Vol. 3 No. 81 June , 1964

June 1964

The Olympics are less than four months off. Will the US be ready? We better be because Trinidad sure is. On May 16 Yale's Wendell Mottley runs 46.1, the fastest 400 in the world this year. On the same day in Raleigh, NC, another Trinidadian, Edwin Roberts, lays down a 9.4, 20.1 (straightaway) double. The next week, May 22-23, Kent Bernard, running for Michigan in the Big Ten meet, relegates his countryman, Mottley, to number two with a 46.0 clocking then backs it up with a 45.4 relay leg. 

Kent Bernard

Edwin Roberts

Wendell Motteley

Also on the 23^rd on the opposite side of the county, the AAWU meet is held in Los Angeles bringing together Cal, SC, UCLA, Stanford, Washington and Washington State. The feature race is the mile which Stanford's Paul Schlicke wins in 4:02.5. He is closely followed by SC's Bruce Bess and Washington's John Valient, both at 4:02.7.

Bruce Bess

 Prerace favorite Bob Day of UCLA finishes in 4:03.2. Cal's Dave Archibald and Forrest Beaty place 1-2 in the 440 at 46.3 and 46.6. Both collect gold medals on Cal's 3:11.0 mile relay team.

Cal's 4xx440 NCAA championship team
Forrest Beatty, Al Courchesne, Dave Fishback and Dave Archibald

Those same days the WAC meet, held in Salt Lake City, sees strong doubles by Henry Carr of Arizona State and Gayle Hopkins of Arizona. 

Gayle Hopkins

Carr is unpressed in the sprints, clocking 9.3 and 20.4 while Hopkins makes Friday's prelim marks hold up to take the horizontal jumps at 26-0 and 50-7, barely edging New Mexico's Clarence Robinson who leaps 25-5 and 50-4½. BYU's Bob Tobler takes up the challenge laid down by Kent Bernard the previous day matching his world leading 46.0.

Clarence Robinson and Coach Hugh Hackett

But the real excitement this weekend comes from the California Relays in Modesto where a seasoned veteran and rosy cheeked youngster steal the show. This is saying a lot when one considers there were also two record breaking performances in the relays.

Ralph Boston

Defending Olympic broad jump champion Ralph Boston displays his readiness by breaking his own American record and coming within ¾ of an inch of Ter-Ovanesyan's WR with a leap of 27-2½. (note: Though the event has been officially renamed the long jump, Track and Field News continues to refer to it as the broad jump. So as long as they do, we shall also.) Perhaps more remarkable is his consistency. His series averages 26-8 1/8, only 1/8 of an inch less than Jesse Owen's world record that lasted 25 years.

As remarkable as this performance is, the crowd's heart is stolen by a third place finisher, high school junior Jim Ryun. Running with the big boys for the first time, the 17 year old proves that he belongs. The pace is slow – 62.7, 2:05.3 and 3:05.8 – and the crowd is anticipating fireworks on the last lap. They are not disappointed. Tom O'Hara makes a burst on the backstretch but Dyrol Burleson matches it. O'Hara leads into the straight as the pair opens ground on the field. But, wait a minute, what is that high school kid doing? Passing world class runners right and left, that's what. He has passed Bob Seaman in the backstretch, John Camien on the curve and now Cary Weisiger in the final straight.

O'Hara and Burleson hit the tape together. Many observers see O'Hara as the winner, but unfortunately none of them are finish judges. Burleson gets the nod by a tenth in 4:00.2. But it is Ryun who is the focus of the crowd. He hits the finish in 4:01.7, edging Weisiger who has the same time. Camien, 4:02.2, and Seaman, 4:04.2 take fifth and sixth. Ryun's last lap goes off in 55.7. Track and field has a budding new star. This is the time almost weekly Ryun's name began being mentioned over and over on ABC's Wide World of Sports when track and field got regular coverage on Saturday afternoons.
 

Grambling's 440 relay team ties the WR of 40.0 held by Oregon and Great Britain. This achievement is dimmed only slightly by their inability to beat the Striders' big name team of Adolph Plummer, Mike Larabee, Don Webster and Earl Young in the 880 relay. The Striders win easily 1:23.2 to 1:24.0 when, as Cordner Nelson writes, “Dick Stebbins showed a lack of enthusiasm on the third leg”.

Mike Larabee

The other record broken this evening is the collegiate sprint medley. Morgan Groth has already run 4:05.5 on OSU's winning distance medley.


Morgan Groth

Now he is off six yards behind Olympic veteran Jerry Siebert of the Santa Clara Valley Youth Village. He makes up the margin and stays on Siebert's heels before pulling away in the homestretch with a 1:46.9 split and a 3:17.5 record. As good as that is, Groth is just another guy in the Oregon State workouts he shares with world class half milers Norm Hoffman and Jan Underwood. The latter wins the open 880 this evening at 1:48.7.

Jim Beatty is coming back from an injury but there is no timidity in him. He leads the two mile through 2:07, 4:20 and 6:35 half mile splits before the wisdom of a less aggressive pace is made evident when Bruce Kidd and Bill Baillie go by on the final backstretch. Kidd runs the last lap in 57.9. We don't know what Baillie's finish is, but it is faster. Baillie wins 8:37.1 to 8:38.1. Beatty has to be content with the US lead at 8:41.0. There will be other days.

There are noteworthy performances in other field events beside the broad jump.  Fred Hansen vaults 16-4½ to tie the mark Don Meyers set the same day in Colorado for the world lead. Discus thrower Dave Weill has a day to remember. No, he doesn't beat “Automatic Al” Oerter.

Nobody does. But he does become the seventh member of the 200 foot club when he exceeds that mark by two inches in taking second place to Oerter's 203-6. Les Tipton throws 260-10½ to top Frank Covelli by 11 inches in the javelin.




Forrest Beatty



Frank Covelli



Ulis Williams

 

It is the next day and you get to choose a word: courageous, tough, strong, gutsy. They all apply to Buddy Edelen's performance in the Yonkers Marathon. He runs 2:24:25.6, a good, but not a great time. Well, not a great time until you realize the conditions. The temperature is 91. The humidity is 40%. The winner qualifies for the Olympic team. 128 start, but only 41 finish. Among the drop outs are Hal Higdon, Norm Higgins, Gordon McKenzie, Jim Green and Alex Breckenridge. Edelen's margins over runner ups Adolph Gruber and John J. Kelly are 19:45 and 20:20. These guys are no dogs. Gruber won five marathons last year. Kelly has won this race eight times. When Edelen breasts the tape they are an incredible three and a half miles behind.

