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. 26 January , 1961

JANUARY 1961

You want indoor meets? We got 'em, but first, let us tell you about two previous outdoor meets.
The first is the Sugar Bowl meet, held appropriately enough in New Orleans on the first day of the year in 50 degree weather. Aubrey Dooley, the former Oklahoma State star, is the unanimous selection as the meet's outstanding performer on the basis of his 15-4¾ vault which breaks the 20 year old meet record of 15-1 set by Cornelius Warmerdam. Ernie Cunliffe has the best mark on the track with his 3:49.0 1500, “a tremendous effort given the poor condition of the track”. He leaves Archie San Romani, George Larson and Barry Almond well behind.
Now a week has passed and we are at Stanford for an all-comers meet. This is not just any old all-comers as evidenced by the setting of two American records. Olympic 5000 champion Murray Halberg is running the two mile for a tune up for next week's Oregon Invitational. There is no significant competition and the New Zealander is on his own. He puts miles of 4:19.5 and 4:21.3 together to win by over half a minute in an American all-comers record of 8:40.8.
Not to be outdone, in the very next race Ernie Cunliffe establishes an American record for 1000 yards with a 2:07.3, the fastest time ever recorded, but there is no recognized world record for this distance, so the American record will have to do. He splits 55.0, 1:51.3 and finishes with a strong 26.2 final 200.
The first of the indoor meets is the inaugural Oregon Invitational held January 14 in Portland. The track, built in Eugene to Bill Bowerman's specifications, is made of ½ inch plywood with tongue-in-groove fitting and 44 inch banking on the curves at a cost of $15,000. Athletes who have run the Eastern indoor tracks say it is the best they have seen. The only complaint is from Bowerman who says that it is too well made. “We could have put it together for $5000 (without tongue-in-groove) and still had a quality surface. It will last forever.”
Murray Halberg sure loves it. He breaks Al Lawrence's indoor 2 mile world record by 11.7 seconds in an oddly paced race. After passing the mile in 4:16.0, he runs the next 880 in 2:20 before going to the afterburners to complete the last half mile in 1:58.3 for a time of 8:34.3. The band breaks into “God Save the Queen” and the crowd of 7111 gives him a two minute standing ovation. Halberg, a laboratory technician in an Auckland brewery, responds with the understated, “It's all in a day's work”. Though left far behind, Lazlo Tabori's 8:47.6 is his best ever on the boards.
Jim Beatty is over the foot injury that kept him from performing his best in the Olympics. He demonstrates his fitness in the mile or at least the last half of the mile. The 880 is reached in a plodding 2:09. Dyrol Burleson then throws down a 61.0, but it is nowhere near enough to keep Beatty at bay. With only half a lap to go, the former North Carolina star separates the men from the boys with a burst that gives him a 15 yard victory in 4:07.4. A discouraged Burleson who is about to undertake a three week tour of New Zealand says, “Maybe somebody who deserves it should take the trip”. The future would not be served without a mention of the fourth place finisher, Bob Schul, who clocks 4:19.5.
Roscoe Cook takes the measure of Darrell Horn and Harry Jerome with a world record equaling 6.0 60. Horn returns to take the broad jump by nearly a foot and a half with a 25-6¼.
Contrary to his remarks after the Olympics, Parry O'Brien is back in the shot put ring. He throws 61-11¾ to leave Dallas Long's 59-3 far behind. Ron Morris gets the better of Don Bragg who can't match Morris' 15-0 vault.
The only faux pas of the evening comes in the 500 where Bowerman has the race run in lanes all the way in an attempt to provide a world record. Obviously the staggers are enormous and apparently confusing. The race should be a dual between Otis Davis and Eddie Southern, but isn't. Both are confounded by the stagger and lose count of the laps to the benefit of Washington State's Rick Harder who wins in 59.5, the same time as Davis and a tenth ahead of Southern.
Murray Halberg may be the present king of the two mile, but the future belongs to 17 year old Bruce Kidd of Canada as measured by his performance in the Boston Knights of Columbus meet this day. Running against 31 year old Pete McArdle and 39 year old Fred Norris, the teen prodigy follows through half mile splits of 2:11, 4:25 and 6:40, before jumping the veteran foreigners with 4¼ laps of the 160 yard track remaining. His move startles the competition and delights the crowd. He opens a 15 yard lead on McArdle who closes only to have the kid open ground again. McArdle makes one more gallant effort, closing within two yards on the final lap, but the Kidd holds him off for an 8:49.2 – 8:49.6 victory. Former Harvard hurdler Bob Rittenburg writes, “Boston Garden was in danger of collapsing from the vibration of the cheering that the fans sustained during the last four laps of the race and the two extra laps that Bruce jogged with the spotlight on him.”
