Vol. 3 No. 36 International Class Athletes (Track and Field) Who Died in War

                             

We started this posting two weeks ago with a remembrance of Cliff Cushman.  After some research we've discovered more names to remember and additionally a wonderful personal tribute to   Cliff from one of his friends and teammates. 
Name                       Age               Country          Career             Cause                Year

Cliff Cushman            28                        US       400 hurdles  Viet Nam   plane crash 25 Sept 1966

The following passage was written by Bob Covey one of Cliff's high school and college teammates at Ames, Iowa HS and University of Kansas.  I found it in a memoire for the 1957 Ames HS class of 1957 reunion. ed.
As we played our first football games in the fall of 1956, athletes of the world competed in the summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Just four years later, a former Little Cyclone athlete, Cliff Cushman, would run the 400-meter hurdles at the 1960 Rome Olympics placing second. ...Cliff Cushman was a year ahead of our class but a close friend of many of us. As a sophomore in 1954, he was already an Eagle Scout as he won the State Meet mile run at Drake Stadium. His winning time of 4:27.5 was the fastest mile ever recorded in the world by a fifteen-year old. That summer, Cliff moved with his family to Grand Forks, North Dakota. His father had been named a department chairman at the University of North Dakota.  The Little Cyclones won the 1955 and 1956 Iowa State Outdoor Track Meets at the same time that Cliff single handedly won the North Dakota State Meets for Grand Forks Central High. He entered Kansas University and a year later Jack Stevens and I became two of his apartment mates. His career in track was amazing, a champion at all levels. After graduation from K.U., he followed his ROTC responsibilities and entered the Air Force. He trained to fly jet fighter/bombers. In the summer of 1966, he, his wife Carolyn, and infant son Colin stopped in Bakersfield to see me. At the time I lived in an apartment and as he sat and talked to me, I learned he was on his way to Los Angeles to be shipped out to Vietnam. I asked why he wasn't wearing a wristwatch and he responded, "I want time to stand still; I don't have a good feeling about going to Vietnam. He left for the war a few days later and on September 25, 1966, his plane was shot down over Vietnam by a surface-to-air-missile (SAM). He was "Missing In Action" (MIA) for seven years and then was officially listed as "Killed In Action" (KIA). He was one of the fifty-eight thousand American men and women who lost their lives in Vietnam. History has recorded that war as a shameful mistake for U.S. involvement. He was the only friend I lost in Vietnam. I have gone to see the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. many times and every time I find his name I cannot hold back the tears.  When Cliff was posthumously inducted into the Ames High Little Cyclone Hall of Fame, I came back for the induction ceremonies as did his widow, Carolyn, and son, Colin, then over thirty years old.  Also in attendance were the widows of two of his coaches, my mother Mildred and Ada Easton of Kansas University.
His KU teammate Billy Mills also attended and asked to speak.  Mills told of how Cliff had inspired him to try again and again when he had so many disappointments. Mills was an orphaned Sioux Indian and we had entered KU and became friends. In 1957 I invited him to spend his first Thanksgiving as a KU freshman with my family in Ames. He later told me it was the first time he had spent a night in the home of a white man.  In 1964, Mills became the surprise winner of the Olympic Games 10,000 meters at Tokyo. He still is the only American to have won that event in Olympic history.


                                                         Captain Ron Zinn ,  US Army

Ron Zinn                   27              US           Race Walker   Viet Nam     1965

Ron Zinn's sixth-place in the 1964 Olympic 20 km. walk was one of the top performances in walking for an American at the Olympics. Zinn also won a bronze medal in the event at the 1963 Pan American Games. From 1960-64 he won 12 AAU walk titles over various distances. Zinn was a graduate of the US Military Academy and was sent to Vietnam late in 1964. In July 1965 he was presumed killed in a firefight near Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), although for many years he was listed as MIA. The USATF annually awards the Captain Ron Zinn Memorial Award to the top racewalker of the year. Personal Best: 20kmW – 1-32:43 (1964). http://www.virtualwall.org/dz/ZinnRL01a.htm   This is the link to Ron's site on the Virtual Wall to honor soldiers who died in  Viet Nam.  There are testamonials and tributes from his comrades in arms and his family.