Buddy Edelen center with handkerchief around his neck.
Ron Daws in the dark uniform to the right.

Picture is from the following blog link  Jack and Viv taken at the Jackrabbit 15 miler in South Dakota. Edelen ran this race after the marathon trials and before the 64 Olympis

 http://jackandviv.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/an-oral-history-of-the-jackrabbit-15-road-race/

  

Normally a local AAU meet wouldn't be covered in Track and Field News, but then the Southern Pacific Association is not an ordinary AAU chapter. It includes the majority of Southern California, the hotbed of US track. The shot put competition takes the spotlight when Dallas Long puts the iron ball 66-3½. Last month he threw 66-7¼, but the lack of a raised rim on the circle will likely keep that mark from being accepted as a world record. All the t's have been crossed and the i's dotted on this one. It will be submitted as the WR. Second place goes to two time Olympic champion Parry O'Brien.

O'Brien has become just another guy the last couple years, but today he exhibits his never say die attitude by throwing 63-10, his PR, and the first time he has improved in four years. Just to show that the shot is not the only weight event on the schedule, Hal Connolly spins the hammer 222-2½ to take the world lead.

New Zealand's Bill Baillie is on a tour of the US. Today he drops down to the mile where Jim Grelle awaits. Baillie used his fierce kick to win the California Relays two mile last week. Will his finishing prowess hold him in good stead today? Almost, but not quite. He and Grelle are shoulder to shoulder up the straight but Grelle holds on for a 4:00.0 to 4:00.1 victory.

Mike Larrabee wins the 440 in 47.0, but only after surviving a qualifying heat where Dick Edmunds edges him 46.7 to 46.8 with Rex Cawley at 47.2. Yes, the SPAAAU is a special meet.

Rex Cawley USC out of Farmington, MI

Saturday, June 5 is a memorable date in track history. In Houston at the Texas Federation meet, Fred Hansen vaults into the record book, literally. John Pennell had the record at 16-10 with a 17-0¾ pending. Fred's 17-1 clearance gives him the WR, but perhaps more significant for the future is his last jump at 17-3¾ of which his coach, Emmett Brunson, says, “Fred was over by at least four inches, but he just wasn't getting enough drive off his pole”.

With the Olympics only four months off, prospects look pretty good for the Rice University grad.

That evening a crowd of 7700 fills the stands at Compton Junior College for meet director Herschel Smith's always exciting Compton Invitational. They will go home with memories to last a lifetime.

Track and Field News co-editors, Bert and Cordner Nelson, are overwhelmed by the 5000. Bert says it is “the best race I have ever seen” and Cordner calls it “the most significant race by American distance runners in history”.

Bruce Kidd, the 20 year old American all comers record holder of 13:43.8 (set at age 18) is here. So is fast finishing Bill Baillie of New Zealand. Speaking of fast finishers, here is Jim Beatty. Rapidly improving Bob Schul is in the field as are Ron Larrieu, Danny Murphy and Julio Marin. Oh, and there is a high school kid who may be heard from, Gerry Lindgren from Spokane, Washington.

Lindgren between Schul and Dellinger

Lindgren shows a definite lack of respect for his elders. Instead of assuming his place as a follower, he takes the field out in 61.6. The crowd loves it. Bruce Kidd takes over on the second lap and leads for most of the next nine laps. It is to Kidd's advantage to keep the pace hot. Kidd is a strong finisher, but just two weeks ago Baille outkicked him. Beatty and Schul are also respected for their finishing prowess. It is obvious that the young Canadian's strategy is to negate those kicks with a fast pace. Another runner who must share that plan is Lindgren. Running with the moxie of a veteran, he sits on Kidd's shoulder as laps go by in 2:07.6 (66.0), 3:13.8 (66.2), 4:20.7 (66.9), 5:29.0 (68.3) and 6:36.3 (67.3). On the seventh lap the pace slows before Lindgren delights the crowd by taking the lead, passing the start of the eighth lap in 7:46.6 (70.3). But Kidd is not finished. He musters a 66.8 go round to take the lead at two miles in 8:53.4.

Kidd leads through one more lap (68.6 and 10:02.4), but the field is ready to strike. Larrieu, running the race of his life, moves to third. Ballie is fourth. Beatty sees Schul go by and finds Murphy on his heels. Behind Murphy a five yard gap opens. On the backstretch Larrieu, running aggressively, takes a four yard lead.

It is quickly covered by Schul who leads at the end of ten laps (65.1 – 11:07.5). That five yard separation in the field is now 40 yards. Beatty, coming back from a calf injury three weeks ago, drops out. “The tempo felt good, but I didn't want to take a chance on my leg.” Now the order is Schul, Larrieu, Kidd, Baillie, Lindgren and Murphy with two and a half laps left.

With

Bob Schul probably at Oxford, OH
courtesy of Jim Gerard estate

a lap and a half to go, Schul leads (66.9 – 12:14.4) with Baillie on his shoulder, Lindgren five yards back, three ahead of Larrieu and Murphy. Kidd is slipping away and is now 10 yards back. At the gun it is Schul and Ballie. Cordner Nelson writes, “Everyone there knew that Baillie would outkick Schul......except Schul”. The red clad Miami runner passes the three mile mark in 13:15.6, an American record, and then goes to the afterburners. He covers the last 188 yards in 22.4, “probably faster than any other man in a world class 5000”, says CN. His last lap is 55.4. Baillie can't match it and finishes 15 yards back. Schul's American record is 13:38.0, three seconds off the world record and the fourth fastest all time. Baillie has to be content with 13:40.0, a PR good for seventh all time. Schul's post race comment has to cause concern for prospective Olympic competitors, “I just ran to win. I didn't feet a bit tired. Honest, I didn't go all out.” Baillie says of Schul, “He has a royal chance to win at Tokyo”.

