Vol. 3 No. 47 March, 1964

MARCH 1964

With the nationals behind us we are moving on to the outdoor season, right? Actually, no. There are still indoor meets, lots of them.

On Thursday, Feb. 27 the New York Knights of Columbus meet is held in the Garden and a crowd of 12,602 is there to see Bill Crothers improve his status as co-favorite with Peter Snell in the October Olympic Games 800. The Canadian pharmacist drops down from his usual 1000 yards to 600 and moves to second on the yearly list with a 1:09.7 clocking. The K of C meet loves mile relays; there are four of them. Crothers returns to run in one and brings his East York Track Club from last place to victory by two yards over the New York Pioneer Club with a 47.2 anchor leg.

Indoor word record holder Tom O'Hara hadn't planned on running fast this evening, but the crowd's enthusiasm propels him to a 3:58.5 clocking, the second fastest mile ever run indoors. Although running his PR, Ergas Leps' 4:03.6 leaves him 40 yards in arrears.

Ron Clarke's American tour has been marked by ups and downs. Tonight he suffers his third loss in six races when Bruce Kidd's kick gives him an 8:39.0 to 8:39.2 two mile win. Ron Laris PRs in third at 8:45.6.

Question: How do you win the triple jump on your last attempt without bettering the mark of your opponent? Ira Davis and Chris Mousiades are tied at 50-10 going into the final round. Using the tie breaking rule in which the second best mark determines the winner, Mousiades leads with 50-4½ second best jump before Davis hits 50-8 in the sixth round to snatch the victory.

If you want to see a meet on Feb. 29 you have your choice of four, the All-Eastern Games in Baltimore, the Heptagonal Indoor Championships in Ithica, NY, the Eastern NCAA Regionals in Louisville and the Western NCAA Regionals in Portland.

Wendell Mottley is having a heck of an indoor season. Already he has bettered world records at 440 and 500 yards. Tonight in the Heptagonal Games he is trying to add the 600 to his record collection. The odds are stacked against him. Let us count the ways: the race will be run on a flat track; he will not be allowed to wear spikes; the competition is mediocre and he just ran a trial heat an hour and a half ago. Not to worry, Wendell is up to the task. He cruises through 24.1 and 49.7 splits and now has one lap to run. As we recall from last month's issue, this is where he ran into trouble at the Millrose Games. He split 48.3 in that race, but apparently learned from the experience. This time his pace has left considerable in the tank. He finishes strongly to take George Kerr's WR down a tenth with a 1:09.2 clocking. But wait, the Yale captain is back 90 minutes later to bring the Eli's from 20 yards down in the mile relay to victory with a 46.7 split. If you think Wendell was voted the outstanding athlete of the meet award, you would be right.

The All-Eastern Games is the site of what Hayes Jones says will be his last ever indoor race. He makes his 55^th consecutive indoor win a memorable one as he blazes to a 6.8 clocking thereby lowering his 60 yard WR by a tenth. Now on to the outdoor season and the Olympics for the former Eastern Michigan star.

John Thomas also has a pretty good night. He jumps 7-2¾ for the best jump in the world this year and his best mark since 1961.

The Eastern NCAA meet, held in Louisville's Freedom Hall, is the first one ever and it shows. Only 22 schools and 135 athletes are entered. Worse yet, the spectators number only 1200. That doesn't stop the lads from Maryland State from having a good time. They win the meet with 18 points to runner up Penn State's 13. But, wait, it gets better. Two of their mile relay runners have already run the 600, so we can only assume that this is not a flat out world record attempt, but a WR is what they get. The team of Brown (48.5), Morris (47.8), Skinner (48.1) and Rogers (47.3) runs 3:11.7 for the record. Pretty sure this is a 220 yard track.

Portland is the site of the Western NCAA meet. Four thousand and four fans are buoyed by the return of Harry Jerome. After being out of action since suffering a severely torn thigh muscle in 1962, the University of Oregon star demonstrates his readiness to compete at the highest level with a 6.0 60 yard clocking, just a tenth off Bob Hayes' record. Oregon State's Jan Underwood and USC's Bruce Bess tangle at 1000 yards. After a slow 61 second quarter the pace picks up. Underwood follows Bess until the last straight where he blows by to win by six yards in the fastest time of the season, 2:08.5.

Now it is Friday night, March 6 and we are at the Chicago Daily News Relays where there are 18,307 spectators, the largest crowd of the season, most of whom have come to see a local boy break a record. That boy would be a 5'9”, 130 pound redhead who is a student at Loyola of Chicago, Tom O'Hara. He set the world record in the indoor mile, 3:56.6, just 23 days ago and there is no doubt that tonight will see a serious attempt to lower that record.