Foy Draper               31             US        Sprinter       WWII          Kasserine Pass       1943

In an earlier post, we talked about Sam Stoller and   Marty Glickman the two Jewish sprinters being taken off the American team and  replaced by Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff two Gentiles after some back room politicing at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, to please the local Nazi hosts.  Irony, never far from the scene would rule the day when seven years later Foy Draper, then a U.S. Army Air Corps captain would lose his life in an ill-timed and badly executed battle against the Germans at Kasserine Pass in North Africa.

Wikipedia shows the following:

Foy Draper (November 26, 1911 – February 1, 1943) was an American athlete, winner of gold medal in 4x100 m relay at the 1936 Summer Olympics. As a University of Southern California student, Foy Draper won the IC4A championships in 200 m in 1935.
At the Berlin Olympics, Draper ran the third leg in the American 4x100 m relay team, which won the gold medal with a new world record of 39.8.^[1]

During World War II, Draper served as a pilot on a twin-engine attack bomber A-20B 'Havoc' in Thelepte, Tunisia. On January 4, 1943, Draper took off to fly to Fonduck, Tunisia to take part of the battle of Kassarine Pass. Draper and his two crewmen never returned and his death date is usually given as February 1, 1943. He is buried in the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission in Carthage, Tunisia. His gravestone shows January 4, 1943 as his date of death.

Owens, Metcalfe, Draper, Wykoff

Foy Draper's Grave

James Duffy              24        Ireland            marathon     WWI  Battle of Ypres       1915
(no picture available)

James Duffy (born May 1, 1890, in County Sligo, Ireland – died April 23, 1915, outside Ypres, Belgium)^[1] was a distance runner from Canada, one of the world's best marathon runners at the beginning of the 20th century. He participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm and was the winner of the 1914 Boston Marathon.^[2][3]
Born in Ireland, Duffy grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland after moving there with his family as a child. According to his own later account, Duffy participated in cross-country races in Scotland, winning many of them. In 1911 he emigrated to Canada, where he worked in Toronto as a tinsmith and stonecutter. In his spare time he visited the Central YMCA, the director of which quickly recognized his talent.^[1]
Representing the Central YMCA, Duffy came in second in the 1911 Ward Marathon, a twenty-mile event in Toronto. During the race Duffy stopped to argue with supporters of another runner. In May 1912, he ran the Spectator Marathon in Hamilton, Ontario, which served that year as the Canadian Olympic trial. The race, which was reduced to nineteen miles, was run in exceedingly hot and humid weather. Only eight of twenty-five starters finished the race. Duffy himself had overestimated his strength, but qualified for the Olympics by finishing in second place behind Harry Jensen of the United States, who passed him in the final mile and won by twenty seconds.^[1]
Representing the Eaton Athletic Club of Toronto, Duffy placed fifth in the marathon at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, which also took place in very high temperatures, resulting in the death of Portuguese runner Francisco Lázaro.^[1][2] In October 1912 Duffy won both the Ward Marathon and the Hamilton Herald's race around Hamilton Bay, setting a new course record in the latter event. After the Hamilton Bay race Duffy accepted full-time coaching from athletic trainer Tommy Thomson, who persuaded him to relocate to Hamilton, where he joined the Ramblers Club.^[1]
With Thomson as trainer, Duffy won seven consecutive marathons, including one in Yonkers, New York. On April 20, 1914, Duffy won the Boston Marathon in 2:25:01. His success had gotten around and he was so much the favorite that the Boston bookmakers would not take high bets on his victory. The race developed into a thriller, with fellow Canadian runner Édouard Fabre matching Duffy's pace throughout. Only in the final mile did Duffy gain a small lead, winning the race by fifteen seconds. Duffy's first request after his victory was for a cigarette, and after his post-race medical examination he asked for a bottle of beer.^[1]
After the Boston Marathon Duffy turned professional, losing his first professional race to Édouard Fabre. Duffy enlisted in the Canadian Army at the outbreak of World War I. He joined the 91st Argyle Regiment and was subsequently transferred to the 16th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.^[1]
Duffy was killed in a charge against the Germans while serving with the 16th Battalion in the Second Battle of Ypres on April 23, 1915, eight days before his twenty-fifth birthday and four days after Édouard Fabre won the 1915 Boston Marathon.^[1]