There is enough glory to go around for the rest of the field. Larrieu and Lindgren battle for third with the veteran finally pulling away in the straight, 13:43.0 to 13:44.0 as both bettered Beatty's American record of 13:45.0. They are now 11^th and 13^th on the all time world list. Apparently this was better than hanging around the malt shop in Spokane as Lindgren says, “That race was a lot of fun. I never had so much fun”. (editor's note: we are guessing that Gerry has yet to discover girls.)

Schul breaks the collegiate record by a whopping 21.2 seconds. Had he not been in the race, Danny Murphy would have that honor. His 13:49.2 clips ten seconds off the former mark. Not only is Murphy now the number two college runner, he is the number 5 American and number 23 on the world list. He has just clipped 23.5 seconds off his PR. Kidd pays the price for leading and limps in at 13:58.8. His only consolation is that Lindgren missed his age 18 record by two tenths.

How good was this race? Here is how good: Charlie Clark in eighth shaves two tenths off his PR yet falls from fifth to eighth on the all time US list.

Half an hour passes and now the field is lining up for the mile and what a field it is. Tom O'Hara, Dyrol Burleson, Cary Weisiger and Jim Grelle represent the old guard. The up and coming group is Bob Day, Morgan Groth, Archie San Romani and that high school kid, Jim Ryun.

Bob Delany who recently set the junior college mile record is the rabbit. The gap his 57.9 opens is soon closed as he tows them through a 2:00.2 half with Grelle, Weisiger and Day 2-3-4. Trailing after having been knocked into the infield is Ryun at 2:01.5. On the third lap Groth passes Grelle and leads at the bell in 3:01.6.

Cary Weisiger

Day is third and the favorites, Burleson and O'Hara, have moved into 4^th and 5^th. A five yard gap has opened in front of San Romani, Ryun and Weisiger who are tightly packed only a tenth apart. Grelle retakes the lead and holds it through the 1500 in 3:42.9 but the entire field is within striking distance. Onto the straight they come. Burleson and O'Hara go by Grelle, but no one is moving as fast as San Romani who passes Grelle and Groth. Burleson holds on to win in 3:57.4 over O'Hara who barely edges San Romani as they both run 3:57.6. Groth is next in 3:57.9. Then it is Grelle 3:58.5, Day and Weisinger both 3:58.9, and Ryun 3:59.0. San Romani finishes the fastest with a last lap of 54.9. Burleson and O'Hara come home in 55.4 and 55.5. Day is the slowest at 56.3. On the last lap everyone changed positions at least once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTf3bIudkTQ See the race at this link.
 

How significant is this race in the history of American middle distance running? Let us count the ways. Eight Americans break four minutes in the same race. Four - San Romani, Groth, Day and Ryun – do it for the first time. A high school kid, Ryun, runs 3:59.0.

Mike Larrabee wins the 400 in 46.2 over Rex Cawley and Bob Tobler.

Bob Tobler

Unfortunately this race marks the end of the career of 440 record holder Adolph Plummer who drops out at the 350 mark. “I have officially retired from competition. I have arthritis of the knee.”

Otis Davis, Ulis Williams, Adolph Plummer, Earl Young
Randall's Island 1963

Hayes Jones' status as the heavy Olympic favorite in the hurdles takes a hit. Blaine Lindgren tops him as both run 13.8..

Lindgren and Jones

Utah State freshman Jerry Cerulla is third, also in 13.8. Ed Carruthers clears seven feet for the first time to beat John Thomas also at 7-0.

Fishback and Danny Murphy on left Ben Tucker hand raised finishing XC meet on track against Cal Berkeley

Even in a meet as wonderful as tonight's, the officials manage to mess up one event. Jeff Fishback outruns George Young in the steeplechase, but his 8:33.2 is questionable even to Fishback who asks that the course be remeasured. That is done the next day. Yep, it is 70 yards short.

 

 

 

A week later and we are in San Diego for the appropriately named San Diego Invitational. In addition to many of the competitors from the Compton meet, Fred Hansen who set the pole vault WR of 17-1 last week in Houston is in attendance. He and former WR holder John Pennel clear 16-8½ and the bar is raised to 17-2. They each miss the first attempt, but Hansen clears on his second try. Now it is Pennel's turn. The worst that can happen is that he misses and takes a third try, right? To use an old line, if Pennel didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. Not only does he miss, he is injured (not specified), begins spitting blood and is hospitalized for the night.

Hayes Jones is anxious to avenge last week's upset loss to Blaine Lindgren, but this evening's race makes one think last week wasn't an upset as Lindgren wins easily 13.6 to 13.9. New Mexico's Bernie Rivers takes the 100 into the wind in 9.3. He returns to add the 220 to his list of accomplishments, clocking 20.7 and leaving Paul Drayton and the recently unretired Adolph Plummer in his dust, 21.1 for both.

Here is Bob Schul again, this time lining up for the mile where he will test his kick against established miler Cary Weisiger. Weisiger tries to run the sprint out of the US 5000 record holder, but a 3:02.6 1320 isn't enough. Schul blows by in the homestretch to win by nine tenths in 3:59.1.

The last time we saw Olympic veteran Jerry Siebert was three weeks ago when Morgan Groth outran him on the anchor leg of the sprint medley. Apparently he has made good use of that time. His 1:47.5 880 is the fastest in the world and provides him with a wide margin over a good field. Ted Nelson and Greg Pelster take the runner up spots both in 1:49.1. Wait a minute, who is that high school kid in fourth? Even though Jim Ryun is in the race, he isn't that kid. It is Bob Hose of San Diego Madison who is right on the veterans' heels in 1:49.2, a national HS record bettering the 1:50.4 set only last month by Larry Kelley of Maine East High in Illinois. Versatile Ron Whitney holds off Ryun, 1:49.6 to 1:50.3.

Last year Ulis Williams was the pre-Olympic 400 favorite. That designation is up for grabs now as Ulis has been injured and hasn't had a serious race since mid April. That is until tonight's 440. He can't match Hiram Carroll's 46.7, but a 46.9 tosses his hat in the ring. Trailing Ulis by a tenth are the rejuvenated Adolph Plummer and high schooler Freddie Banks.