January 21 finds us at the second annual Los Angeles Invitational. The Los Angeles sports fan has the Rams, Lakers, Dodgers, USC and UCLA, yet 13,586 fill the Sports Arena. Would that that be the case now.
The track, “a $12,000 spruce job from Finland, was judged slow and in need of work by some of the runners”. Times were slow in the 500, 600 and 1000 (Ernie Cunliffe, where are you?), but the mile and two were quality races. We will get to them later. Right now the spotlight falls on the rejuvenated Parry O'Brien. The two time Olympic champion once again dominates the shot put. His 63-1½ throw with the bee-bee packed leather shot is a world record. Dave Davis improves a foot from last week's mark at 60-4, but the day belongs to O'Brien.
Ralph Boston's initial indoor indoor effort results in an American indoor record of 25-10, leaving Darrell Horn, last week's 25-6 winner, far behind at 23-9. Bob Avant, a senior at USC, surprises with a 6-ll PR to win the HJ by four inches. Lazlo Tabori edges Max Truex at two miles, 8:53.2 to 8:55.0. Hayes Jones wins the 60 HH in 7.1 and says he will concentrate on the sprints from now on.
Roscoe Cook, who tied the WR in the 60 last week in Oregon, misses replicating that performance by a tenth with a 6.1 victory over a good field. But “One of the best sprint performances of the evening came at the end of the mile when Jim Bailey exploded past a strong running Ernie Cunliffe and left his pursuer by nearly 15 yards in the last 100” to win in 4:06.4.
Under the heading “Late News” there is abbreviated news of happenings on January 28. John Thomas betters his indoor WR (7-2½) with a clearance of 7-3 1/8 in the Boston AA meet. If he had done it the day before it would have been a world record, but earlier this day Valeriy Brummel, still only 18, jumped 7-4½ in Leningrad. Obviously Thomas has some ground to make up.
Who doesn't have ground to make up is Ernie Cunliffe who scorches the Boston track in an American indoor record 2:07.9 1000. Too bad this is not a regulation event as it seems to be EC's best. He is not the only Bay Area middle distance runner heard from this New England evening. Former Cal star Jerry Siebert takes the 600 in 1:11.2. No details are given for either race. Olympic champ, Ralph Boston, does not win the broad jump. This is because he skips the event, instead winning the 45 yard hurdles and takes second in the high jump at 6-6.
Down under on the same day it would appear that Dyrol Burleson's apprehension about competing in New Zealand was unfounded. He wins the invitational mile in Auckland in 4:05.6, edging Peter Snell by inches. Once again no details are given.
Perusal of columns provides the following information. Pro football has taken plucked two more from the rolls of track and field. Bowling Green hurdler Bernie Casey has signed with the 49ers and Olympic intermediate hurdle bronze medalist Dick Howard of New Mexico will wear the blue and white of the Cowboys......Remember the item about Bill Nieder taking a Hollywood screen test? Seems to have worked out. The Olympic shot put champ has just signed a contract to play Jack Dempsey in an upcoming movie........The Helms Athletic Foundation has just announced its' selection for the top athletes for each continent. Livio Berrutti of Italy wins for Europe. Peter Snell is the “Australian” winner. The HAF strikes a blow for gender equity by naming Wilma Rudolph the North American winner.......Speaking of awards, the prestigious Sullivan Award goes to Rafer Johnson. But the balloting reflects the progress women have made as Wilma Rudolph finishes second........Peter Snell writes that the success he and Murray Halberg enjoyed at the Rome Olympics, “really put athletics to the fore here, and we will soon have our first cinder track. There are four tracks planned for completion by '62”. Contrast this with Finland which has 730 cinder tracks.....Herb Elliot says his performances may deteriorate while he attends college in England because Percy Cerutty will remain in Australia. “Any teaching he has got, I have learned, but he does more than teach. He inspires.”........Dan Ferris, secretary of the national AAU says that three to five track men will be picked to compete in South Africa in March or April. He says no question of color or race was raised by the South African AAU, but the team “is expected to contain no Negroes”.......And now a brief visit to our I Am Not Making This Up department. Avery Brundage, the IOC president, has suggested.....are you sitting down?...that gold medal winners be barred from future Olympics in order to give more athletes a chance......Looks like the Nelson brothers made rent this month. There are two one page ads: You can buy high jump and pole vault standards from The John L. Haines company in Galva, Illinois (or “dealers everywhere”) and Ryan Films of Hamden, Connecticut has six 16mm instructional sound films (discus, high jump, hurdles, shot put, pole vault and broad jump) available for purchase in either color or black and white.....Just in case you wondered, the cost of the magazine remains $3 a year and Clifford Severn Sporting Goods still owns the back page.

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.
Track and Field News, a subscription is still only $3 a year or pick up a copy at your local newsstand for a quarter.