Nils Uhlin Hansen
Norway

Nils Uhlin Hansen      Norway          Long Jump    killed as a Resistance fighter WWII        1945
Wikipedia gives us the following about Hansen
 (6 May 1919 – 11 January 1945) was a Norwegian long jumper and resistance member during World War II. He had a successful athletics career before the war; holding the Nordic record in the event. He was killed less than four months before the end of the war, as he was surprised byWehrmacht forces following a sabotage mission,  He was born in Trondheim as the son of Haakon Hansen and Swedish citizen Agnes Collin. Representing the sports club SK Freidig, he had a successful career in the long jump; only nineteen years old he won the Norwegian championships. Jumping 7.39 metres, he was 25 centimetres ahead of runner-up Kaare Strøm. In 1939, Hansen won a silver medal behind Kaare Strøm. On 11 September 1939, Hansen established a new Norwegian record. Jumping 7.54 metres at Bislett stadion, he broke the two-year old record of Otto Berg with two centimetres. This was also a Nordic record.

His sporting career was cut short by World War II. As Norway was invaded by Germany in 1940, regular sports events and championships were discontinued. The 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan were also cancelled.

Resistance work

Hansen joined the Norwegian resistance movement in 1940. He had to flee the country, arriving in Sweden on 8 November 1941. He then escaped to England in 1942, where he became enrolled in the Norwegian Independent Company 1 (Norwegian: Kompani Linge), a part of the British Special Operations Executive.^[6] He conducted several sabotage missions in Norway, including one against the rail road Røros Line in January 1945. Saboteurs were active in Central Norway in late 1944 and early 1945; with sabotages towards theNordland Line, the Dovre Line and the Rauma Line in addition to the Røros Line. This was of high strategic importance, as German forces were retreating from Northern Norway, using the rail roads for troop transport. Although the war tide was going against Germany at the time, there were rumours that they would not leave Norway without an Allied invasion, thus, pockets of Norwegian forces were prepared for warfare.^[9]

On 10 January 1945, German forces reacted, and began searching for militants under the codename Aktion Hengst. They had only vague knowledge on the whereabouts of Norwegian militants, but on 11 January they found a lone skier in Singsås. They questioned him, and then released him, only to follow his tracks. The tracks led the German task force to a cabin at Forsetvollan^[4] in Budal.Nils Uhlin Hansen stayed in the cabin at the time, and when shooting ensued, Hansen was killed.^[4] Two days after his death Norwegian saboteurs carried out the drastic Jørstad River bridge sabotage.^[10]

Rudolf Harbig            30                  Germany         400 800        WWII  Ukraine     1944
Rudi Harbig was the great rival of Mario Lanzi over 800 metres in the 1930s. They met at an International in Milano on 15 July 1939, with Harbig winning in the stunning world record time of 1:46.6, which shattered the previous record of 1:48.4, Lanzi running second. Harbig's record would not be broken for 19 years. In 1938, Harbig won the European Championships over 800 metres, with the non-Olympian Jacques Lévèque (FRA) second and Lanzi third, and took a second gold with the 4×400 metres relay team (with Hermann Blazejezak and the non-Olympians Manfred Bues and Erich Linnhoff). Harbig was first noticed by German sports authorities in 1934 when he won the Tag des Unbekannten Sportsmannes, and they then promoted his career. Although he was never interested in politics he reluctantly joined the SA in 1937, and the Nazis exploited his sport career as a model for their propaganda. Killed in action in 1944, he became a sports legend in both parts of Germany after World War II. In 1955 his wife, Gerda Heinrich, published Unvergessener Rudolf-Harbig. Ein Lebensbild des Weltrekordläufers in East Germany and the Dresden stadium was named after him. In West Germany the Rudolf-Harbig-Gedächtnispreis was introduced for German track & field athletes, and in 2008 he was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.
Personal Bests: 400 – 46.0 (1939); 800 – 1:46.6 (1939).

