Vol. 3 No. 11 March , 1963

Jim Beatty

March 1963 Indoor track is dead. Long live outdoor track. Yep, the indoor season has come to an end and in the warmer climes the outdoor season is going full steam. The indoor season has not gone quietly as the weekend of March 8-9 produces a world record and two American records. Let's go to the Chicago Daily News Relays where the largest crowd of the season, 16,758, watches Jim Beatty take a shot at Murray Halberg's 2 mile world record of 8:34.3. The field includes the iconic teenager, Bruce Kidd, Poland's Witold Baran and Beatty's LATC teammates, Bob Schul and Merle McGee, but as far as Beatty is concerned it is race between him and the clock. Coach Mihaly Igloi prescribed a 62 second opening quarter and that is what he got as Beatty hears teammate Bob Seaman call out 61.5 at that point. Bob Seamon

                                                  Grelle                   Schul            Beatty

The rest of the field is willing to let him go. The next splits are 2:05.3 and 3:08.9 before hitting the mile in 4:13.5. Sixty-five second quarters will produce the record and that is what the former North Carolina runner produces the next three quarters: 65.0 (5:18.5), 65.2 (6:23.7) and 65.3 (7:29.0). With the record virtually assured, the crowd erupts, exhorting Beatty to ratchet it one more notch. He responds with a 61.7 and the record is his at 8:30.7. Jim Beatty now owns both the indoor (8:29.0) and outdoor two mile world records. Lost in the hubbub is a great race by the heretofore unheralded Schul whose strong finish brings him home in the third fastest time ever, 8:37.5. Indeed his last mile is faster than Beatty's. Kidd, who has missed training time because of an infected blister on his foot, is well back at 8:55.4. Kidd's University of Toronto  
             Bill Crothers


teammate, Bill Crothers, is taking aim at Peter Snell's 2:06.0 1000 yards WR. Running from the front, he barely misses, finishing in 2:06.4.
 In second with a new American record is Missouri's Robin Lingle who runs 2:07.6.
    Robin Lingle

 There is a notable mile as well. Jim Grelle vs. Tom O'Hara with Bill Dotson thrown into the mix.
Dotson seen taking a baton from Ted Reisinger at Drake Relays later in the year 

The field follows a rabbit through a 58.9 quarter before O'Hara is forced to take over. The next quarter slows to 2:01.2 before the pace rallies a bit at 3:02.5. At this point O'Hara leads with Grelle and Dotson right on his heels. When the gun sounds on the tenth and last lap Grelle moves wide to pass and nearly allows Dotson the inside advantage, but they are only running for second place as O'Hara moves away easily to win 3:59.5 to 3:59.8 for second place Grelle and third place Dotson. The next evening, Saturday, March 9, finds us in Milwaukee for the USTFF meet where 19 year old Brian Sternberg from the University of Washington separates from himself from former WR holders John Uelses and C.K. Yang by clearing 16-3½ to set the American record.His vast potential is demonstrated on his second try at a WR height of 16-9½ as he just brushes the bar off with his chest.

C.K. Yang

Brian Sternberg

 Remember the 1968 Harvard – Yale game where Harvard comes from 16 points down with 42 seconds left to tie the game and the headline reads “Harvard beats Yale 29-29”? Well, the Big Ten meet is something like that. With only the mile relay remaining the score is defending champion Wisconsin 38, Iowa and Michigan 35. Points are awarded on an 8-6-4-2-1 basis. Wisconsin is in trouble because 46.7 man Elzie Higgenbottom is injured and won't run. Last week Iowa ran 3:16.0. Michigan has yet to break 3:20. Splits are not given for Iowa, but somebody was doing something well because they run 3:14.7 to hold off the 47.0 anchor of Michigan's Kent Bernard by a tenth. Michigan State is third and Wisconsin fourth. Final score: Iowa 43, Michigan 41, Wisconsin 40. Or at least that is what it was when the team buses were boarded and the arena lights turned off. Turns out things aren't quite that simple. Michigan has filed a protest over placings in the 60 where Wolverine Ken Burley was given sixth and Illinois' Trenton Jackson placed fourth. Nine days later Big Ten commissioner Bill Reed reviews the film of the race and reverses those placings. Michigan beats Iowa 43-43. The outdoor season blooms rich with promise. As the year starts the WR at 200 meters on the turn, 20.5, is shared by Britain's Peter Radford, set in 1960, and equaled Villanova's Paul Drayton last year. This situation is about to be altered dramatically. February 10 at the Southern Games in Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad, 100 yard world record holder Bob Hayes joins the 20.5 200 club. Now it is March 2 in Coral Gables, Florida and he braves a hindering wind in the straight to cover the slightly longer 220 yards in the same time. The 20.5 log jam doesn't last long. In Tempe, Arizona, in an evening dual meet with Utah, 20 year old Arizona State sophomore Henry Carr simplifies the record keeping with a 20.4 220. It is not as if this is a designed record attempt as he PRs in winning the broad jump at 24-1¾, takes the 100 in 9.6 and runs on both winning relay teams. The front page story gives the background of his amazing potential. As a high school sophomore in Detroit he ran 9.7 and 20.8 on the straight. The next year he added the 400 to his repertoire, running 9.6, 20.6 and 48.3 and broad jumping 23-4½ . He continued his improvement as a senior with 9.5, 20.6 and 47.8 performances. The warm weather and longer season in Arizona as a freshman agreed with him as he tied the freshman record of 9.4 in the 100, established a frosh record of 20.1 at 200 on the straight and had a 45.5 carry on the ASU mile relay team. As good as his new 220 record is, it doesn't last long. Under the heading of “Late News” we learn that four days later on March 23 he has done it again. In what appears to be a triangular meet with USC and Arizona, he runs 20.3, clipping a tenth off his previous mark. He also wins the 100 at 9.5 and, although not mentioned in the brief notes, probably runs legs on the 440 and mile relays. The latter is almost assured as the Sun Devils set a national collegiate record of 3:07.2. Pretty sure they didn't do that without Henry on board. Hopefully we will have more information, specifically splits, in the next issue. At this point we can say with confidence that Henry has earned his scholarship. Also in the “Late News” column, we learn that John Pennel has wrested the outdoor pole vault WR from Pentti Nikula, topping his mark by half an inch on March 23 in the Memphis Relays. The impact of this mark is reduced by the fact that Nikula's indoor mark is over half a foot better. Retribution may loom when the Finn is able to get outdoors
.If outdoors ever happens in the Finnish climate.
Penti Nikula today