We will close with notes on a couple high school kids. Leon Forman, the coach at Long Beach Poly, has had some good athletes over the years, but says Earl McCullough is the best. Given the following facts, it is hard to argue otherwise. McCullough was entered in 47 individual races and won them all. He tied the national records of 13.7 and 18.1 in the high and low hurdles and was state champ in both. His average times in these events are 14.2 and 18.7. He seldom ran the sprints, but had bests of 9.7, 21.7 and 50.2. He also ran on 21 relay teams. The other kid to watch is Bobby Bonds, a pretty good baseball player at Riverside High, who found time to win the California state broad jump championship with a leap of 25-3. Wonder what the future holds for these kids.






Bobby Bonds


Earl McCullough

 

 

 

 

Some of those Kiwi

 

kids in later years from hitsystem.com.au

L-R: Bill Baillie, Barry Magee, Jeff Julian

Bill Baillie was one of the all-time greats of New Zealand athletics, winning 15 national titles from 880 yards through to the 6 miles on the track, as well as cross-country and road titles. He placed a close 6th in the Tokyo Olympic 5000m, and also pipped Ron Clarke on the post in an international 2-mile race. Bill set world records over 20000m and 1 hour on the track in 1963; these were broken by Ron Clarke, but they still stand as New zealand records. After 40 laps of 72s, going through 10000m in 29:48, he switched down to 70s a lap for the next 10 or so laps to make sure he set the New Zealand 10-mile track record on the way through. In later years, Bill established himself as a world force in age-group triathlon.
Barry won bronze in the Rome Olympic marathon in 1960, and later that year won the inaugural Fukuoka marathon. Barry won many national titles over 6 miles track, cross country, and road. A career highlight apart from his Olympic medal would be ranking first in the world over 10000m in 1961. Barry won the World Cup 10,000m in Helsinki in 28:51, with a very hard last 800m, and ranked 3rd world-wide over 5000m in 13:39.
Jeff Julian was one of the icons of New Zealand distance running, winning 11 national titles: 4 marathons, 2 cross-country titles, and 5 road race titles. He was famous for his prodigious fast mileage training. Jeff had an amazing year in 1963, when he set world 30-mile (2 hr:47.34) and 40-mile (3hr:53.36) track records in the one race. He also clocked 47:36 for 10 miles, and won Fukuoka in 2hr 14mins, beating a world-class lineup. Unfortunately he couldn’t reproduce this form the next year in the Tokyo Olympics, but his place in the pantheon of all-time greats was cemented by his victory in Fukuoka, often described as “harder to win than the Olympics”.
Other New Zealanders to have won Fukuoka include 1968 Olympic bronze medalist Mike Ryan,(1967, 2hr 13m), and Paul Ballinger (2hr 10min).
Bill Baillie is married to Jeff’s sister Val, who took the photo for coach Randy Smith, who runs the Arthur Lydiard Classic, a high school track meet in Ohio.

 

 

 

Vol. 3 NO. 55 April , 1964

APRIL 1964

In our last report we promised you two world records and the return to competition of one of the icons in the sport. That is coming up. But first let's go to Santa Barbara for the Easter Relays on March 28 where there are many fine early season marks and almost a collegiate record. Remember the sloppy officiating in the indoor meets reported in the March issue? Well the outdoor season isn't starting any better.

Fresno State's Charles Craig is the victim. He triple jumps 52-1½ to better the 51-9¼ collegiate record set by Luther Hayes of USC in 1962 but there is no wind gauge.

hoping this is the Charles Craig of the story

 

 

Whoever was in charge of the gauge had taken it home. While it was in use it had recorded only one race in excess of the limit and witnesses say the wind was minimal at the time of Craig's jump but without a wind reading, record recognition is doubtful.

The mile relay is won by the Camp Pendleton Marines in 3:08.9, the fastest time of the season. One second back are the Striders who are handicapped by a 49.2 lead off leg from Mike Larabee.

Mike will be a tad faster in Tokyo

The Striders beat the LATC in an unremarkable distance medley, unremarkable except that the lead off man for the Striders is comebacking Olympic 400 champ, Otis Davis, who eases into his season with a 48.6 split.

Otis Davis

 

The best race of the day is the 880 relay where Adolph Plummer of the Striders takes the baton five yards down to Darryl Newman of Fresno State and blows by to win by three with a 20.4 split.

Things heat up the next week with three solid meets. The Texas Relays are held on April 3 and 4. In what is the only open division race, Ollan Cassell clocks the fastest 440 this year, 46.6. Perhaps more significant is the second place 47.0 of high schooler Blendon Johnson who beats established stars Earl Young, Ted Nelson and Ray Saddler. LSU's Billy Hardin, son of 1936 Olympic champion Slats Hardin, shows genetics weren't wasted on him as he blisters the 400IH in 50.8 to top the world list.

 

 In the frosh-junior college division Texas A&M freshman Randy Matson opens eyes with an amazing PR of 62-11½.

As good as those marks are, the star of the day is Missouri's Robin Lingle. Lingle, a transfer from the US Military Academy, anchors the Tigers to wins in the two mile relay and the distance medley with splits of 1:48.3 and 4:02.3 in posting the year's fastest times, 7:22.3 and 9:45.2. He is voted athlete of the meet.

In 1964 when an athlete wanted to continue competing after his college career had ended there were three choices: join the service and compete for the Marines, Navy or Army, join a club or compete unattached. The first required a serious commitment. The last required the expense of getting to meets. Club teams flourished. The Grand Street Boys Club, the Pasadena AA, the Striders, the Santa Clara Valley Youth Village, the Pacific Coast Club, the San Francisco Olympic Club, the LA Track Club provided coaching and travel and thus were the choice of many post collegiate stars.

On April 4 two club teams had dual meets with colleges. The Pasadena AA took on nearby Occidental and the Striders traveled to Tempe to run against college powerhouse Arizona State.

Whereas the PAA-Oxy meet was the lesser of the two, no one went home disappointed after witnessing the performance of shot put record holder Dallas Long. As you may remember, Long is in dental school at USC, a commitment that kept him from competing until the last two weeks of the season last year. Although he produced the best mark in the world, 63-9, it was only by and inch and one had to wonder whether his cloak of invincibility is gone. That doubt is erased this afternoon. In his first meet of the year Long throws over 65 feet three times and his 65-11½ breaks his world record by an inch. Long is surprised, “I felt like I was in the twilight zone, it came so easy”.