His determination to take it out hard is evident as he jumps the gun. The crowd and especially the starter have to be praying for a legal start the second time. A collective sigh of relief fills the stadium as the field is away cleanly. O'Hara leads around the first turn before the rabbit, Jim Irons, takes over and leads through 58.1 and 1:58.8. Irons drops away and now O'Hara must hold pace without help. Jim Grelle is right with him so there is no temptation to dawdle. The crowd is with him. When the ¾ mark is reached in 2:59.8, pandemonium reigns. O'Hara has a fierce kick, but Grelle is no slouch. The ex-Oregon star stays close until the final 160 yard lap where O'Hara goes to the afterburners that Grelle – or maybe no one – has. Now it is the local hero against the clock. It is as if the crowd can will him to break the tape in record time. To the relief and joy of all assembled, that is exactly what happens. His 3:56.4 shaves two tenths from his previous mark.

In what has to be one of the most egregious faux pas in recent track history, no other runner receives a time though Grelle's coach, Mihaly Igloi, clocks him in 3:58.9. But wait, it gets worse. O'Hara went through 1500 meters in an unofficial 3:41.6, bettering the world record, but the officials don't have the forethought to time him at that distance. The lack of place timing is not confined to the mile. Only the winner of each event is timed. Second place makes one the first loser and, as such, apparently unworthy of a guy in a tuxedo wasting his time clicking his watch.

Miami's Bob Schul was outkicked by Bruce Kidd in a two mile last month, but today the tables have turned and Schul has the upper hand. He holds off the Canadian phenom, winning by “a slight margin” in 8:48.2 to......well, we will never know.

That isn't to say that Canadian runners go home with no gold medals. Bill Crothers benefits from a rabbit in the 1000 and replaces Jan Underwood as the holder of the season's best mark, 2:07.6. He now holds three of the four fastest times ever run at this distance. “K.C.” Yang, as he is repeatedly called by the announcer, wins the pole vault at 16 feet. This is probably the same guy we know as C.K. Yang.

The second annual United States Track and Field Federation meet is held in conjunction with the 13^th annual Milwaukee Journal Games, oddly on a Monday night. John Camien runs an indoor PR with his 4:02.8 mile for the top mark. The best race is the 1000 where Missouri's Robin Lingle leaves Villanova's Tom Sullivan and Oregon State's Jan Underwood well behind, 2:09.1 to 2:10.5 for both. In addition, we have our first George Wood sighting. The So. Illinois strongman puts the shot 60-2 to win by a foot and a half.

The lights of the indoor season are dimming as the Cleveland Knights of Columbus meet on March 14 wraps up the season. An overflow crowd of 10.891 watches John Uelses clear 16-4½ for an American indoor pole vault record. Unfortunately, two of the top attractions are not able to compete. John Thomas has a sprained ankle and Tom O'Hara has aggravated a groin strain. In O'Hara's absence, Jim Grelle breaks O'Hara's meet record with a 4:02.3 mile, excellent considering that it is run on a 12 lap to the mile track. In a season marred by poor officiating, it seems only fitting that Bob Schul is timed in 9:11.3 in winning the two mile. It seems that the guys in the tuxedos had trouble counting and that the Miami star has run 25 laps. What to do? One timer believes that Schul had completed 24 laps at 8:51.2. Seems as good a time as any, so be it. Nearly fifty years later that 8:51.2 is etched in stone.

Running through the rest of the issue in no particular order we find that Willie Crawford of LA Dorsey High has already jumped 24-11. Seems the young man also plays baseball pretty well. Wonder what sport he will choose........The Australian 440 relay team broke Oregon's 40.0 world record with a 39.9 March 15. Wait a minute, the alert among you may be saying, Texas (39.6) Abilene Christian (39.7) and San Jose State (39.7) have run faster than that. Yes, but those were one turn races. The Aussies went all the way around the track.......John Rambo jumped 7-0 last year and has a strong shot at making the Olympic team this year, but basketball has been taking up some of his time. On February 27 the Long Beach State star scores 27 points. The next day he jumps 6-9¾ in the Long Beach Relays, but still has enough left to score 42 points in that evening's game........Why middle distance runners should not be tough guys: wonderfully named Abilene Christian half miler Charlie Christmas is out of action with a broken jaw after a “dormitory argument”........Mal Whitfield has suggested that Negro athletes should boycott the Tokyo Olympics unless they get “first class treatment at home”. In an article in Ebony magazine, the former Olympic champion writes, “It's time for American Negro athletes to join the civil rights fight”.......Occidental discus thrower Bill Neville has thrown 194 feet. His improvement may be the result of a weight gain from 208 to 265 in the last year. He now benches 470. In 1964 no one in track had heard of steroids. He is just a growing boy.......Is there a correlation between representing your country in the Olympics and death? Sure seems to be. In this issue we learn that John Brennan who placed fifth in the 1908 broad jump has died in a Milwaukee nursing home. Patrick Ryan, the gold medalist in the 1920 games hammer, has passed at 81 and Stacy Linden, second in the 1906 1500, has succumbed to a heart attack. Strange, but true...............It is rumored that Jim Grelle is considering the steeplechase for October's Olympics........Speaking of the Olympics, save a spot on the '84 team for Charles Wray, the son of former Oxy star, Larry Wray. The lad has just set an age group record that may not be challenged in his lifetime. Young Charles ran a 440 in 4:18.0 two days before his second birthday. For those of you doing the math at home, yes, the kid was one. Dad says that little Charlie ran the entire distance in the third lane and therefore covered 452 yards. He kept going 20 yards beyond the finish before he could be corralled.