Other items in this issue include the headline, “Another Double by Dyes”. It seems that at the West Texas Relays held March 16 in Odessa, the amazing Jerry Dyes has won his third javelin – broad jump double in as many weeks, throwing 244-2 and jumping 23-9½. The previous week in the Border Olympics in Laredo, he posted marks of 240-3½ and 24-0, efforts that, along with leading off the winning Abilene Christian 440 relay and placing fourth in the 100 at 9.8, earned him the meet's outstanding athlete award. There is a pretty good high school athlete in Texas who may bear some watching. He is 6-6, 220 pound Pampas HS senior Randy Matson who last year showed promise with shot and discus marks of 64-7 and 186-6. As a senior he has spent his time playing football and basketball, sports in which Texas sports writers have confirmed that he is “above average”. While no specifics are given for football, “above average” appears to be a term applied loosely in basketball as he was voted to the Texas AAAA all state team and lead the state in rebounding with 18.2 a game. This season, after one day of practice, he has thrown 64-1¾ and 188-7½. We'll keep an eye on this kid and see if he improves.Matson will go to Texas A&M, but the U. of Oklahoma can't be faulted for not trying to get him to Norman. They gave scholarships to two of Randy's buddies from Pampa hoping Randy would decide to attend OU.

Vol. 2 No. 98 September, 1962

SEPTEMBER 1962

The season has pretty much run its course in the US, so Mihali Igloi takes Jim Grelle, Lazlo Tabori, Bob Seaman and Jim Beatty on a European Tour. Let's see how it turns out.

Igloi

Tabori

Beatty defeating Jazy at L.A. Times

Jim Grelle

Bob Seaman

The first meet on August 6 on London's White City track goes less than well. The four are entered in the 2000 meters, but there is no hope of a fast time because rain has turned the track into a sea of mud. Grelle, Beatty and Tabori drop out, deciding “not to risk injuries and jeopardize the rest of the tour”. Seaman toughs out a 5:20 second place behind Derek Ibbotson's 5:19.2. The British press is not kind. “This regrettable and most unheroic showing could be interpreted as underlying the need for a more Spartan American cross country season.” Ouch!

The second stop came three rainy days later on Oslo's famed Bislet track where the quartet is entered in the 1500. The sun makes an appearance by race time, but the track is anything but fast. Igloi wants a quick first lap and he gets it. Seaman takes it out in 56.4. Beatty is a tenth back before moving into the lead on the second lap and passing the 800 in 1:57.0 and the 1200 a minute later. Grelle makes it interesting, closing on Beatty on the final curve, but the American record holder lifts in the last 60 to win and take half a second off his record with a 3:39.4. Grelle and Seaman clock personal bests of 3:40.2 and 3:42.7 in second and third. Tabori, unsure of his fitness, surprises himself with a 3:43.9 for fourth.

If this is August 15 we must be in France, right? Avranches to be exact where it is cold, wet and windy. A match between Michel Jazy and Beatty has been anticipated, but for some reason doesn't come off. Jazy runs the mile. Beatty is entered in the 3000 with the goal of breaking Jazy's world record of 7:49.2. He is joined by Tabori and Grelle. The home country opposition will come from Michel Bernard. Tabori does the donkey work for the first two laps before Beatty takes over, closely followed by Bernard. The two of them quickly separate from the field. The 1000 passes in 2:36.0, but the second 1000, completed in 5:16.2, puts them 4.2 seconds behind Jazy's pace, eliminating any hope for the record. Bernard doesn't lack for courage, but Beatty pulls away on the last lap for 7:54.2 to 7:56.0 victory and the American record. Grelle is third in 8:13.8. Tabori injures his Achilles and finishes fourth in 8:21.0 and “is of little use the rest of the tour”.

Seaman takes on Jazy in the mile. After a slow 3:07.0 three quarters that costs Jazy his first four minute mile, the Frenchman goes to the afterburners that Seaman doesn't have and wins 4:01.4 to 4:03.6.

