FEBRUARY, 1962
Records are falling right and left, indoors and out. On January 27 John Uelses vaults 15-10¼ to break Don Bragg's indoor record by ¾ of an inch and equal George Davies' outdoor record. But the best is yet to come. Six days later in the Millrose Games he becomes the first 16 foot vaulter by a ¼ inch. The next night in the Boston AA meet he tacks on another half inch.
In doing some extra checking I noticed that Uelses stated once that he was the first Marine into orbit, preceeding John Glenn by two weeks. After leaving the Corps, he enrolled at LaSalle in Philadelphia and won 3 NCAA championships. He also played soccer for LaSalle.
Peter Snell isn't satisfied with his recent 3:54.4 world record mile. Just a week later in an 880 in Christchurch, New Zealand he follows quarter miler Barry Robinson through 24.8 and 51.0 splits before taking the lead. The 660 comes up in 1:16.9, the fastest ever recorded in competition. The report of the race says he “wobbled” a bit coming off the final curve, but as he is leading by 30 yards, this probably isn't noticeable to the competition. He passes the 800 in 1:44.3 before breasting the tape in 1:45.1. The magnitude of this performance is evident in that he has broken Roger Moen's 800 mark by 1.4 seconds and Tom Courtney's 880 record by 1.7 seconds. Moens cables, “Fantastic, terrific, congratulations!” That would be the same Roger Moens who, just last year, said that Snell would not be the one to break his record because he was too heavy.
To view this race and post race interviews with Arthur Lydiard and Peter Snell I refer you to
www.nzonscreen.com/title/pictorial-parade-no123-1962
The race starts at 3 minutes into the link.
In the previous posting I had asked Peter about his views on grass tracks, and in the above film both he and Lydiard have some things to say about grass.
Within one week Peter Snell has set world records at a mile, 800 meters and 880 yards. Indeed he is the first to hold those records at the same time since Great Britain's Sydney Wooderson. Now what do you do for an encore? Well, there's still the indoor season going on in the United States. What about taking a shot at Ernie Cunliffe's 1000 yard record next week in the LA Times meet? As with last week's 800 and 880, Snell provides a 2 for 1 special. There is no description of the race other than the amazing Kiwi leads from the gun and eclipses the 880 world record in 1:50.2 en route to a 2:06.0 clocking, taking 1.9 seconds off Ernie's record.
To recap, a 3:54.4 world record in the mile, a week later WRs at 880 yards and 800 meters and the following week indoor records at 880 yards and 1000 yards. Five world records in fifteen days, undoubtedly the greatest middle distance running the world has ever seen.
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WHAT ERNIE REMEMBERS////////////////////////////////////
What do you do to try and win after getting your butt kicked by Snell so many times? At our 4th meet on the tour which was at Invercargill I decided to lead a very slow lst lap, which we hit in 59. For the only time on the tour the crowd BOOed us and someone in the stands yelled out "Get on with it." So I did, sprinting a fast, for me, 54+ last lap but of course Snell outdid this with a 53 for a winning time of 1:52.2, no doubt his slowest 800 of the year as he cruised by me on the last turn. I was 2nd in 1:53.5 and Dupree 3rd in 1:53.8./////////////////////////
So for the 5th meet scheduled for Christchurch I went to PLAN B. Bork and I went Salmon fishing!! My lst victory on the tour as I caught a 17 1/2 lb
35 " salmon while Bork caught a 13.5 lb one. Jim Dupree was also busy away from the track as early one morning while working out on a beach
near Christchurch he assisted in saving a man who was drowning in the surf. His lifesaving feat was widely written up in the newspapers and this was
the only way the rest of our group found out about it because Dupress modestly kept it to himself. ///////////////////////////////////
As promised here is the story about my 3 PRs. (actually 4) Dave Edstrom scratched the last two meets at Christchurch and Wellington due to a leg strain. Thus instead of my running the 880 I volunteered to enter the pentathlon as the event was going to be cancelled since there were only 2 New Zealand athletes entered. As a bit of background I had once competed in a pentathlon at Stanford in July 61 against Bill Toomey who Roy has suggested might be looking for an event in which he might do fairly well. Bill won 4 of the 5 events and I easily took the 1500 and scored a little over 2700 points vs Bill's 3300+ as we went 1st and 2nd against a fairly weak field. At Christchurch I got about 17 1/2 feet in the long jump, not a PR, 80'+ in the discus which was a PR, 121'+ in the javelin, another PR. I figured I had the New Zealanders pretty well set up for the last two events as they barely kept from laughing at my poor weight event performances. I had a great 200 with a PR in 22.8. The final event was the 1500 which broke up a tight battle for 2nd as I ran 3:55+ to split the two New Zealand athletes for 2nd with a point total, also a PR barely of 2725 points. I immediately
retired from all future multi events with bragging rights of a 2nd to Bill Toomey and a 2nd in an International Competition.