Just peeked at the next issue. Good stuff. Two world records and the comeback of an Olympic champion after a four year layoff. Be watching for the next installment.

Vol. 3 No. 31 October , 1963 , Tony Sneazwell Rediscovered

Our intrepid reporter uncovered a nice performance by one Tony Sneazwell, Australian of origin.  This a name I've long forgotten.  Sneazwell did a remarkable jump of 7' 2-5/8" straddling in a day when Brumel and Thomas were the only one's we heard about in High Jump competitions.  A number of things can be found about Tony's jumping career , even his old school logo, and  some video.  We'll connect you to that in this entry. He finished 13th at Tokyo in 1964 with a jump of 2.06 meters, and tied for 22nd at Mexico City with the same height.

OCTOBER 1963

Track and field in the United States has been washed, dried, folded and put away in a drawer until next year, but there is still action in the rest of the world. Two performances have captured this issue's front page mention and photos.

Czechoslovakia's Ludvig Danek has become the fifth member of the 200 foot discus club with a throw of 200-0½ or 60.97 meters in Prague September 8. A week later in Kiev he threw 60.96 to become the first to hit exactly 200 feet.

The other notable mark is that of Australia's Tony Sneazwell who high jumped 7-2 5/8 in Tokyo to move to third on the all time HJ list behind Brumel (7-5¾), John Thomas (7-3¾) and tie with China's Ni Chihchin.

Tony Sneazwell

Ron Clarke and Tony

Old Boys Crest of
Parade College where Tony attended public school and is now a distinguished alum

Sneazwell can be seen jumping at the following site.  Your computer may or may not be able to open it.
http://www.t3licensing.com/video/clip/48050225_9300.do

There is emphasis on the Olympic Games, both '64 and '68. Mexico City has been awarded the '68 Games, edging Detroit and Lyon, France 30-14-12 in the International Olympic Committee voting. Tokyo just held a dry run meet to get the kinks out before hosting next year's Games.

The Tokyo meet, the highlight of Tokyo International Sports Week, was held in mid-October, the same dates as next year's OGs. As this meet was not the focal point of athletic competition this year, it was too late for most of the top athletes to either show up or perform well, Sneazwell being the obvious exception.

The correction department: Remember the problem TFN had getting Mike or Jim Wood's name right? When last we visited that issue the young man was Jim. Not so any more. Now we are back to Mike. Stay tuned for further developments. .....Bill Baillie's WRs at ten miles and one hour also bear some adjustment. The track world has been taken aback by the correction of time and distance. After some study, the New Zealand AAA changed his one hour distance from 12 miles 960 yards to 12 miles 961 yards and his ten mile time from 48:10 to 48:09. Honest. (Anything to get those numbers a bit further out in the "Twilight Zone").

Take this for what it is worth. Dick Drake's On Your Marks column includes mention of this paragraph from the March issue of Ontario Track Monthly. “A Japanese TV unit visited New Zealand to film an exhibition mile among Arthur Lydiard's four best milers, but everything went wrong. Halberg left his spikes at home, he and Baillie forgot to wear their NZ vests and Lydiard lost his stopwatch. Snell finished last. (ed note: Do you get the feeling that somebody isn't really trying here?) On top of that, the TV camera ran out of film after three laps and Baillie, the winner, missed the starring roll of his life.” As the old saying goes, some days you shoulda just stood in bed.

Jim Dunaway in his appropriately named “Jim Dunaway Says” column takes on the failure the United States has had with its 400 relay teams in recent big meets. Citing disqualifications in the recent dual with the Soviet Union and the 1960 Olympic final, along with our 1956 Olympic win by a scant three yards over a mediocre USSR team, he cites the lack of practice as the cause. We have the best sprinters in the world, yet they don't have the sufficient opportunity to work together to achieve flawless baton passing. He lists three possible solutions which don't sound bad. The first is to have the fourth through seventh place finishers in the 100 be the team. They would be able to work together on a daily basis to perfect their passing. Now that the NCAA has the 400 relay in its championship meet, his second suggestion is that the US team should be the winner of that meet, thus providing a proven product. His third proposition would be to qualify teams that have placed in the top two at a major relay meet (Mt. SAC, Penn, Drake, Modesto, etc.) and have a runoff the day before the AAU meet.

There are two pages of Letters to the Editor. They run the gamut from a coach who has a seven year old who has run the 220 in 36.4 and adds, “I challenge anyone to top this mark”, (picture 7 year-olds across the country, putting down their crayons, turning off Bullwinkle, lacing up their spikes yelling, "Oh, yeah, we'll see about that!") then says that he believes the kid could run 35.0 “with longer training”.

At the other end of the spectrum is a tongue-in-cheek letter in which the writer mentions that he has seen that next year's Olympic schedule includes something called the “long jump” and encourages the NCAA and the AAU “to schedule this event – whatever it is – so that athletes from the US will not be completely shut out”. Could it be that the broad jump will finally go the way of the hop-step-jump and be replaced by a spiffy new name?