Now we are in Tempe where ASU's 220 world record holder, Henry Carr, takes the baton in the 440 relay well down to the Strider's Adolph Plummer. Though he doesn't catch the 440 record holder, he gives an indication of what is to come by gaining five yards. Minutes later he is in the blocks for the 100. Gerry Ashworth of the Striders leads for 80 yards but Carr comes on strong at the end to win in 9.5 for both. This victory is not without cost. The Arizona State star suffers a “muscle injury” during the race. Henry Carr is the odds on favorite for the Olympic gold at 200 meters in six months. Indeed he is the only man to run faster than 20.5 with two 20.4s and his WR of 20.3. Obviously the wise thing to do is watch the rest of the meet from a spot on the infield. No, not Henry. He is a spit on it, rub a little dirt on it, get back in the game kind of guy. The 220 is coming up and he will take another shot at Adolph Plummer.

For some reason they are in the lanes with the tightest curve, Plummer in one, Carr in two. This is no problem for the ASU star. He leads by four yards off the curve and increases the margin to six at the tape. The watches read 20.2. Once again the Detroit native has broken the record. Plummer's 20.8 is hardly noticed.

And now for the return of the former world record holder and Olympic champion who hasn't competed since the 1960 Olympics. This would be Charlie Dumas, the first man to jump seven feet, but only a figure in history for the last four years. Where has Charlie's road taken him? After the Games he tried out for the San Diego Chargers but was cut early on. As he was never paid, his AAU eligibility was reinstated just last month. An effort to join the Marines had come to naught because of a bad knee. In the time that he was out of the track spotlight he returned to USC and earned his teaching credential. Now Charlie is employed by the Inglewood, CA school district. As satisfying as making lesson plans and grading papers may be, he has decided to give track one more shot.

          Charles Dumas

And what a shot it is. Not certain of his fitness, he opens at 6-0. As that goes well, he skips 6-2 before clearing 6-4, then 6-6, then 6-8. He misses at 6-10 but at this point he has to be happy with 6-8 in his first meet back. Not bad for an old timer. But Charlie is buying none of this old guy stuff. He clears 6-10. Now he is back in the Olympic team picture. With the bar set at 7-0½, all eyes are on him as he readies himself on the apron. Over he goes and the crowd erupts. Charlie D hisownself is back. He decides to end the evening on a high note and retires with a seven foot clearance in the books. Time to work on Monday's lesson plans. Good to have you back, Charlie.

Richard Romo leading a stellar field of milers

Oddly, there is no report of a meet on the weekend of April 11. We move ahead two weeks to the Kansas Relays held on the 17^th and 18^th. Robin Lingle proves his performance in the Texas Relays wasn't an aberration. He anchors the Missouri four mile relay team to victory with a 4:01.0 split on Friday and returns the next day to take the Tigers to the victory stand in the two mile relay in 7:26.6 with a 1:49.9 split. The college distance medley is won by Emporia State on the strength of a 4:02.3 anchor by John Camien. Richard Romo nearly matches that with his 4:02.5 anchor to bring Texas in second in the four mile relay.

Richard Romo, president U. of Texas San Antonio

where Jerry Dyes is now cross country coach

 

Jerry Dyes displays his significant decathlon potential by scoring 7059 to defeat veteran Phil Mulkey who scores 6961. Mulkey's 15.2 to 17.0 advantage in the hurdles is more than made up by Dyes' 249-1 javelin effort which puts him 63 feet ahead of Mulkey.

Olan Cassell of Houston betters his yearly world best at 440 yards. His 46.4 gives him a full second advantage over Ted Nelson of Texas A&M.

Apparently no meet would be complete without the mention of poor officiating. The 10,000 winner is John Macy in 29:49.0 with the parenthetical note that the race might be a lap short and that no other times are available.

Under the heading of Profiles of a Champion we have two in hammer thrower Ed Burke and triple jumper Charlie Craig. Unfortunately their photos are transposed making Craig the thickest necked triple jumper ever.

A check of the US Report listing the top marks in each event finds that Bob Hayes has equaled his own WR at 100 yards in 9.1....Jerry Siebert hasn't raced since the USSR meet in 1962. Jerry's work for a doctorate in physics has taken priority over training. Yet on March 28, while at the track “to trot around”, he was talked into competing by coach Brutus Hamilton just 20 minutes before the start of the half mile. The former Cal star clipped off a 1:50.2 for the second fastest time in the country this year. Still he says that the doctorate comes first and that he isn't considering a return to serious running and a shot at the Olympic Games......The national leader in both the mile and two mile is Bob Schul of Miami (OH) with times of 4:00.9 and 8:47.3.

Coming up in the next issue are the major relay meets: Drake, Penn, Mt. SAC. West Coast (Fresno), Coliseum and California (Modesto).
 

Vol. 3 No. 12 April 1963

April 1963

Editor looking over the work of our linotype operator

In the interest of accuracy – our watchword here in the offices of Once Upon a Time in the Vest - we have to start by making a correction regarding Henry Carr's successive 220 yard world records described in last month's issue. It seems that his 20.4 will not be submitted for a record, because his lane measured 18 inches short. A surveyor got to work on that right away and the measurement was correct four days later when he ran 20.3.

March 30 finds us in San Angelo, Texas for the appropriately named San Angelo Relays where once again Jerry Dyes displays his amazing range of talents. He wins both the javelin at 248-11 and the broad jump at 24-10½'w, places fourth in the shot put at 50-5 and leads off the winning Abilene Christian 440 relay. Thanks to Jerry, ACC nearly doubles the point total of Texas A&M, 60-30 ½.

Jerry Dyes, An American Hero

On the same page there is a photo the multi-talented Jerry Dyes. That's the good news. The bad news is that he is misidentified. There are two closeups, side by side. On the left is a swarthy gentleman with a hammer and sickle badge on his singlet.  

could this be Bulishev?