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The 880/800 was covered by Roy. There were 20,000 people at the meet. I actually felt so good after the pentathlon that I regretted not jumping into the race as I know I could have carried the pace following Robinson's 50+ when Snell passed him to lead going down the backstretch with about a 30 yd lead at the 660. I wish I had been there for I normally accelerate through the 440 and might have been able to hit the 660 in a 1:16/1:17 pace to give Peter some competition and force him to sprint to a faster finish while I dogged it down the final straight. WRs of 1:44.3ms and 1:45.1 yds with Dupree a distant 2nd in 1:49.6. Bork (too much salmon fishing?) was 3rd in 1:53.5
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Clearly the best shot putters in the world for the past couple years have been Parry O'Brien, Bill Nieder, Dallas Long and Dave Davis. Those were The Big Four. No one else need apply......until Gary Gubner arrived on the scene. On February 2 in the Millrose Games the 19 year old NYU student demolishes O'Brien's indoor record by 8¾ inches with a prodigious 63-10¼. Two weeks later at the New York AC meet he destroys that mark with a throw of 64-11¾, the second longest throw in history behind Nieder's 65-7 outdoor mark. Welcome to the club, Gary.
Jim Beatty joins the aforementioned world record holders as he breaks the indoor record in the mile with a 3:58.9 mark in the Times meet. Again, details are lacking other than he passes 1500 meters in 3:43.2.
Bert Nelson's column is devoted to the use of the fiberglass pole: Does it provide an advantage over the metal pole? Should it be banned? Should the present design of the fiberglass pole be “frozen” thereby allowing no more improvements? Should there be any limitation on future designs? Should the event be eliminated? Laboratory tests conducted by Johns Mansville show that the resiliency, vibration and thrust of the fiberglass pole are similar to those of the now outdated bamboo pole. If this is so, why has the bamboo pole been cast aside and the fiberglass pole is now producing prolific gains? Bert fears for the future. What if scientists produce a pole that will bend 180 degrees so that a vaulter can stand in front of the bar, bend his pole and be flipped into the air? He concludes that the fairest solution is to freeze the pole as it is now, but allow other materials to catch up with the fiberglass.
A survey of notable coaches and athletes results in an overwhelming opinion that the fiberglass pole should be allowed. Cal's Brutus Hamilton says the pole should be allowed unless further improvements make it dangerous. Stanford's Payton Jordan says it is a logical improvement just like all-weather tracks, lighter shoes and hard surfaces for the shot and discus. Foothill College's Vern Wolfe is in favor of freezing the pole as it is now. “If some limitations are not made, we will eventually see extreme circumstances.” Oregon's Bill Bowerman, the chairman of the NCAA rules committee, says whether the pole is an aid, depends on the vaulter. He also cites improvements in throwing and running surfaces. Ralph Higgins at Oklahoma State also votes no on a ban. He feels metal alloys will catch up. And finally, we hear from J. Flint Hanner, the coach of Dutch Warmerdam. “If this pole needed a ruling concerning its use, the action should have been taken when it was first used in Tulare in 1951. (Who knew?) It would seem to me if legislation were adopted now, it would be by coaches and athletes with a personal reason for their decisions. The javelin certainly went through the same evolution and nothing was done except adopt specifications necessary to uniformity. This may be needed concerning the glass pole.”//////////////
Some vaulters are pretty much forced into retirement , such as J.D. Martin, because they haven't made a fiberglass pole that can hold his 6'4" 215 pound frame. Fortunately J.D. is multi-talented and can move on to the decathalon where he wins the Pan Am games in 1963. Before he can try for the 1964 Olympics, the opportunity to coach at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, comes his way, and he choses retirement from competition. His coach Bill Carroll decided to go into banking and the job was wide open for J.D. He'll be head coach at OU for another 37 years. ed. //////////////
It is not too late to get in on the T&FN European Championship tour held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia September 12-16. There is a choice of three tours with optional extensions throughout Europe starting at $775 including round trip jet New York – London, train or plane to Belgrade, housing, tickets, some meals an the famed T&FN celebrity banquets.
Sydney Wooderson and the great Walter George, British WR holder in the mile in the 19th century
We mention Sydney Wooderson in this posting, because Sydney was the only person to hold the WR in the Mile, 800, and 880 prior to Peter Snell accomplishing that feat.
This is the obituary of Sydney Wooderson which appeared in the British paper THE GUARDIAN////////////////////////////
OBITUARY Sydney Wooderson
by John Rodda
The Guardian, Tuesday 2 January 2007 Sydney Wooderson, who has died at the age of 92, must often have wondered about Olympic gold, the first four-minute mile and more world records; had it not been for Adolf Hitler he might have achieved all these goals. Instead, this most unlikely looking winner, 5ft 6ins in height and weighing 8st 13lbs, came to prominence at a time when British sporting fans needed a "good little 'un".