A page and a half is devoted to an article by European correspondent, R.L. Quercetani entitled “Athletes of the Century”. The title might be more accurately “Athletes of the Decade”, as he has listed the top three for each ten year period from 1900. Here goes - 1901-1910: 1) Alfred Shrubb (distance, Great Britain) 2) Melvin Sheppard (distance, US) 3) Ralph Rose (shot put, US) 1911- 1920: 1) Hannes Kolehmainen (distance, Finland)

2) Jim Thorpe (decathlon, US) 3) Ted Meredith (440, 880, US) 1921-1930: 1) Paavo Nurmi (distance, Finland) 2) Charlie Paddock, (sprints, US) 3) William Dehart Hubbard (100, broad jump, US) 1931-1940: 1) Jesse Owens (sprints, broad jump, US) 2) Rudolph Harbig (800, Germany)



Rudolf Harbig



Harbig in Berlin

Harbig (coat slung over shoulder) on the streets of Budapest, 1940
He competed until 1942 when he went off to war. He perished
in the Ukraine in 1944.

 

 3) Matti Jarvinen (javelin, Finland) 1941-1950: 1) Gundar Haag (distance, Sweden)

 

Haag defeating Arne Andersson in a 4:02 mile

 2) Cornelius Warmerdam (pole vault, US) 3) Harrison Dillard (hurdles, sprints, US) 1951-1960: 1) Emil Zatopek (distance, Czechoslavakia) 2) Herb Elliot (distance, Australia) 3) Bobby Morrow (sprints, US). He lists as favorites for the decade of the sixties Valeriy Brumel, Al Oerter and Peter Snell. Obviously there were athletes whose greatest years were in two decades making it tough for them to be ranked higher than one whose career was mostly in the same decade. Bob Mathias, whose Olympic decathlon victories came in 1948 and 1952, would be a prime example.

Undoubtedly these rankings will be the subject of long and loud arguments when the gang gathers for the regular Friday night track gabfest at the Dew Drop Inn. Let your reporter start the ball rolling by respectfully inquiring how the hell Bobby Morrow got ranked ahead of Parry O'Brien. O'Brien won two Olympic gold medals in the shot put, dominated the event by breaking the WR 17 times in the six year period he was the record holder, and reinvented the method of shot putting. And Paddock over Hubbard? Are you serious? Don't get me started.......Okay, that should get you guys through the first pitcher. After that you're on your own.

Dehart Hubbard  first African American
Olympic Gold medallist

Dehart Hubbard's Gold Medal

Hubbard in Action for the US

Alfred Schrubb

Wanna know more about Mel Sheppard? This is from the website of Rebecca Jenkins,author
www.rebeccajenkins.com     excerpt from her book  The First London Olympics, 1908 .

The Almost Milers

Wednesday August 8, 2012

The 1,500 meter competition was one of the most exciting of the first London Olympics.   It took place in the opening week in the stadium on the 13^th and 14^th of July 1908.   The weather wasn’t good, but the field – for the time – was.  

The Brits expected to win easily.     They had a strong team led by George Butterfield, the holder of the AAA title from 1905-1907 and the man who ran the world’s fastest mile in 1906.   Butterfield, born in Stockton on Tees in the North East of England, was a 29 year old barman from Darlington who ran with Darlington Harriers.    The local press liked to tell how he once ran a race with a greyhound.  The dog came in second.

George Butterfield, however, fell foul of an issue that caused great controversy among the visiting athletes at the first London Olympics – namely, the British Athletics organisers’ insistence that only the winner of each heat should qualify for the final.    The American team protested from the very beginning this local quirk, for it meant that it came down to the luck of the draw as to whether a country's best medal hopes were pitted against one another in a first round heat.  (The draws were made in secret too – which didn’t help confidence.)

In the 1,500 contest, for instance, GB’s Joe Deakin, winner of Heat 6, got into the final with a time of 4:13.6 when George Butterfield was knocked out with a time of 4:11.8 because he had the misfortune to be drawn in Heat 2 alongside the US star of the Irish American AC, Mel Sheppard.  Unfortunately for George, in Heat 2 Mel Sheppard, a 24 year old from New Jersey, set a new Olympic record with a time of 4:05.0.

(This was all the more unfortunate, since Joe Deakin was running in the team race later that day and had been asked to save his energies for that - so he was never likely to do that well in the 1,500 m.)

Sheppard’s record didn’t stand very long that time.   In the very next heat, Britain’s Norman Hallows, a 21 year old from Doncaster studying at Oxford University, broke it with a time 4:03.4, only just defeating Italy’s Emilio Lunghi, whose time of 4:03.8 would have won any of the other seven heats.
The British, however, were still confident they would carry off gold.   Their bet was on little HA Wilson, a 5ft 4 tall, 22-year-old born in Horncastle, Lincoln who had won the British Olympic trials with a world record setting time of 3:59.9 that May.