He is identified as “Jerry Dyes, versatile Abilene Christian field event ace”. On the right is a bright eyed bespectacled youngster, just the sort of young man you would feel good about having your daughter date, gripping a javelin, who is identified as Valeriy Bulishev, Russian 800m star who made the indoor tour”. After a lengthy conference of editors, reporters, staff assistants, correspondents and outside experts, we here at OUTV have come to the conclusion that the photos are reversed.

In early April, Stanford, San Jose St. and Oklahoma had a triangular meet at Stanford.  In reality it was a dual meet between Stanford and San Jose, with Oklahoma caught in the middle.  The Sooners had run at Arizona St. on the previous Tuesday night, then at Arizona on Thursday night , and finally at Stanford on Saturday afternoon.  A bit much in anybody's book.  That's the way   Spring break was spent in those days.  The youtube site shows a bit of the 2 mile run that included Jeff Fishback and Danny Murphy of SJS and Harry McCAlla of Stanford.   McCalla had won the mile that day in 4:04, went on to win the 2 mile in about 9:04 over Murphy and Fishback.  You can see in one brief moment Payton Jordan running over to the pack to encourage the Stanford runners.  I don't know who the other Stanford runners are. The two Oklahoma runners were David Hayes and John English.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn0EMjVl7Z0&feature=youtu.be

Also on April 30 the Easter Relays are held in Santa Barbara where Arizona State takes a determined shot at the college mile relay record of 3:07.2 it set last week. This time everyone is fresh. This is each runner's only race of the day. Mike Barrick leads off in 47.9. The pace picks up on the second leg as Henry Carr tours the track in 45.3. Ron Freeman and Ulis Williams finish up in 47.1 and 46.0 and the new record is 3:06.3. Makes one wonder what April, May and June might hold. C.K. Yang tops George Davis and Dave Tork in the vault 16-0½ to 15-6 both and is named the outstanding performer. Dave Davis is back on the scene. His 61-3 tops the 59-8 of Jay Silvester in the shot. Silvester doesn't go away empty handed as he wins the discus with a toss of 194-2½, ll feet ahead of Rink Babka.

The following weekend, April 6, sees the Texas Relays befouled by bad weather. Three inches of rain fall in 24 hours and the Friday night portion of the meet is moved to Saturday. Times suffer as the track is slow and the sprints and hurdles are run into an 8 mph wind. Fred Hansen is not discouraged, however, as he chalks up his first 16 foot vault. The surprise of the meet comes in the mile where Dyrol Burleson follows Bill Dotson for three laps then bursts into the lead only to be passed in the home straight by Emporia State sophomore John Camien whose 56.2 last lap brings him home three yards ahead of the 1960 Olympian in 4:02.6. 

See the finish of this mile by clicking on this address  on the youtube link that follows. 

http://youtu.be/1i6EtzHNSuo     John Camien defeats Dyrol Burleson in Mile at Texas Relays 1963   4:02

     Even John Camien has never seen this clip, as fuzzy as it is.  It has been in my home movie collection for 50 years.  I've set it on slow motion as it is just the last 40 or so yards.  Bill Dotson can be seen following in the all white uniform.  If anyone knows John, perhaps they can inform him of this site.  Ed.   

  

No report of this meet would  be complete if it didn't mention the dominance of Texas Southern University in the college division. The Tigers win the 440 relay, 880 relay, mile relay, two mile relay, sprint medley and the distance medley. There are no others. The first three are faster than run in the university division.

John Pennel's outdoor PV world record of 16-3 reported last month in the “Late News” section is the front page story along with Carr's 220 record. The smiling Pennel is pictured with a pole on his shoulder, wearing the distinctive – okay I'll say it, ugly - Northeast Louisiana State tee shirt type top. (Frankly, this reporter thinks those shirts may have been the reason the Styron twins transferred.) for more on the Styron's see story at the end of this post.   ed.  

  Pennel's performance that day is fleshed out a bit in this story. It seems that the previous week he had vaulted 15-9, but had cracked his pole in the doing. No pole is available from the factory so his coach, Bob Groseclose, called Rice assistant, Augie Erfurth, who shipped him one of Fred Hansen's poles. (Coach, I can't find my extra pole..... You did what?)

At the bottom of the page is a brief story entitled “Pennel Ups Mark to 16-4”. The story is only eight lines. The meet was in Natchitoches, Louisiana on April 10. The only additional information is the John P'Red in the broad jump as well that day, going 23-4¾ and hurting his back in the process.

Five pages of this issue are devoted to the US Report, a listing of the top ten marks for each event. We'll give you the top one or two. 100: Dennis Richardson of ACC 9.3, 220: Henry Carr 20.3, Bob Hayes 20.5, 440: Ulis Williams 46.4, Rex Cawley and Bob Tobler 46.5, 880: Ernie Cunliffe 1:49.0. Mile: Keith Forman' 4:00.1, Harry McCalla 4:01.5 Two Mile: Charley Clark 8:49.0; 120 HH: Willie May 13.8, Ralph Boston and Brian Polkinghorne 13.9; 330 IH: Jim Miller 36.2, Dee Andrews 36.5; HJ: John Thomas 7-2, Lou Hoyt 7-0½, Joe Faust 7-0¼; PV: John Pennel 16-4, Fred Hansen 16-1, Gerald Pratt and CK Yang 16-0½; BJ: Ralph Boston 26-6; TJ: Pete Danna 51-2¾ (Boston 5^th at 49-6½); SP: Dave Steen 61-8¾, Dave Davis 61-8½ (O'Brien 6^th at 58-11¼); JT: Larry Stuart 267-3; HT: George Frenn 196-4; 440R: Texas Southern 40.7, Arizona State 40.8, Kirkland State (now Truman State) 40.9; 880R: USC 1:24.9, Arizona State, So Cal Striders and Texas Southern 1:25.0; Mile Relay: Arizona State 3:05.9 note: this breaks ASU's WR of 3:06.3 covered in this report, but there is no reference to where or when this was run. We do have splits: Barrick 47.8, Carr 45.5, Freeman 46.6, Williams 46.0. No other information is available. 2MR: Occidental 7:29.0, USC 7:29.2; Sprint Medley: Texas Southern 7:20.1; Distance Medley: San Jose State 9:47.6, LATC 9:48.0, Stanford 9:48.2; The 3 Mile only has one time, Ned Sargent's 13:53.8 and the 440IH (yes, yards) have only 4 times with the note that they are 440 times less 0.3. Go figure.