Wooderson epitomised the amateur athlete of the last century, combining fair play and honesty with dedication, particularly to his club Blackheath Harriers. He came back from the 1936 Berlin Olympics injured and without a prize, but would surely have won medals in Tokyo four years later or in Helsinki in 1944. War obliterated all that, but Wooderson gave substance to conjecture, for having won the European 1500m title in 1938, he took the 5,000m in 1946 one week before his 32nd birthday.
Eighteen months later, he stretched his competitive range in winning the English Cross Country Union championship across a hilly nine-mile course in Sheffield. In that triumph, any remaining Olympic hope was extinguished with an achilles tendon injury.
Wooderson had heralded his talent by setting the 880 yards world record time of 1min 49.2sec (and the 800 metres of 1min 48.4sec) in the same race in 1937, and the one mile world record of 4min 6.4sec the following year. He won the AAA mile title in five consecutive years from 1935, and set a world best for three-quarters of a mile with 2min 59.5sec - tangible evidence that a four-minute mile was possible.
His best remembered appearance came in August 1945, when 54,000 people, starved of international sport, crammed into White City, London, to watch his mile race against Arne Andersson and Gunder Hagg. The neutral Swedes had enjoyed a competitive sporting life, playing ping-pong with the world mark, bringing it down to 4min 1.4sec. London-born Wooderson, first as a fireman fighting the blitz and then as an army engineer, had just managed to race at charity meetings. Moreover, he had recently recovered from rheumatic fever, after four months in hospital and being told he would never run again.
That diagnosis was put to rest on that August bank holiday. About 5,000 people, frustrated at house full signs, broke down two doors and poured through. Among them were a Mr Bannister and his 15-year-old son Roger, who in his book First Four Minutes (1955), wrote: "We all have our sports heroes and Wooderson from that day became mine. I admired him as much for his attitude to running as for the feats he achieved."
British hopes revealed their fragility when the tall, powerful-looking Andersson lined up alongside the diminutive Englishman. The Swede did the front running to burn off the Wooderson finish; the Englishman made his challenge at the beginning of the final lap and led until the last straight, when the Swede's fitness and pace devoured thousands of hopes. Their return meeting in Gothenburg after a month's concentrated training was a closer affair, with Wooderson holding Andersson until the final 50m and running his fastest time, 4min 4.2sec, with a new British 1500m record on the way of 3min 48.4sec.
In athletics circles, Wooderson had signalled what might be coming when, as an 18-year-old schoolboy at Sutton Valence in Sevenoaks, he won a mile in 4min 29.8sec, the fastest time by a person of his age. Yet while Wooderson became a sporting name, he was never a celebrity; athletics was his hobby and he regarded his foremost responsibility as being to Blackheath Harriers. He was always a team member ready to run or support; he broke his world records not at big White City events but at club meetings on London University's Motspur Parktrack in Surrey. He missed the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney because he was taking his solicitor's exams and could not afford time for two long boat journeys.
In 1946 Wooderson turned to the three miles, won the AAA title with a British record time, and then took the European title in Oslo with a demonstration of last-lap pace; he took the lead with 250m remaining and won by seven, with such distinguished names as Willy Slykhuis of Holland, Gaston Reiff (Belgium) and a young Emile Zatopek (Czechoslovakia) adrift.
That was almost the end of his track career, but his passion for running did not subside, and in 1948 came that cross-country title. A few months later in the Olympic Games in London, the 5,000m was won by Reiff, in a time seven seconds slower than the one Wooderson achieved in beating him in 1946. By then Wooderson was officiating at Blackheath club meetings or working as a solicitor in an office in the City of London.
He put on his spikes again in 1969, as centenary president of Blackheath, running in a national inter-club 100 x one mile race (only the Commonwealth/Empire could dream up such a race. ed.), while at the 40th anniversary dinner of the first four-minute mile in 1994, Wooderson drew the most sustained applause.
He is survived by his wife Pamela, whom he married in 1950, and their son and daughter.
· Sydney Charles Wooderson, athlete, born August 30 1914; died December 21 2006
Sydney Wooderson defeating Jack Lovelock
Wooderson being carried off by his peers after breaking Glenn Cunningham's WR in the Mile at 4:06 3/5 at Motspur Park.
Wooderson being interviewed on BBC by Harold Abrahams
Wooderson in his later years
Wooderson's career was certainly limited by WWII, but he managed to still be running at international levels after the war and was kept off the 1948 British team by an injury incurred during the British AAA cross country championships the previous autumn. He was considered for selection as the torch bearer on the final leg into the stadium, which would have been fitting recognition to his long career, however he was left out for a lesser known athlete who was considered to be more attractive. This sounds almost Germanic in some officious way of thinking. Prince Phillip was also considered along with Wooderson and was also discounted. ///////
http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/Wooderson
Films of some of Wooderson's races can be found at the british pathe site.