Janusz Kusocinski      33      Poland    Olympic 10,000 meters gold medalist, Los Angeles 1932.   Executed by Gestapo in Poland, 1940.


Janusz Kusocinski was a national hero in Poland after his victory at Los Angeles.  His untimely death while participating in the Polish resistance made him an even greater hero.
Following is what Wikipedia says about him.

Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński (15 January 1907 in Warsaw – 21 June 1940 in Palmiry) was a Polish athlete, winner in the 10000 m event at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Born in Warsaw into the family of a railroad worker, Janusz Kusociński, or Kusy as he was nicknamed, playedfootball for various Warsaw clubs as a schoolboy. He took up athletics in 1928 after joining the sport club "Sarmata". His coach there was the famous Estonian, decathlete Aleksander Klumberg.

In his first competition at the Polish National Championships, Kusociński surprisingly won the 5000 m and cross country titles. He missed the next season, because he was called to duty by the Polish army, but he came back stronger than ever. He won the Polish Championship titles in the 1500 m and the 5000 m, in cross country in 1930 and 1931, and in the 800 m in 1932.

Tomb of Janusz Kusociński in Palmiry near Warsaw

In 1932 Kusociński was working as a gardener in a park in Warsaw. Just about a month before the Los Angeles Olympics, Kusociński ran a newworld record in the 3000 m (8:18.8) and later that year, he set a new unofficial world record in running 4 miles in a time of 19:02.6. At the Olympics, Kusociński won a close battle against the Finns Volmari Iso-Hollo and Lasse Virtanen in the 10 000 m, with a world seasons best time of 30:11.4.

After finishing second in the first European Championships at Turin in the 5000 m, Kusociński decided to retire from athletics, but made a comeback in 1939 by winning the 10 000 m at the Polish National Championships.

Kusociński volunteered for the Polish army after Poland was attacked by the Germans and was wounded twice. During the German occupation he worked as a waiter, but was secretly a member of the Polish resistance. Janusz Kusociński was arrested by the Gestapo on 26 March 1940 during theAB Action and imprisoned in Mokotów prison. He was executed three months later in Palmiry, near Warsaw.

An annual athletics competition, the Kusociński Memorial, is held in Poland in his honour. It was in its 55th edition in 2009. On 12 August 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Commander's Cross with Star of theOrder of Polonia Restituta, "for outstanding contribution to the independence of the Polish Republic, for sporting achievements in the field of athletics".

Lining up against Paavo Nurmi (far right)

Checking his stopwatch during a race

This is a very moving youtube video portraying Kusocinski's life.  No dialogue, just pictures and music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8gQfakWnYA

This youtube link on Kusocinski is entirely in Polish subtitles  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=_14IYcqZi6s&NR=1


            Miguel White    Phillippines     Hurdler     1942

Miguel S. White served in the Philippine Army after his participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. As reported by the office of the Philippine Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (DBC), he was a lieutenant in the 52nd Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Army and is listed as Missing in Action and subsequently declared as Killed in Action sometime in 1942. My opinion is that he was most likely killed during the initial landing of Japanese forces into the Philippines. Please modify/correct all your documentation to reflect his involvement clarifying his service to his country! For further inquiry and confirmation of facts, I refer you to the representatives of the office of the Philippine Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (DBC). Regards, Romeo Nelson Major, USMC (Retired) (Grandson of Miguel S. White)

“Miguel White (1909 – 1942): Olympic 400m Hurdles Bronze Medalist” by Joboy Quintos  

I was a nineteen year-old college sophomore when I first read about Miguel White. Despite the best of my efforts, I was stuck in a rut, unable to go below sixteen seconds in the 110 high’s and qualify for the finals. I spent a considerable amount of time poring over athletics books, to further my knowledge of the sport and to get a much-needed dose of inspiration amidst those troubled times.