Besides, numerically speaking, the odds were in favour of Team GB.   Among the eight runners who lined up for the final, at 17.20 on Tuesday, 14 of July, five were British.   They  faced one Canadian, John Tait and two American champions from the famous Irish American Athletic Club of New York: Mel Sheppard  and Jim Sullivan – knicknamed “4:22 Jim” by his team-mates for running the mile in 4:22.5 in 1905.   (For those, like me, confused by the difference – the mile translates as 1,609.35 meters and so takes a bit longer to run than the 1,500 meter race.)
The weather that Tuesday wasn’t conducive to great performances.   ‘The temperature was low,’ one sports journalist recorded, ‘and a strong wind, laden with moisture, blew across the field, where the athletes sat shivering in blankets.’   At the best count, only 18,000 spectators sat huddled on the benches of the 80,000 seater White City stadium braving the mizzle.
The race, however, was thrilling.   Irishman Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford, a student at Dublin University, led off, holding his lead until the last third of the race, pressed by Wilson and JP Sullivan.   Then, on the back straight Wilson pulled ahead with Norman Hallows at his heels.

 [Wilson] ‘led at the last bend, making the pace a cracker,’ wrote the Sporting Life reporter, ‘while Sullivan closed up with Hallows, but in the straight Sheppard came at a great pace, and, catching Wilson about 15 yards from the tape, won a grand race by about a couple of yards; Hallows, about 10 yards away, third.  Sullivan, who was lying fourth close to home, did not pass the judges.’

Mel Sheppard had matched Norman Hallow’s freshly made Olympic record with a time of  4:03.4.       Sheppard's gold medal was one of 8 Olympic gold medals won by members of the Irish American Athletic Club of New York that year.    8 medals out of  the 13  Olympic gold medals the track and field stars of the US team brought back from the first London Olympics (out of a possible 23 firsts open for contest in track and field that Olympics).  It was a glorious achievement.

Mel Sheppard with the US team manager, Matt Halpin, at the WhiteCity Stadium, July 14 1908

Mol. 3 No. 3 John Thomas, RIP January 16, 2013

BROCKTON  Massachusetts
Brockton Enterprise January 16, 2013 —

John Thomas, a legendary figure in track and field and two-time Olympic medal winner, died Tuesday at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital. He was 71.
Thomas won a bronze medal in the high jump in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and a silver at the 1964 games in Tokyo. He was the first man to clear 7 feet indoors and made 13 world-record jumps.
He was also a trustee at Brockton Public Library and a volunteer at the library and the YMCA.
He was athletic director at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury where he was known as “JT.”
Thomas was a 17-year old freshman at Boston University when he became the first athlete to break the 7-foot barrier indoors on Jan. 31, 1959, at the Millrose Games in New York. He eventually eclipsed the world indoor record with a leap of 7 feet 1 ¼ inches at the 1959 National AAU Championships.
He broke the world outdoor record three times in 1960, including a career-best jump of 7 feet, 3 ½ inches.
Thomas was the NCAA high jump champion in each of his four years at Boston University and captured seven national AAU titles. In his career, he cleared seven feet 191 times and lost only eight competitions.
“John meant a lot to me and to BU,” the school’s director of track and field and cross country Robyne Johnson said in a statement. “In the eight years I’ve been here, I found him to be a sincere and nice man. He was a tremendous athlete and he meant a lot to both track and field and to the BU community. He will be missed and we have heavy hearts at the Track and Tennis Center. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Thomas graduated from Boston University in 1963 and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1968. He was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1985 and also named to the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame.

Read more: http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1671800829/John-Thomas-two-time-Olympian-and-Hall-of-Fame-high-jumper-from-Brockton-dies#ixzz2IFznhEoV

