark in mind, it is significant to mention that John Uelses places fourth with his first 15-0 clearance, perhaps an indication of things to come.

The most anticipated event on the track is the 880 where George Kerr beats Belgium's 800 world record holder Roger Moens 1:52.2 to 1:52.5. Hungary's Istvan Rozsavolgyi toys with the mile field, winning by 2.5 seconds over Peter Close in 4:04.0.

And now to the AAU meet. The jumps have the same Russian – American match ups and the excitement level has been ratcheted up a notch. Ter-Ovanesyan has his step down and takes the lead in the first round with a leap of 25-7¾. In the third round he becomes the second ever indoor jumper to reach 26 feet with a jump of exactly that distance. Boston answers in the fourth round with a 25-11¼, but time is running out. Neither improve in the fifth round and one jump remains for each. Boston is up first. With the crowd cheering wildly, the Olympic champion sprints down the runway, hits the board with two inches to spare and elevates. At the top of his jump it is apparent that this is a special jump. Indeed it is. The measurement is 26-6¼, a world record by 4½ inches. If you think it is all over but the shouting, think again. The Russian is made of stern stuff. He has been moving his mark back all evening and he does so once again. This is to be an all or nothing attempt. He is all out down the runway, hits the board and it is obvious that this is his best jump of the evening, well over 26 feet. Is it enough to beat Boston and take his WR? We'll never know. The red flag goes up. It is a foul by about an inch. The Russians want it measured anyway. They are turned down by judge Eulace Peacock who cites the rules. Eulace Peacock, does that name ring a bell? If so, it is because he was a 26-3 jumper himself in 1935. Were it not for Jesse Owens, he would have been the world record holder for 24 years until last summer.

The crowd anticipates the high jump match between Thomas and Brummel, but though it is exciting, the marks are an inch below those of last week, Brummel winning 7-2 to 7-0. How far high jumping has come in the last few years is measured by the 18 year old Brummel's apology for missing 7-3.

There is far more excitement on the track than there was last week. In the 1000 Ernie Cunliffe, pictured on the front page, comes within a tenth of the world record he set in Boston, splitting 54.5 and 1:51.9 en route to a 2:08.0 clocking, two yards ahead of Ed Moran. The milers jog through a 3:12.5, with Istvan Rozsavolgyi leading, before Jim Beatty destroys the field with a 56+ final quarter to win easily in 4:09.3. Hayes Jones, who had said he would be concentrating on the sprints in the future, ties the world record in the 60 yard hurdles, defeating Elias Gilbert. No times are given for the placers. Eddie Southern wins his first AAU indoor championship with decisive 1:11.9 victory in the 600.

Bruce Kidd is a crowd favorite and justly so. Record holder Al Lawrence takes the three mile field out with a 4:33 first mile. Houston teammate John Macy then trades the heavy lifting with Lawrence as they take turns leading laps. By two miles, reached in 9:16, Lawrence has realized it is not his day and fallen back, but Lazlo Tabori and the 17 year old Kidd are right there. Another lap and Kidd pops into the lead followed by Tabori. Goodby, Macy. For the next three quarters the Hungarian veteran stalks the Canadian teenager, never more than three yards back. He is still there at the gun and the race is on....but not for long. Down the backstretch Kidd opens up 10 yards, an advantage he stretches to 20 at the tape, winning in 13:47.0, claiming the fifth spot on the all time list. Lazlo has to be content with 13:51.6.

Though some results from the Boston AA meet were mentioned in the last issue, the story appears in this month's. Ernie Cunliffe set the world record at 1000 yards of 2:07.9 in winning by 3.5 seconds. John Thomas set the American record in the high jump with a 7-3 clearance. It would have been the world record had not Brummel jumped 7-4½ a few hours earlier in Leningrad. Thomas, after clearing 7-3, was quoted as saying, “That's enough for one night. I'm satisfied.” Here is a question to ponder. When he said that, did he know of Brummel's jump?

Speaking of Brummel, the classic shot of him touching a basketball rim with his right foot appears on page 15 of this issue.

Now it is February 3 and we are at the Millrose Games at the Garden. Henry Wadsworth bests Don Bragg in the vault, 15-4 to 15-0, Tarzan's first loss at MSG since 1957. The Florida vaulter also takes second in the high jump at 6-6. Hungary's Istvan Rozsavolgyi has said that he is in shape to break Ron Delany's 4:01.4 world record in the mile. For awhile it appears this could be the night. Ernie Cunliffe leads through the quarter in 61.5, but Rozsavolgyi takes over and quickens the pace to 2:01.7. Could we be viewing a record?......No, wait. False alarm. Rozsa slows and Deacon Jones is forced to take over before the 1320, reached in 3:05.3. With two laps (320 yards) left “the slim Magyar zoomed to the front”. Jones hangs tough, but is dropped with half a lap to go. Rozsavolgyi coasts home in 4:06.0. “Cunliffe, apparently out of it, finished fast to grab second in 4:06.4 with Jones at 4:06.5.”