Michel Jazy

And now it is August 18 and we are back at White City where a dry track awaits. The goal is to show the British press what they can do in the feature event, the mile. Once again it is Seaman doing the work on the first go round at 57.5 and once again Beatty is a tenth back. Grelle takes over on the second lap with Beatty coming aside at the 880 in 1:58.2. Now Beatty is on his own. He completes three laps in 2:58.8 with Grelle in close attendance. In fact, Grelle is running the race of his life. With half a lap to go, he does the unthinkable, passing Beatty and taking the lead. However the North Carolina grad is not done. He rallies to pull even at the 1500 in 3:41.3. Surprisingly Seaman, also running the race of his life, is only six tenths back. Down the straight they come. Gradually, Beatty's strength begins to pay off. He hits the tape a couple yards ahead of Grelle in a US record of 3:56.5. Grelle runs 3:56.7. Britain's Stan Taylor catches Seaman at the tape with both being timed in 3:58.0. Smiles all the way around as the four have produced PR's. Taylor is the first Britain to break four on English soil.   the editor must take umbrage with this fact.  Obviously Bannister was the first Englishman to break four minutes on English soil.  Checking the records Derek Ibbotson ran 3:57 in London in 1957.  Other British runners who preceded Taylor in breaking 4 minutes, though not necessarily on British soil were Chris Chataway 3:59.8 one year to the day after Bannister's historic race on May 28, 1955, then Brian Hewson in the same race, Ibbotson 3:59.4 on August 6, 1956, Ken Wood 3:59.3 on July 19, 1957, and then Taylor appears to have been the next Brit to  break 4 minutes on August 18, 1962, with a time of 3:58.01. ed. 

Three days pass and now we are in Helsinki where once again the competition is at four laps. Guess who leads the first lap. If you said Seaman, you would be right. The problem is that he is too fast, 54.5. Beatty follows in 55.5. The pattern is that of the White City race. Grelle takes the second lap with Beatty passing him at the half mile with both at 1:55.6. The pace slows predictably on the third lap with the bell reached in 2:58.0. Although by himself at this point, Beatty has enough in the tank to close in 58.3 and finish in 3:56.3 thus breaking his own American record. Once again Grelle is second, this time in 3:58.8. Olavi Salonen delights the Finnish crowd with a 3:59.1 for a national record. Seaman and Tabori are fourth and fifth in 4:01.8 and 4:06.2.

                                                  Olavi Salonen

I call this the Flying Olavi's

Olavi Salonen 135 (2nd) 3:40..2  ,  Olavi Vuorisalo 221 (3rd) 3:40.3 , and Olavi Salsola 12 (1st) 3:40.2

all defeating Dan Waern 7 (4th) 3:40.8    in Turku, Finland July 11, 1957.

Obviously 'Olavi' loosely translates as 'fleet of foot' in Finnish.  Of note in 

this race, Matti Nurmi, Paavo Nurmi's son finished a distant ninth place 2.2

seconds slower than Paavo's personal record for 1500m.

Three days later and we are still in Finland, this time in Turku where the order of the day is a rainy 50 degrees. The feature race is the 5000 where Beatty is taking a shot at Vladimir Kuts' 13:35.0 WR. The track is wet and the competition less than competitive. Tabori takes the lead on the first and third laps with Beatty leading the second and fourth. From this point the LATC star is on his own. His kilometer splits are 2:40.6, 2:45.2 (5:25.8), 2:48.2 (8:14.0), 2:49.0 (11:03.0) and 2:42.0 for 13:45.0 and yet another American record. Oh, make that two American records while you are at it, as he passes three miles 13:19.2. One has to believe that, given competition, a dry track and proper rest, the world record is within his grasp next season.

Perhaps Igloli's boys stayed at the dance too long. There is one more meet. (“Another one? Aw, come on, coach.” ) Yep, we are in Borlange, Sweden, on a 382.5 yards to the lap track with three lanes on the backstretch, running 2000 meters. Beatty wins in 5:10.9, only nine tenths off Fred Dwyers' AR. Seaman is second in 5:11.6 with Tabori third at 5:17.4. One would have to think that there were four very relieved distance runners.

Other happenings covered in this issue include Italy's Salvatore Morale's 49.2 400 hurdle clocking, tying Glenn Davis's world record and Harry Jerome's two 9.2 100 yards, tying Bob Hayes and Frank Budd. Pytor Bolotnikov revises his 10,000 WR by six tenths with a 28:18.2 performance.

Do you consider cross country among Peter Snell's strengths? Me neither, but we are both wrong. He is the 1962 New Zealand cross county champion, covering a manly 6¾ mile course “with a tough hill on each of three laps and 33 obstacles, some of them over five feet high” in 35:36 to win by 41 seconds.

After much foot dragging, the NCAA has finally entered the 20^th century, replacing the 220 lows with the 330 intermediates, adding the triple jump to all meets and the six mile to the championships and increasing the championship meet to three days. Equally important is the inclusion of tie breaking rules on misses and attempts in the high jump and pole vault, something that has been standard in the AAU meets for years.