Many of our loyal readers are of an age that we remember baseball and football without Rotisserie, Hot Stove or Fantasy Leagues. When did this sort of nonsense begin? Perhaps it was circa 1962 and the sport was our own beloved track and field. In Cordner Nelson's Track Talk, the editor writes, “Most of you are missing out on one of the most enjoyable games I know, and I feel it my duty to tell you about it. Nine of us play it and we call it simply 'The Game'. In brief, we choose up sides among the active athletes in the nation and our teams score exactly as those athletes do in the National AAU and NCAA meets.”

The initial draft produces a permanent team which is supplemented by additional monthly or yearly drafts. Players can draft high school kids and potentially reap the benefit years down the road. There is a limit that each player can have although this appears to be variable depending on the league. When you draft an athlete, you have to drop one. More guideline minutia is involved, but you get the idea. You also get the feeling that Cordner doesn't get out a lot.

A couple notes from here and there: Bob Hayes' 9.2 will not be submitted for world record status. The starting pistol was of too small a caliber. No further information is supplied. Bet someone is embarrassed....20 year old Joe Faust is retiring and giving up his spot on the Pan Am team roster....Remember when colleges had dual meets that really mattered? This reporter remembers numerous runs with a buddy over the years that were spent doping out the UCLA – USC dual meets. Here are a couple duals reported in this issue that must have been fun. USC wins the mile relay to top Stanford 73-72. Despite CK Yang's 16-0, 14.1, 226-4½ and 24-5½, Oxy tops UCLA 74½ to 70½......These meets are close, but we can give you even closer. How about the 72-72 tie between Abilene Christian and New Mexico? That only adds up to 144 points, one short. What happened? It seems that only the two ACC vaulters made the unmentioned opening height. Had the Lobos had a vaulter just clear a height, the meet would have been theirs. This is where OUTV's vast source of expert correspondents comes into play, specifically Pete Brown of Plano, Texas, who as alert readers are aware, has furnished us with his copies of T&FN for 1963. Pete ran in this meet. He tells us that the Lobos' vaulter, Don Beattie, would have easily cleared the opening height of 12-6, but he was sidelined with a sprained his knee. The two teams will meet again May 20 and we will be there to record the action.

"Hey, Old Henry Carr"

We will close with Henry Carr's comments in the Quotable Quotes column. “My name is just plain Henry Carr. When you're the ninth of twelve children your parents don't have many choices left........It's real funny about the world record. As a kid I dreamed of such things. Now it has come true and it doesn't seem real. At night I wake up and realize what has happened and tell myself, 'Hey, old Henry Carr, how about that?'”

Whoa Hoss, we're not done yet.  In the words above there was mention of one Gerald Pratt whom I clearly remember from these times as a top pole vaulter, and he was an African American, and he was a lefthander.  It was nice as well to read that Pratt received some early encouragement from my Oklahoma teammates.   Following is an article on Pratt, from 'The Defender' by   Max Edison

By: Max Edison

The 58th  Annual TSU Relays are right around the corner (March 20-21) at the Alexander Durley Sports Complex on the campus of Texan Southern University. Just the mere thought of the relays conjures thoughts of years gone by when the event was one of the nation’s premiere track & field meets, featuring some of the fastest athletes in the country. From Olympians to world record-setters they all came to Third Ward to race at TSU. Names like: Bob Hayes, Charles Frazier, Homer Jones, Jim Hines, Rod Milburn, Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell and countless all competed at the TSU relays. The TSU Relays.
Throughout the sixties and seventies, the men’s track teams at Texas Southern, under the direction of track coach Stan Wright, were some of the most prolific teams in the country.
The TSU track team was known as the Flying Tigers, but in 1961 a unique element was added to the Tiger repertoire, that truly legitimized that moniker. Galveston born and Los Angeles raised, Gerald Pratt came to Texas Southern and began to compete for the Tigers in 1962. What made Pratt so unique? He was an African-American who excelled in the pole vault!
Pratt arrived to the Cleburne street campus after making a name for himself nationally at Los Angeles City College. Of course, regardless to where he was, Coach Wright had an eye for talent.
“I was participating in the National AAU meet in New York (1961) when Coach approached me about a scholarship to Texas Southern,” Pratt recalled. “I had run across Texas Southern at meets in Modesto and Fresno (California). I didn’t know much about the school, only that they had a track team that traveled.”
The fact that Pratt was Black and one of the world’s top vaulters is itself somewhat of a miracle and a testament to African-American ingenuity.
“We started in my backyard in Los Angeles. Myself, my brother Matt and some neighbors started off high jumping,” Gerald explained. “We got to a point where we had jumped as high as we could go, so we grabbed a metal pole in the garage and started using it to see how high we could go.
“I attended Dorsey High School and high jumped for the track team. I would wander over to the pole vault guys and play around with them and soon discovered I could do better than them. After winning more meets in the pole vault than I did high jumping or running the high hurdles, I just stuck with it. I never really had any real formal training.”
A coincidental brush with athletes from the University of Oklahoma sealed the pole vaulting deal for an impressionable young Gerald Pratt.
“One year during the Coliseum Relays (L.A.) a couple of guys from the Oklahoma track team came over to Dorsey to practice before the meet. Their vaulters were using fiberglass poles and they gave me one. I had been using bamboo and metals poles, which were the standard back then (1959). I was winning meets with a metal pole at 12’4″. The first time I used fiberglass in a meet I went 13’9″. As a matter of fact I still hold the pole vault record at Dorsey High.”
Gerald Pratt attended L.A. City College and his dominance in his event continued, amazingly enough, with little to no formal pole vault training and being left handed, which was extremely unorthodox for the event.
“At City College the training was very basic, essentially what you could read from a book,” Pratt continued. “There was no pole vault specialty training or coach. I got a few tips from the guys from Oklahoma, but that was pretty much it. Even later when I got to TSU I was pretty much on my own. At City College I set the National Jr. College record jumping around 14’6″ during my second year (1961).”
At Texas Southern, Pratt was an integral part of the TSU track juggernaut in the’60′s, a team that was second to none.