It's the next week and we are at the Sports Arena for the LA Times meet. This 17 year old Canadian, Bruce Kidd, just continues to impress. On tonight's two mile menu we have Al Lawrence, Max Truex, Jim Beatty and John Macy. The veterans let the kid take the lead, but the pace is a dawdling 2:25 at the half. No other splits are given. The pace picks up, but it is still tactical. The youngster leads - “mincing along on his toes” even - for 21 of the 22 laps. At this point “Beatty put an end to all the foolishness with a 160 yard burst that covered the final circuit in an unbelievable 18 seconds”. Beatty 9:05.7, Kidd 9:07.7.

Bert Nelson writes: “The best time of the meet was the 2:08.7 for the 1000 yards by Ernie Cunliffe. Off form with the tail end of a cold, Ernie bolted to the fore halfway through the race and hung on for a diminishing but decisive five yard margin over Jim Grelle.”

Eddie Southern's 57.8 takes the 500 over Jack Yerman and Mal Spence, 58.1 for both. George Kerr, the best 400-800 runner on earth, logically is comfortable in the 600. He wins in 1:11.1 over Mal Spence's twin, Mel, who clocks 1:11.9.

In an odd footnote, the outstanding performer of the meet doesn't go to any of the above, indeed not to any performer in an open race. It goes to crowd favorite Tom Sullivan of St. George High in Evanston, Illinois who wins the high school mile in 4:13.7 with painful splits of 2:01.5 and 2:12.2.

Remember how discouraged Dyrol Burleson was after his thumping at the hands of Jim Beatty last month? Well, apparently Coach Bowerman knows what he is doing. Burleson is in New Zealand kicking some major Olympic butt. On Jan. 21 in Auckland he handles OG 5000 champ Murray Halberg in a 1500, 3:47.4 to 3:47.7. Four days later in Napier he outruns Bill Baillie by two seconds with a 4:04.0 mile. The best is yet to come. Back in Auckland on the 28th he takes on Halberg and OG 800 champ Peter Snell at a mile and leaves them both behind: Burleson 4:05.6, Snell 4:05.7, Halberg 4:06.4. On Feb. 1 in Dunedin he once again handles Halberg 4:01.2 to 4:03.6. Good? Yes, but you ain't seen nothing yet. In Christchurch on the 4th he lines up for an 800 against all three Olympic 800 medal winners, Snell, world record holder Roger Moens and George Kerr. No description of the race is given, but when the dust clears, Burly has won in a personal best equaling 1:50.0. The medalists finish in the same order they did in Rome: Snell 1:50.1, Moens 1:50.4, Kerr 1:50.6. That he stubs his toe in a final mile against Halberg four days later in Wellington, 4:04.2 to 4:04.8, doesn't diminish the success of the Oregonian's tour.

Gleaned from columns: Bobby Poynter has left his San Jose problems behind and is now enrolled at LA State....Istvan Rozsavolgyi has a guilty secret: he is a “chain smoker”, knocking off three or four cigarettes in succession each evening....Roger Moens says his best days are behind him and that he won't break his 1:45.7 800 world record, but neither will Peter Snell. “He is too heavy. He is a shot putter on the side.”.....Vern Wolfe who coached three high school national record holders in consecutive years (Jim Brewer in the PV, Dallas Long in the shot and Karl Johnston in the discus) and then took an assistant job at San Jose State, is now the head coach at Foothill Junior College. Wonder how far his climb up the coaching ladder will go?......Speaking of how far, Ralph Boston, whose broad jump record is a fraction of an inch short of 27 feet, is a confident guy. He says he can jump 30 feet....And finally, Bert Nelson vents, “At Rome many of our runners wore disgraceful dirty gray sweats into the stadium in place of their official blues. They wore non standard uniforms in Greece and London. And some refused to wear numbers in the London meet. None of our athletes are good enough to be allowed to do this and our coaches and managers should see that they don't.”

We'll close with an ad. Kansas coach Bill Easton will lead a “Hawaiian Track Party” for ten days in July. There are no meets, but there will be clinics which will display Easton's “wealth of coaching experience and know how plus genial personality.” Airfare from San Francisco, accommodations at the luxurious Waikiki Biltmore and many activities are included for only $315. Sign up now.