Page 16 has the national relay rankings. Oregon shows pretty good range, winning the 440, the two mile, four mile and distance medley. Texas Southern tops the 880, Arizona State the mile and Santa Clara Valley Youth Village the sprint medley.

In Bert Nelson's “Of People and Things” column he makes two suggestions that sound reasonable. He proposes running the two mile in high school meets and, to spice up invitational meets and make the decathlon more popular, having half a decathlon (not a pentathlon, but the first or second day of a decathlon or any combination thereof) in major meets.

Odds and ends: John Uesles has been suspended by the Florida Gold Coast AAU for “demanding and receiving $185” for competing in a local meet......Former Texas sprinter Dean Smith has been given a feature role in the movie “PT 109”......Grace Butcher recently ran a 5:04 mile in practice, believed to be the fastest ever by an American woman......As the mile started in a meet in Branford, Canada an unidentified runner left the stands and jumped in the race, taking the lead by the half and winning in 4:46 only to keep running to a waiting car and driving off. Who was that masked man? We'd like to thank him. Hi-Yo, Silver, away!......An undocumented survey of top US athletes occupations reveals that the most common field of employment is teaching followed by sales. Among those with less common fields of endeavor are Parry O'Brien – banker

April 23, 2007

Parry O'Brien, whose fascination with the shotput and physics fueled a career in which he held the world record from 1953 to 1959 and won two gold medals and a silver medal in four Olympic games, has died. He was 75.

O'Brien, who revolutionized the sport by devising a new throwing technique, died Saturday while participating in a masters' swim meet in Santa Clarita. His wife, Terry, with whom he lived in the Rancho Belago section of Moreno Valley, said he had suffered a heart attack.,

 Mike Herman – stock broker, Willie Atterberry – laboratory technologist, Jay Silvester – field engineer for a scale company, Pete Mundle – statistical consultant, Buzz Sawyer – draftman, Jim Beatty – insurance claim adjuster, Herm Wyatt – juvenile counselor, Phil Conley – mechanical engineer, Kent Floerke – claims adjuster, Doug Smith – bank employee, Herm Stokes – instructor at the Philadelphia Police Academy, Alex Breckenridge – career Marine officer, Ira Davis – personnel manager and Ron Ulrich – computing analyst. Some are still in school. Keith Thomassen and Jerry Siebert are graduate students in physics. Bob Vinton is in law school. John Gutknecht is a graduate student in biology. As satisfying as those sound, for pure sexiness none match the employment of Terry Beucher. He is a jet pilot in the Air Force......In case you thought track and field was over for the year, let me remind you that the British Commonwealth Games will be held Nov. 22 - Dec. 1 in Perth, Australia. Be sure to stay tuned.

Vol. 2 No. 63 June , 1962

JUNE 1962

Remember the mile results from the Coliseum Relays in the May issue which had no race description? Well, we have it now.

The date is May 18. Peter Snell had expected to tangle with Jim Beatty in this one, but Beatty is injured and not in the field. A late entry by Dyrol Burleson provides the necessary competition.

Pace setter Doug Carroll takes the field through laps of 59.0 and 2:01.8 before dropping out and presenting Cary Weisiger with the lead. He tows the rest through the 1320 in 3:02.3 with Snell next and Burleson on his shoulder. Around the curve the positions don't change. Surely the burst will happen at the start of the backstretch. Amazingly it does not. Weisiger continues to set the pace on the straight until the start of the final curve. Then Snell and Burleson explode. This is what the crowd of 40,007 has been waiting for. Burleson runs the final 220 in 26.0 only to be left in the dust by Snell's amazing 24.5 to set an American all comers record of 3:56.1. Burleson takes second ahead of fellow Oregonian Jim Grelle, 3:57.9 to 3:58.9. Bob Seaman, 4:00.6, Weisiger, 4:01.5 and Milt Dahl, 4:02.3 complete the field. (Film of this race may be seen on YouTube. Type in Peter Snell and select “Two Mile Races in California”. This will be the first.)

The following week in the California Relays at Modesto the Santa Clara Valley Youth Village destroys the American record and world best in the sprint medley (apparently this is not a world record sanctioned race) by chopping off 2.3 seconds from the record Illinois set in 1959. More impressively, they do it without a quality performance from quartermiler Jack Yerman who had previously won the 880. Yerman's 47.2 brought the SCVYV in well behind the 46.3 of Ray Saddler of Texas Southern and the 46.4 of Oregon State's Bob Hoffman. Keith Thomassen and Bob Poynter right the ship with 220 legs of 20.8 and 20.6 and now the baton and the opportunity for a record are in the capable hands of Jerry Siebert. Siebert says he hasn't done much work and isn't in shape yet, but you would never know it from his performance. He splits 51.5 en route to 1:46.9 and the new record of 3:15.5. Oregon State takes second and the collegiate record with a 3:17.7 clocking. One assumes Norm Hoffman anchored, but there is no mention.

The fun just keeps coming week after week. Now it is June 2 and we are at the Compton Invitational where Olympic champion Murray Halberg of New Zealand, the world record holder at 2 and 3 miles, says he will attempt to break Vladimir Kuts' world record of 13:35.0, a reasonable expectation as his PR is 13:35.2. Max Truex and 18 year old Canadian Bruce Kidd, last year's winner in 13:56.4, are the main competition.