“We took a back seat to no one nationally or internationally if we ran against them,” Gerald proudly recalled. “We had a tremendous group of athletes. Guys like Homer Jones, Charles Frazier, Barney Allen, Overton Williams and Ray Saddler just to name a few. We always represented the University well. We had our TSU blazers, shirt and ties. We always strived to be professional.”
Pratt recalls the TSU Relays in the sixties as being a meet that attracted star power from all over the country.
“It was 1963 at the TSU Relays when I went over 16 feet and they were measuring it for a world record jump. Unfortunately the meet did not follow the correct procedure to accurately measure for a record, but I knew I was really close.”

Pratt became the first person in state history to ever pole vault 16 feet and at one time was ranked as high as No. 7 in the world, all while representing Texas Southern. An unfortunate back injury curtailed his 1964 season, yet he was still selected as an alternate for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. A subsequent back surgery ended Pratt’s track and field career. 

Max Edison

from the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Don and Dave Styron or is it Dave and Don?

Don Styron

Sport: Track and Field

Induction Year: 1977

When he won three gold medals in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, sprinter Bobby Morrow relied on getting 11 hours’ sleep a night to keep up his strength.

Four years later, twin brothers Don Styron and Dave Styron used the same strategy to rank among the world’s best athletes in the specialties.

They might have a combined total of 11 hours’ sleep before major meets – 5 1/2 apiece for Don and Dave.

“If they got three or four hours sleep,” recalled former teammate Jerry Dyes, “they could run with anybody in the world.”

Former LSU track and field coach Murrell “Boots” Garland, who considered himself somewhat of an authority on the subject, said the Styrons’ reputation for being world class drinkers was greatly exaggerated. “They did plenty of carousing, but not much drinking,” Garland said. “I’ve spilled more liquor on the bar than they ever drank.”

Lew Hartzog, who coached the Styrons at Wheat Ridge, Colo., High School and Northeast State College (Northeast Louisiana University, Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe) was a great track coach, but he didn’t exactly run a tight ship. Any of his athletes would’ve had a hard time matching their coach’s reputation as a free spirit.

When Hartzog took the Styrons and Dyes to the 1960 Olympic Trials at Stanford by automobile, they were on the road for four weeks – with a two-day layover in Juarez, Mexico, highlighted by Hartzog’s leap from a second-floor balcony into a motel swimming pool.

“Looking back,” Dyes recalled when the Styrons were inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1977, “I don’t think stopping in Juarez was a very good idea."

In the Olympic Trials, the field for the 400-meter intermediate hurdles was the fastest ever assembled.

It included world record holder Glenn Davis, the defending Olympic champion, and the other two medalists in the Melbourne Game – Eddie Southern and Josh Culbreath. Whoever qualified for the U.S. team would be part of another 1-2-3 sweep in Rome.

Don Styron, running the event for only the sixth time in his life, had a personal best of 49.9. Leading the pack at 300 meters, he hit the eighth hurdler and lost his balance for a few strides.

“I lost my concentration, and wasn’t able to get my rhythm back,” he recalled. Despite the mishap, he finished sixth with 50.3 – one-tenth behind Culbreath. Davis won in 49.5 and the next three broke 50 seconds – but Southern, Culbreath and Styron didn’t make the team.

The following spring, Northeast won the Florida Relays as Dave Styron won the 100, Don Styron won the high hurdles and both ran on winning 440-yard and mile relay teams. The Indians rolled up 50 1/2 points to 28 for runner-up Florida.

When Northeast beat LSU’s Southeastern Conference champions 55-53, the Styrons accounted for 36 points. Don Styron had a personal best in the high hurdles that day, beating Dickie Durham of LSU with 13.9.

Later in the 22-yard low hurdles, he lowered the world record to 21.9 seconds.

The 220-yard low hurdles was a standard collegiate event at that time, but it was dropped in favor of the 440-yard intermediate hurdles.

Two years in a row, Track and Field News selected Don Styron as the world’s best triple hurdler – combining the 120-yard highs, 220-yard lows ad 440-yard intermediate hurdles. He was the national AAU champion in the 220-yard lows in 1961, the next-to-last time the event was held in a national meet.

Don Styron won his first race with his younger brother on March 18, 1940, when he was born 20 minutes before Dave.

The twins played football and basketball at Wheat Ridge, Colo., and also participated in track and field. But they enjoyed only modest success. In the 1957 state meet, Don Styron was second in the 180-yard low hurdles and Dave Styron was third in the broad jump (now the long jump).

When Hartzog got the Northeast job a couple of months later, he located the Styrons working on a summer job at hay and cattle ranches near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and gave them the only scholarship offer they received from a four-year school.

At Northeast, they had to build a track before they could build one of the nation’s best collegiate teams. “We had to borrow hurdles from Neville High and practice on the football field,” Don Styron recalled.

Social barriers also blocked their development as world-class athletes, because a Louisiana law did not allow state schools to participate in integrated events at that time. That prevented Northeast from winning national titles, and cut down on its athletes’ opportunities for top competition.

The Styrons shared Gulf States Conference “Athlete of the Year” honors three years, leading the school to its first three conference titles in any sport.

Two years after he completed his collegiate eligibility, Don Styron tried to come back and win a berth on the 1964 U.S. Olympic team. In the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, he was runner-up to Eddie Southern in the Texas Relays and runner-up to Cliff Cushman in the Kansas Relays. But the Amateur Athletic Union offered little of no help to world class athletes after their collegiate eligibility expired, and his comeback bid ended in frustration and failure.

He was able to fly to Corvallis, Oregon, for a qualifying meet, and finished second. But he ran out of money, and the AAU officials – who promised per diem expenses to the top three in each event – said they would mail a check.

Meanwhile, Don had to hitchhike to Los Angeles – where Southern Cal coach Jess Mortensen allowed him to stay in the athletic dorm while he trained with USC athletes, and then hitchhike across the nation to compete in the Olympic Trials at New Brunswick, N.J. But the time he arrived in New Brunswick, he had lost his conditioning and finished last in a qualifying heat.

More than 25 years later, he was still waiting for the check.