Thanks to Pete Brown for bringing this to our attention

Vol. 2 No. 30 February , 1961

FEBRUARY 1961

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vol. 1 No. 79 March, 1960

MARCH 1960

A conundrum to test your problem solving skills. To wit: An athlete sets a world record. Two weeks later he still is the record holder only now three competitors have passed him and indeed have left him in the dust. Your homework for tomorrow is to have a logical explanation for how this seemingly incongruous situation has come about. Be prepared for class discussion.
Our protagonist is one Parry O'Brien, the two time Olympic shot put champion, the world record holder in both the indoor and outdoor shot, the man who has dominated the event like no other since Ralph Rose 50 years ago. As we pick up our story it is March 5 and O'Brien's co-holder of the WR, 19 year old Dallas Long, has just bettered the 63-2 record they share by five inches. But it doesn't count because it was his seventh throw of the day. Still, the message has been sent.
March 12 sees O'Brien break his indoor WR (62-1¾) at the Milwaukee Journal Games with a throw of 62-5, leaving his most significant competitor, Dave Davis, nearly two and a half feet behind. On the West Coast, Long throws 61-4 in a dual meet.
The next week the track world is shocked by Bill Nieder. Competing in the Stanford Invitational, Big Bill drops it 63-10 from the toe board. And he isn't alone; Dave Davis has raised his PR to 62-8. Long is in the West Texas Relays where he throws 61-8¾. He and Davis (have shot, will travel) will tangle next week in the USC – So Cal Striders meet.
And what a match up it is. Long explodes 64-6½. This jaw dropping effort is needed because Davis is close behind at 63-10½. Nieder's WR has lasted a week.
At the end of the day the all time list reads:
Long 64-6½
Davis 63-10½
Nieder 63-10
O'Brien 63-2
In two weeks Parry O'Brien has gone from world record holder to a distant fourth. Can the Air Force lieutenant find another gear or will the young guys pull away? He will begin his outdoor season next month. Stay tuned.........Oh, and as for that class assignment, O'Brien is still the world record holder indoors.
Speaking of world records, John Thomas just upped his half an inch, jumping 7-2½ in the Chicago Daily News Relays.
Stanford's Ernie Cunliffe has busied himself racing longer than his usual 880. On March 5 the Stanford Winter Championships sees him split 58-2:00-3:03 en route to a solo 4:04.4 mile. Two weeks later in the Stanford Invitational his 2:55.7 1320 relay leg is the highlight of the track activity. “The Stanford co-captain hit 55.7, 1:56.6 and finished strongly, unlike his usual dying half mile windup, in 2:55.7. Only Brian Hewson (2:55.2) has run faster and the best on record by an American is Jim Grelle's 2:57.7.” No results for the Stanford team are given. Eight days later the then politically correct Indians take a shot at the American record for the four mile relay in a dual meet with the Santa Clara Valley Youth Village (identified as SCVYV from now on). Although their time of 16:57.8 misses by 5.2 seconds, it isn't Ernie's fault. His 4:02.4 anchor is the second fastest mile of the year.
Aside from the aforementioned world records, the most amazing performance of the month is that of San Jose State sophomore, Vance Barnes. Not even on the team three days earlier, Barnes, a basketball player with a high jump best of 6-4, is pressed into service at the Stanford Relays when the Spartans third string jumper is injured. Six feet four inches is achieved easily enough and so are 6-6 and 6-8 on his first efforts. Six feet nine inches doesn't come until his second try as does 6-10. When he finally misses it is at 6-11, a foot over his head. We'll have to see what the future holds for this young man.
On March 12 Bobby Morrow makes his 1960 debut in Southwest Recreation meet in Fort Worth, winning special races in 9.5 and 21.3, but real stars are the Styron twins.

Running in the college division, Dave takes the 100 and 220 while Don wins the highs and lows. They both run on the winnng 440 and mile relay teams. Don also runs a heat in the 440 before being relieved of duty for the final when the team championship is assured. His 22.4 time in the lows is the fastest in the world this year and his seventh race of the day.
A week later Morrow's comeback hits a bump in the road when he is defeated twice by Jimmy Weaver who runs 10.5 and 21.0. No time is given for the Olympic champ. Eddie Southern is third and fourth.
After a low key year, Herb Elliot is preparing for the Olympics. On March 5 he runs 1:50.1 and 4:02.1, but nine days later the best he can do is a 1:53.5 sixth place behind some guy from New Zeland named Snell who runs 1:51.3. Five days later Elliot clocks 1:52.1.
Another Australian is setting records in the US. On March 2 in Houston Al Lawrence runs 10K in 29:36.4 to meet the Olympic qualifying standard and set the American record. Wait a minute, he isn't an American. Apparently citizenship isn't required to set an AR. All that is needed is that you set the record on US soil. The record he broke was 30:11.4 set in 1932 by Poland's Janusz Kusocinski.
As T&F News is located in the Bay Area it is privy to the doings of Cal, Stanford, San Jose State and the SCVYV. This time we have Cal time trials for you. Recently Jerry Siebert and Jack Yerman tangled in a 660 with Yerman winning by inches in 1:18.0 for both. In another workout Siebert ran a 1320 in 3:00.0. Other bits and pieces from columns: Glenn Davis is teaching junior high mechanical drawing in Columbus, Ohio. He is ten pounds overweight, but is working at losing it by the National AAU meet..... A high school junior in Compton, CA has just set the class record 48.0 in the 440. His name is Ulis Williams.....Ron Delany and Don Bowden are training together on the polo field in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Both are recovering from tendon problems and hope to race in April......Ira Murchison has recovered from the illness that saw his weight to drop to under 100 pounds. He is now at his usual 135 and feeling strong.
From the Quotable Quotes column come the following. Glenn Cunningham: “Our races were strictly competitive, to beat the other fellow. But in the workouts sometimes I did run all out. Yes, I bettered four minutes. But I didn't think anything about it. I was just curious to see what I could do,”......J.D. Martin: “Jim Graham, the Oklahoma State vaulter, helped me a lot when I competed against him last year. He's that kind of a guy. At the Drake Relays I was trying 14-6. I'd never cleared it. Graham told me that I wasn't rocking back on my pole at the top of my jump. On my last jump, I rocked and sailed over. Graham knew that if he gave me that tip I might beat him. Of course, I didn't. He was first and I was second.”

J.D. Martin early in his coaching years, about 1968
We'll close with the first non-track related add I can remember. It is for the Desert Star Motor Hotel in Phoenix, AZ. Among its many benefits are air conditioning, phones and TV, a heated swim pool, and private sun decks. A little short on folding money? Not to worry, all this can be paid for with a credit card.