Schul, Lindgren, Kidd

(Bruce Kidd , former Canadian parliamentarian and now professor at U. of Toronto.  See his comments on the current Penn State football scandal at the bottom of this posting)
The aptly named Kidd is a crowd favorite off his performance last year. His coach, Fred Foot, concedes nothing to the Olympic champ. Even if Halberg succeeds in running his planned 8:45 for two miles, Kidd is instructed to stay with him.

There is no mention of a pace setter. After passing the mile in 4:20.8, Halberg slows to 8:52.2 at two miles. And, yes, that is the precocious teenager on his shoulder. Twice in the next two laps Halberg offers the pace-setting chores to Kidd and twice he is refused. Two and a half miles are reached in 11:06.8. Then with a bit more than two laps left, Kidd moves. Halberg stays with him briefly, but it is over for the Kiwi great. By the end of the 11^th lap Kidd has a 45 yard lead. Halberg is no longer running to win, but to hold off Truex who is coming on hard. At the bell the American goes by and sets his sites on Kidd, but isn't able to gain. Kidd runs his final lap in 62.4 to finish in an eye-opening 13:43.8. Truex takes Jim Beatty's AR with his 13:49.7. Oddly, Halberg's time is not mentioned.

Six days later, June 8 to be exact, Jim Beatty reacts to his loss of his American record at 5000 with an attempt at Murray Halberg's 8:30.0 world record at two miles. His attempt is a surprise as this is his first race since being injured and the meet is the somewhat pedestrian Southern Pacific AAU Championship in Los Angeles (although the track is not mentioned). Apparently Beatty had been prepared to run in the aforementioned Compton 5000, but a muscle pull in his back had ended that hope. Ducky Drake, the UCLA coach and trainer, worked his magic and put Beatty back in commission.

Beatty is not alone. This is a team effort by Mihaly Igloi's LATC. Jim Grelle leads the third and fourth laps, hitting the mile in 4:15.4. Bob Schul then takes one for the team, leading through six laps, reached in 6:25.8, and effectively running himself out to finish in 8:57.3. Now the former North Carolina runner is on his own. Seven laps are reached in 7:30.2. The necessary sub 60 final lap happens, just barely. Beatty clocks 59.6 to take Halberg's record by the thinnest of margins, 8:29.8. Grelle hangs on to finish is 8:36.0 in his first two mile.

A quick run down of other events during the month follows. Bob Hayes loses twice at the hands of Roger Sayers of Omaha in the 100 and Homer Jones of Texas Southern in the 200 in the NAIA meet in Sioux Falls.....

Regarded by many as the fastest man in the history of Omaha athletics, Roger Sayers finished his career in track and field as one of the most decorated amateur athlete of his generation, and in his spare time, became a legend on the Omaha University gridiron, setting multiple records and leading them to their last college bowl appearance in 1962.  Noted as a tremendous multi-sport star during his career at Omaha Central High School, Sayers won the Boys State 100 yard dash and the 220 yard dash Gold Medals in 1958, leading his team to a state championship, along with being named All-City and All-State as a back in football.

Receiving a scholarship to participate in both sports at Omaha University, Sayers exploded onto the national scene by winning 28 consecutive races during his freshman year, and also providing an exciting presence every time he touched the ball during the football season.  In 1962, Roger Sayers may have enjoyed the best season of any Omaha University athlete ever, capturing the NAIA 100 yard dash title, beating future Olympic gold medalist Bob Hayes twice during that year, and leading the Indians to a Central Intercollegiate Conference title in football the 1962 All Sports Bowl, where he scored a touchdown.   Sayers was named the 1962 Nebraska State College Athlete of the Year, and during his time off from the University, ran for the 1962 United States Track and Field team.  Upon returning to Omaha University, he again won the 100 yard dash in1963 and led the Indians football team to another CIC conference crown.  Sayers still holds the University of Nebraska-Omaha records for the 100 yard dash and the 220 yard dash, as well as seven football marks.  Sayers has been inducted into three track and field hall of fames, the UNO Hall of Fame for both football and track, the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame and was named the 48th greatest athlete in the history of Nebraska by Sports Illustrated in 2000.  After his playing career, he served as the president of the Omaha North Branch YMCA, as president of the Urban League and was a 10 year campaign coordinator for the United Negro College Fund.   

.Ulis Williams is the leader at 440 with 45.9.....Two more Americans have joined the four minute mile club. Keith Forman runs 3:58.3 to beat Cary Weisiger's 3:59.3. Bob Seaman creeps closer to membership with his 4:00.4......Ralph Boston has regained the lead in the broad jump at 26-0, five and a half inches ahead of Darrell Horn and Anthony Watson, but his work is cut out for him. Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union has relieved him of his WR with a jump of 27-3........Ter-Ovanesyan is not the only pesky Rusky.                                                                                                      