I came across a mildewed book about Filipino sporting legends. The Philippines had won a handful of medals in the Olympic Games, a couple of those by track & field athletes. I was awestruck. It turned out that Philippine sports, athletics in particular, had a storied past. I found the exploits of Simeon Toribio and White more interesting than rampant politicking often featured in contemporary sports pages.
There were more material written about Toribio, who eventually became a lawyer and a congressman after his athletics days. Miguel White’s story, however, was shrouded in mystery. White had an American father and a Filipina mother. He competed for the Philippines at the Berlin Olympics, winning the 400m low hurdles bronze. He could have performed with equal distinction at the 110m, but fell in the qualifying heats, unable to finish. Unlike Toribio, who lived until he was sixty-four, White died during the Second World War.
In the past few years, I tried in vain to look for clips of White’s Olympic medal winning effort. Photos were just as scarce. A few days earlier, I stumbled upon a treasure trove Olympic programs (from the 1896 Athens Olympics all the way to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games).

White, Hardin and Loaring on the podium. A proud moment for the Philippines! (Photo from the 1936 Berlin Olympics Program/LA84 Foundation)

Lo and behold, there were photos of Miguel White, as well as the results of the qualifying heats. The Olympic program even included descriptions of the race conditions and the lane placements. For the athletics nerd that I am, these were priceless!

White went up against a quality field, among them Glenn Hardin of the United States, the world record holder at 50.6s. The Filipino topped the third heat in qualifying, stopping the clock in 53.4s, ahead of the eventual silver medalist, John Loaring (54.3s) of Canada. The American also qualified with ease, submitting a time five-tenths slower than White’s.
Miguel White from the Philippine Islands was the fastest hurdler in qualifying. In this day and age where Filipino athletes are hard-pressed to meet the Olympic “B” standard, reading about this was surreal! In the semi-finals, White (53.4s) finished behind Hardin (53.2s) in the first heat, securing a spot in the finals.

The first bend. Hardin and White are at the outermost lanes. (Photo from the 1936 Berlin Olympics Program/LA84 Foundation)

The world record holder stamped his class on the rest of the field. At the last hurdle, Hardin was a full stride from Loaring and White, who were locked in a tight battle for second place. The Canadian (52.7s) edged out White (52.8s) by a tenth of second.

Miguel White had emulated Simeon Toribio’s high jump bronze from  the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

A good shot of the final flight of hurdles. Hardin leads, with Loaring and White battling it out for the silver. (Photo from the 1936 Berlin Olympics Program/LA84 Foundation)

It is quite unfortunate that the Olympic feats of Toribio and White have been practically forgotten. Philippine sports may be in the doldrums, but perhaps looking back at our golden past might inspire a new generation of Filipino athletes.

Results (screenshots from the 1936 Berlin Olympics Program/LA84 Foundation):

1.) First Round:

Semi-Finals:

Final:

Wilhelm Leichum        30                  Germany         Long jump, sprints

(May 12, 1911, Neu-Isenburg, Grand Duchy of Hesse – July 19, 1941, Gorky) was a German athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and 100 metres.

Leichum was born in Hesse. He competed for Germany in the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Germany in the 4 x 100 metre relay where he won the bronze medal with his team mates Erich Borchmeyer, Erwin Gillmeister and Gerd Hornberger. He was also 4th in the long jump. He was European Champion in the long jump both in 1934 and 1938.