Vol. 1 No. 73 January, 1960

January, 1960
Indoor season is going full blast and the biggest name in the news is John Thomas. On Jan. 16 in Boston's Massachusetts Knights of Columbus meet he soars 7'0 ½”. Two weeks later in New York's Millrose Games he defeats last year's top ranked high jumper, Olympic champ Charlie Dumas, with a world record leap of 7'1½”. After losing last year to a foot injury, the Boston University sophomore is back.
In the K of C meet Don Bragg vaults 15'4” to erase Bob Richard's indoor record by ¼ inch. To make sure, he does it again in the Millrose meet.
The best mark on the track belongs to Houston's Australian, Al Lawrence, who runs in tandem with teammate John Macy before breaking loose in the last quarter mile to clock 13:38.0 for the three mile at Millrose.
In the week between these east coast meets there is action on the west coast, the Los Angeles Invitational, held in “the beautiful new Sports Arena”. Parry O'Brien sends the message that he is still the man to beat in the shot, throwing an almost-sort of-could have been world record of 63'1”. When his shot is weighed initially it comes up light. Additional pellets are added to bring it up to standard, but apparently they leaked out during the competition and the implement is four ounces shy when weighed for WR purposes. O'Brien doesn't worry. The challenge has been issued. Don Bragg continues his WR vaulting, this time clearing 15'5 1/2”.
The east coasters are not idle the weekend of the LA Invitational for the Washington Evening Star Games are held and Dave Sime is back. Well, sort of. This is the meet that has the 70, 80 and 100 yard sprint series that he dominated last year. Not so much this year. After tying his meet record of 7.0 for the 70, he feels a twinge and calls it a day. Ed Moran, now with the NYAC, wins the mile in a meet record 4:08.3. Before you say that isn't all that fast, please be reminded that this is the fastest time ever run on a flat track. The lack of banked curves makes John Macy's 14:01.3 three mile pretty impressive also.
This is not to say there was no outdoor action. December 30 was the date of the Sugar Bowl meet in New Orleans and many of the big guys were there. Dave Sime wins a 10.4 100 over Bill Woodhouse on a slow track. How slow it was is emphasized by Eddie Southern's winning 48.5 (Bobby Morrow 3rd in 50.0) and Rex Cawley's 14.6 hurdle win. Dyrol Burleson holds of Jim Grelle in the 1500, 3:48.5 to 3:49.0.
Speaking of Burleson, he is featured in Profiles of Champions. Notation is made of his his nickname being “Burly”. He “trains nine months a year, six to seven days a week. Does some weight training with light weights. Runs fartlek all year round mixed with cross country in the fall, some interval training in the winter and interval training and pace work in the spring and summer.”
Phil Coleman is also profiled. His program is detailed more closely than “Burly's”. I won't go into it more than to note that he trains 12 months a year, seven days a week. This would seem to parallel his academic endeavors. After graduating with a BA in English, he earned his masters in '57 and is currently working on his PhD. Coleman's athletic achievements reflect hard work, not great talent. His best high school mile was 5:00.1. As a freshman at So. Illinois he ran only 4:45. By the time he graduated he had run 4:15 and 9:27. It wasn't until he enlisted in the army that he began his steeplechasing career that led to a spot on the '56 Olympic team and national records in the steeple and two mile.
Ralph Higgins of Oklahoma State is featured in the Meet the Coach column. He is a Cowboy through and through, having graduated from Okie State (then Oklahoma A&M) in 1925 where he was Southwest Conference champion in the 100 and 440. After serving the Oklahoma City school system for eight years, he took over the XC and track reigns in Stillwater and the rest is history. His track teams won 17 consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championships and his XC team won the 1954 NCAA meet.
Bob Mathias is in the news. The 1948 and 1952 Olympic decathlon champion would like to compete in the 1960 games. He recently threw the discus 176 feet. Dan Ferris, the AAU secretary says no. He has been tainted by filthy lucre earned by his athletic fame. No big deal. An old guy like that probably wouldn't have a chance. Wait a minute, Mathias is only 29. His Olympic gold came at the tender ages of 17 and 21.
And from the It was a Simpler Time folder: Stanislaw Sawatowski, Poland's 46.9 400 man, has been suspended for six months. His offense is ….are you ready?.....drinking.
Track and Field News appears to be turning the financial corner. This issue of the magazine – still $3 for the year – has 4¾ of its 16 pages consumed with advertising.