                                                               Anthony Watson Today and Yesterday

Vladimir Trusenyev who finished 15^th in the 1960 Olympic competition, has lifted Al Oerter's recent WR in the discus with a throw of 202-2½........Glenn Winningham has taken over the US lead in the javelin at 265-2......Oregon, not content with the world record at four miles, adds the collegiate record at two miles to its laurels at the California Relays. Archie San Romani leads off in 1:49.4. He is followed by Ted Abrams, 1:52.2, Sig Ohlemann, 1:49.9, and Dyrol Burleson, 1:48.7 for a total of 7:20.2 to better the record of 7:20.6 set by USC the previous week at the Coliseum.......If you like consistency, you have to love the Arizona State mile relay team. On successive weekends at the Coliseum, Modesto and Compton they win in 3:06.1, 3:06.4 and 3:05.7, but their individual splits are more impressive. For those three meets Mike Barrick leads off in 47.7, 47.8, 47.7. Henry Carr runs 45.5, 45.7, 45.7. Ron Freeman produces 46.5, 46.7, 46.6. Ulis Williams anchors in 46.3, 46.3, 45.7. Hard to be more consistent than that.

Dennis Carr Lowell HS

                                                               

Morgan Groth

Tom Sullivan

Bruce Bess

A year ago junior Bruce Bess and sophomore Dennis Carr were teammates and running buddies at La Habra HS in Southern California. This year Carr has transferred to Lowell HS in the same school district. Both milers reach the state meet in Modesto. There are no heats. Instead the competition is in sections. Bess, the defending champion, is running in the first section with the eight other district champions and Carr is in the second for the other qualifiers. Bess runs off the leader for 3½ laps before pulling away for a 4:13.4 win. Before his breathing has returned to normal, the second race is underway. Carr, whose best is 4:18.8, risks disaster by taking it out hard from the start, running 62.6, 2:05.5 and 3:09.7. Then, just when he should logically start pulling the plow, he cranks off a 59.0 lap finishing in 4:08.7 to become the state champ and the national record holder, breaking Morgan Groth's 4:10.0. The fact that Tom Sullivan ran 4:03.5 indoors last year doesn't lessen the achievement......To finish with an additional high school note, the fourth fastest half miler at 1:53.1 is Jon Peck of Harvard HS in North Hollywood. Yes, that would be the son of Gregory Peck.

"I realize that the following comments by Bruce Kidd are off the subject of Track and Field, however they reflect the thoughts of a former great distance runner.  Many of our readers have expressed interest in what has become of these men and women of the past." ed.

Professor Bruce Kidd discusses the Penn State scandal

Picture: 

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he was a member of the University of Toronto track and field team. He won 18 national senior championships in Canada, the United States, and Britain. He won a gold (in the 6 Miles event) and bronze medal (in the 3 Miles event) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and was a member of the Canadian 1964 Summer Olympics team (competing in the Men's 5000 metres, Men's 10000 metres and scheduled to start in the Men's marathon). He received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy in 1965 from the University of Toronto and a Master of Arts in Adult Education in 1968 from the University of Chicago. He also received a Master of Arts in History in 1980 and a Ph.D. in History in 1990 from York University.
A documentary film about him, entitled Runner, was produced and directed by Don Owen and narrated by the great poet W. H. Auden
In 1970, he joined the University of Toronto as a lecturer. He was appointed an Assistant Professor in 1973 and an Associate Professor in 1979. In 1991, he was appointed a Professor. He was formerly Director of the School of Physical and Health Education and Acting Director of the Department of Athletics and Recreation. He is a Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and the Warden of Hart House at the University of Toronto.
He is an honorary member of the Canadian Olympic Committee.


Professor Bruce Kidd of physcial education is a former Olympian and well-versed in high-performance sport. (Photo by Jayson Gallop)

Penn State University has been in an uproar since it was revealed that an assistant football coach had allegedly been caught abusing young boys and no action had been taken. Writer Anjum Nayyar talked with Professor Bruce Kidd of physical education and health about sports culture in the U.S. and Canada and about the need for ethics in sport.
Q. Can you talk a bit about the culture of American football and what makes it so strong?
A. We have absolutely no equivalent to it anymore in Canadian society or in any other sporting nations of the world. It’s something we marvel at and wonder at in a society that is similar to ours in many ways, but is also strange in many ways. The differences in the athletic budgets of the Penn and Ohio State universities in that category and universities in Canada or any other part in the world are amazing. It’s always been a wonder.
Some Canadian university alumni would say there was a similar culture in Canada in the 20s, 30s and 40s, and I think that that was true.  By the mid- to late-50s it had begun to wane in major universities in Canada. It continued to accelerate in the United States and 50 years later, it’s a striking Canada – U.S. difference.  But there are some qualifications: it’s principally in the rural areas or small towns [that U.S. football culture thrives]. Columbia, Yale or Harvard football are more like U of T or the University of Western Ontario football. They have the devoted followings but I don’t believe they have tailgate parties and 100,000 people. It’s only a vestige in those universities as well.
I understand from some of our presidents and provosts that when they go to Association of American Universities meetings in the U.S., their colleagues take them aside and tell them, “You’re so lucky you don’t have to deal with football.” Although it brings visibility and dollars, it brings a ton of headaches because of issues like this where you have a really strong research university reduced in symbolic ways to a sports team and a coach.
At U of T some sociologists would argue that one of the reasons for the demise of the football culture at U of T and others is the demographic transformation of the student body from a white, Protestant one to a multi-cultural one. Others have argued it’s a consequence of the tremendous television-fueled growth of the sport-media complex, which promotes professional sport at the expense of intercollegiate sport, and the growth of the urban entertainment industries generally, which means that there are many engaging cultural alternatives to watching Varsity sport.
Q.  There’s been some commentary in the news that the first rule of a locker room is that whatever you see there stays there. You don’t tell anyone. What are your thought on this?
A.  From my own experience in athlet ics and my own colleagues who have studied football, I would agree that that has been the culture. It starts with a sense of solidarity. These are your teammates and you have tremendous bonds with them. Your first responsibility is your loyalty to them and the privacy of those close intimate relationships.
But there has to be some limits on the cone of silence it creates, especially in situations like this. There’s been a real effort in many parts North American sport, to combat overt aggressive sexism, racism, and homophobia.  Although there’s been a mixed, uneven commitment or follow-up on this, there have been heart-warming examples to address that. The good news was that in this case, although he didn't intervene to stop the alleged rape, this young assistant came forward. That’s evidence that this generation taking responsibility for calling colleagues on outrageous behaviour. I think the way the university acted is another example that there’s no longer a code of silence around the dressing room.
Q. We’ve heard of several cases about drugs, abuse etc. being covered up; is sport more vulnerable than other fields of endeavour?
A. I’m not sure it’s more vulnerable.  Because of the spotlight and because of the conferring of representational status upon athletes and coaches, the emotional stakes become much higher. Sport professes to live a code of ethics. The burden is much greater. It’s in the spotlight; it claims to represent communities and claims to operate under a code of fair play and respect for others. I think a lot of sports people accept those obligations and try to walk that talk.
Q. Why are sports personalities so revered in general? Where does that come from?
A. It is a great question and a lot of people have tried to answer this. It has roots in the ancient Olympic Games of classical Greece when athletes were were widely considered symbolic representatives of their city-states, and if victorious, awarded life pensions. In the medieval period you had some disputes settled not by armies, by but by champions in one-on-one combat. In our own time, it is has been accentuated by the fact that the promoters of sport very early on made a marketing effort to link the athletes and teams to the city or region they came from.
A colleague once said to me, as an infant you’re carried around, lifted, provided food by these amazing creatures: your parents. They’re your first champions and you learn to admire physically gifted, strong, caring people who do these physical feats.
Q. What are responsibilities of coaches?  Is there a code of ethics? Should we have one?
A. There has been a code of ethics developed by coaches and institutions in Canada, at least in the Olympic and educational sports, as we have had to face cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment, and other challenges. We all now have police checks for employees and our faculty now will not hire anyone now without a police check. 