Vol. 1 No. 49 January , 1959

JANUARY 1959
Some issues are more interesting than others. This is one of the others. A photo of John Thomas clearing 7-0 graces the front page. Bobby Morrow runs his first indoor meet at the 12th annual Evening Star Games in DC winning the 70, 80 and 100. Not sure how the stadium fit any of those in, but it did. Of interest in this meet is the 600 where Glenn Davis’ indoor debut was a losing one in a slow time. Nick Ellis of Morgan State beat hurdlers Josh Culbreath and Davis in 1:13.8, a time a full two seconds slower that Ed Collymore’s 600s in New York and Boston. The quick answer here is that the meet was run on a “flat floor”. No photos are included so I am not certain what the surface was. I’m guessing dirt.
Lee Calhoun has returned from his one year suspension because he and his new bride accepted gifts on a TV game show. George Grenier, writing in a column entitled, Splinter Talk, tells us that, “One New York newspaper explained Lee Calhoun’s year of absence by stating that he was on a year suspension for having his marriage consummated on television. Darn it, I miss all the good afternoon programs.”
Fearless Harold Clark of South Africa made two attempts at a four minute mile, coming up short on both occasions, but certainly earning respect in the doing. On December 20 in a solo attempt in Kimberley, a city at 5000 feet elevation, he tied Gail Hodgson’s South African record of 4:04.5. Undeterred, six days later he took another shot, this time in the town of Pearl. Nature was not his friend. The temperature was 103 with the track being estimated at 130. Harold proved himself the kind of guy you would want in your foxhole by running 4:04.9.
Page 15 has a photo of the 18 year old Styron twins. Fine looking young men, undoubtedly a credit to their family, church and community. Two pages earlier there is a shot of the finish of the 1941 AAU 100 meters, showing Barney Ewell beating favorite Hal Davis in 10.3. A close third is a young Payton Jordan. I seldom get man crushes, but Payton is a really handsome guy.
Mention is made of American athletes being invited to the Kusocinski Memorial Meet in Poland. Janusz Kusocinski won the 1932 Olympic 10,000 in Los Angeles in 30:11.4, a time that amazingly as of this issue is still the American record (defined as run on US soil). Kusocinski was an underground leader in WWII who was executed by the Gestapo.
Six of the 16 pages are devoted to the world list, a collection of 50-100 names in every event. Herb Elliott has the year’s fastest 800, 1500 and mile. Double leaders are Glenn Davis, 400 and 400IH; Albie Thomas of Australia, 2 and 3 miles and Elias Gilbert, 110HH and 220LH. Fortunately the 200-220, 400-440 and 800-880 are lumped together with conversions. Of note for our purposes is the inclusion of Gail Hodgson, whose 4:04.5 ranks him 31st in the mile and Ernie Cunliffe, listed 45th in the 800 at 1:49.5.
The AAU and NCAA have adopted several IAAF rules, the most significant concerns the sin of pacing. “Pacing a runner as an aid to a record performance will mean the record will not be accepted. Any competitor who, in the opinion of the referee, has been aided by a coach, teammate or anyone else during the competition may be disqualified.”
The high school postal two mile team race is won by Palo Alto High. Their five runners average 10:03 with George Linn leading all competitors with 9:33. The first six teams are all from California which may say as much about weather as talent. The 12th and 13th best times are 10:04.9 by Archie San Romani Jr. and 10:05 by Dixon Farmer.
Page 15 has a story on the upcoming Big 10 and Big 8 indoor seasons. Although Kansas is favored to win its eighth straight championship, special note is made of the chances of the lads from Norman. “Gail Hodgson and Ernst Kleynhans will carry the distance load for Oklahoma. The Sooners will have defending sprint champ Dee Givens back, two 14 footers in Larry Neeley and Jim Clingman, and two shot put men who have bettered 55’ in practice this year in Dan Erwin and newcomer Mike Lindsay.”
The T&FN Olympic tour in Rome is now available for $838 ($6500 in today’s money). Sign up now.

Vol. 1 No. 21 Ralph Boston and John Thomas

Bruce Kritzler, Savannah, Georgia writes

Ralph Boston, who has a home locally, spoke to the St. Simons Island Rotary Club today. He brought along friend John Thomas, who is recovering from a "slight" heart attack. Ralph also has a home in Peachtree City, GA, and likes to head to the beach when ever the urge hits him.
Martin Turbidy, 1954 Auburn grad, attended 1968, 72, 76, 84 Olympic Games, and is the only other tracknut I've found in this area, organized the talk. I did some research for him on the principles. John Thomas had his best jumps in 1959 & 60, when he was 17 &18, all his pr's were set indoors, but did trade outdoor world records with Brumel. The spring after his indoor world record at age 17, John had a serious foot injury in an elevator accident, and missed the entire outdoor season. Came back the next year to reset the indoor record, and medal at the Rome Olympics. John, who always officiates the hj at NY's Millrose Games, stated that Valeriy Brumel's son jumped there a few years ago.
Ralph Boston broke Jesse Owens long jump world record, won the 1960 Olympics, and finished 2nd and 3rd in the next two Olympics. Ralph was also national/world class in some other events - 52-4 tj, 13.7 HH, 9.6,10.5 100, 6-9 hj, plus 13-7 pv, 168 jav, 22.4 200lh. Never completed a decathlon, but did the 1st day once. Majored in biochemistry as undergrad and was accepted to med school, but track and field got in the way. Got a masters degree at U of TN, and co-owned a Knoxville television station for many years. Was the color commentator for track and field on network television for many years.
Ralph spoke mostly about how humbled he was to be a kid from Laurel, MS who got to travel to 64 countries, visit most of the great cities and wonders of the world, mostly because of track and field. All his motivation came from wanting to please his parents and family (9 brothers and sisters).
Bruce