Vol. 1 No. 83 June , 1960

JUNE 1960
It’s the Jim Beatty show. There are two major meets and he is the star of both. On May 28 he tangles with American record holder Dyrol Burleson in the mile. Beatty combines with SCVYV teammate Lazlo Tabori to set a pace designed to take the sting out of Burleson’s kick. Tabori leads through 57.7 and 1:58.0 splits before Beatty takes over on the backstretch. By the start of the last lap Tabori has taken the lead again in 2:59.7 with Beatty in close attendance and the Oregon sophomore 8 yards back.
` Burleson makes his move on the backstretch, going by Tabori easily and moving up right behind Beatty. He follows Beatty around the curve, apparently ready for a big move on the final straight. Unfortunately for Burleson, it is Beatty who pulls away, opening ground all the way to a 3:58.0 finish and a new American record, erasing Burleson’s 3:58.6. Burleson finishes in 3:59.2 with Tabori at 4:00.0. Bill Dellinger, 4:02.7, and Bob Seaman, 4:04.3, run well, but are never in it.
As good as Beatty is, perhaps Don Styron had an intrinsically better mark. After finishing second to Lee Calhoun in the highs, 13.8 to 13.9, the NE Louisiana flyer destroys a strong field in the 220 lows with a 22.1 clocking, just .2 off his world record.
The 880 has the crowd on its feet. Mike Peake takes the field out in 52.5. Jim Grelle isn’t buying. He is 15 yards back and still only 7th at the 660. At this point he comes alive and moves through the field. It is too little, too late. Oklahoma State sophomore Bill Stone holds on for a 1:49.6 victory with Grelle and Jack Wilcox only inches back at 1:49.7.
How would the 880 have gone if George Kerr were in it you may be asking? We’ll never know because the NCAA champ is running the quarter…and running it well. Otis Davis, Mike Larabee and Vic Hall all run 46.3, but that only earns them a close view of Kerr’s backside as he finishes in 46.1.
The 100 sees the big meet debut of Oregon freshman Harry Jerome and an excellent one it is. He explodes out of the blocks to take the lead and though Ray Norton closes, the issue is never in doubt. They both clock 9.4. Doug Smith of Oxy is third at 9.5.
The six relays are split among three teams. San Jose State wins tight races at one and two laps. The Spartans, led off by Bobby Poynter and anchored by Willie Williams, clock 40.1 to hold off NELaTC and Baylor, both at 40.3 in the 440. The same group wins the 880 over Baylor with both timed in 1:23.7.
Occidental’s middle distance strength is on display in the two mile relay and the distance medley as they win easily in 7:34.8 and 10:00.7.
Abilene Christian didn’t come to California to lose. They beat East Texas and the Striders in the sprint medley in 3:20.2 and, though the Styrons give it their best with Dave leading off in 46.9 and Don anchoring in 46.0, ACC edges Northeast Louisiana in the mile relay with both teams running 3:10.0.
The Occidental freshmen have their walk in the sun with national frosh records of 7:37.5 and 3:ll.2. Dave Moon is the stud in the 2MR, anchoring in 1:50.7. Dave Brown, Steve Haas and Dixon Farmer all run low 47’s in the MR.
Six days later, June 3, and we are 330 miles south in Compton for the Friday evening Compton Invitational. Yep, it is the Jim Beatty show once again. Once again he and SCVYV teammate Lazlo Tabori have teamed up in an attempt to break an American record, this time at 5000 meters. They take turns leading. The mile passes in 4:24.9, the two mile in 8:58.3. “Still the pace did not slacken and the cheers of the crowd followed them around each lap. They ran laps of 69.8, 68.3, 67.7, and 63.9 for a 13:28.0, dead-heating for an American record. The Beatty turned on his final drive and gradually pulled away from the ex-Hungarian. His last lap, running hard for only half of it, was in 59.2” for the new record, 13:51.7. Tabori finishes in 13:53.2, while the next finisher is on the backstretch.
Herb Elliott runs only to win the mile, but the rest of the field wish they could do as well. He comes home in 57.0 for another monotonous (for him) sub four minute mile, in this case 3:59.2. Jim Grelle, still “not at my peak”, is in close attendance at 4:00.1 with the comebacking Bob Seaman, who says, “I’m hungry”, in third in 4:01.4.
The Styron twins provide major bang for their per diem. Dave runs 10.3 to take the 100 and just misses Adolph Plummer by a tenth in the 220. I don’t know if there was an “Athlete of the Meet” award, but my vote would have gone to Don. His 14.0 earns him a third in the highs behind Lee Calhoun’s 13.5 and Hayes Jones’ 13.9, but the best is yet to come. He beats Dickie Howard “with a great kick off the last hurdle in the 400 meter “mediums” in 51.5. Just to make the evening complete, he destroys Jones in the lows 22.2 to 23.0. Cordner Nelson pronounces it the “greatest hurdle triple in history”.
The shot put is a battle of the walking wounded. Dallas Long withdraws. No explanation is given. Parry O’Brien, plagued by hemorrhaging sinusitis, wins at 62-8¼. Bill Nieder, “still suffering from his hamstring pull, a result of reinjuring his old football knee”, takes an impressive standing put of 62-5½, but can’t take a traditional throw. Third at 59-11 3/4 is Dave Davis. It is explained that he is “weak from four days of milk and donuts”. Remember this is the guy who “disappeared” last month.
The on again, off again Deacon Jones is on in the steeplechase. He follows Phil Coleman until the last curve where he opens up in the last 120 for a 15 yard win in 8:49.7.
Hal Connolly is traditionally the most dominating performer on the circuit. Tonight is no exception. He throws the hammer 224-8 1/2 to win by more than 30 feet.
Mike Larabee comes from behind in the stretch to catch Earl Young and Otis Davis in the 440. The odd thing here is that whereas we have 46.9 as the winning time, the others are given times for 400 meters as Cordner Nelson writes that time at yards was “erratic”. So we have Larabee at 46.9 (46.6m) with Young at 46.7m and Davis 46.9m.
Rafer Johnson appears to be rounding into Olympic shape. He wins the javelin in a PR of 251-9 and finds a moment to run on the Striders’ 880 relay time, splitting 20.7.
California takes the measure of USC and Abilene Christian in the mile relay. Jerry Siebert’s 46.5 third leg gets Jack Yerman off first in the anchor. Yerman runs 46.5 to hold off SC’s Angie Coia’s 46.2 and Earl Young’s 45.9. Cal 3:09.2, SC 3:09.8, ACC 3:10.0. Oh, remember that frosh record of 3:11.2 Oxy set last week? Well, it lasted six days. The SC frosh run 3:11.0 for fourth. The Oxy kids got a good look at the new record holders as they ran 3:11.7 in fifth.
On May 28 the AAWU meet is held in Seattle. Those initials stand for The Athletic Association of Western Universities. Still not clear? That would be SC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal and Washington. SC wins the team title. The best race is the 880 where Cal’s Siebert catches Stanford’s Ernie Cunliffe at the tape, both clocking 1:49.0, a PR for Siebert.
Under the heading of “Late News” we find that on June 10 Charlie Tidwell tied the WR at 100 meters in Houston’s Meet of Champions. His Kansas teammate, Bill Alley, extended his collegiate javelin record to 273-10. George Kerr won the 880 in 1:48.5 and Lee Calhoun continues to look unbeatable in the 120HH, winning in 13.5.
In meet held the next day in New York, Tom Murphy and Al Oerter proclaim their readiness for the Olympics. Murphy runs negative splits (54.4-53.8) for 1:48.2, the second fastest 880 in the US this year behind Ernie Cunliffe’s 1:47.3. Oerter throws the discus 192-5.
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