Leichum was killed near Gorky during fighting on the Eastern Front of World War II.

Wilhelm Leichum and Luz Long
Both would die in WWII

Leichum's 4x100 Bronzne Medal

Luz Long                   30                  Germany        Long jump         WWII Italy         1943

This year is the 100th anniversary of Luz Long's birth. 

Carl Ludwig "Lu(t)z" Long (27 April 1913 in Leipzig – 14 July 1943 in Biscari - Santo Pietro) was a German Olympic long-jumper, notable for winning Silver in the event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and for reputedly giving advice to his competitor, Jesse Owens, who went on to win the gold medal for the broad jump (as the long jump was then termed) as a result of Long's advice. Luz Long won the German Long Jump Championship 6 times in 1933,1934,1936,1937,1938 and 1939.

Long was killed in action serving in the German army during World War II. For his actions in the spirit of sportsmanship, he was posthumously awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal.

Long studied law at the University of Leipzig, where in 1936 he joined the Leipziger Sport Club. After graduating, he practiced as a lawyer in Hamburg, while continuing his interest in sport.

We always thought there was one foto of Jesse Owens and Luz Long, but have found six of them taken about the same time indicating this was a foto op most likely of the Western press, less likely  of the German press. ed.  

1936 Olympic Games The 21 year old, 1.84m tall blond Long had finished third in the 1934 European Championships in Athletics with 7.25m. By the summer of 1936, Long held the European record in the long jump and was eager to compete for the first time against Jesse Owens, the American world-record holder. The long jump on August 4 was Long's first event against Owens, and Long met his expectations by setting an Olympic record during the preliminary round. In contrast, Owens fouled on his first two jumps. Knowing that he needed to reach at least 7.15m (about 23 feet 3 inches) on his third jump in order to advance to the finals in the afternoon, Owens sat on the field, dejected.

The following link covers the Jessie Owens Luz Long competition at Berlin

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a05_1342544056

Speaking to Long's son, Owens said in 1964 that Long went to him and told him to try and jump from a spot several inches behind the take-off board. Since Owens routinely made distances far greater than the minimum of 7.15m required to advance, Long surmised that Owens would be able to advance safely to the next round without risking a foul trying to push for a greater distance. On his third qualifying jump, Owens was calm and jumped with at least four inches (10 centimeters) to spare, easily qualifying for the finals. In the finals competition later that day, the jumpers exceeded the old Olympic record five times.^[7] Owens went on to win the gold medal in the long jump with 8.06m while besting Long's own record of 7.87m. Long won the silver medal for second place and was the first to congratulate Owens: they posed together for photos and walked arm-in-arm to the dressing room. Owens said, "It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler... You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment".^[2] Long's competition with Owens is recorded in Leni Riefenstahl's documentary Olympia - Fest der Völker.^[8]

Two days later, Long finished 10th in the triple jump. He went on to finish third in the 1938 European Championships in Athletics long jump with 7.56m.

World War II 

Long served in the German army during World War II, having the rank of Obergefreiter. During the Allied invasion of Sicily, Long was killed in action on 14 July 1943. He was buried in the war cemetery of Motta Sant'Anastasia, in Sicily.

Memorials 

Roads near sports facilities in his home town Leipzig,and in the Munich Olympia Park of 1972 are named after him. His medal, photos, and documents were donated to the Sportmuseum Leipzig.

Sueo Oe                      27                  Japan             Pole Vault          WWII                1941

Nishida and Oe

Their combined medal

In the men's pole vault event at the 1936 Berlin Olympic, five athletes reached the final competition. Among them were Earle Meadows of the United States and two Japanese athletes, Shuhei Nishida from Waseda University and Sueo Oe from Keio University.
In the end, Meadows took first place by vaulting 4 meters and 35 centimeters. Nishida and Oe, on the other hand, got in the consolation final and competed fiercely over five hours under night lighting. It was already 9 p.m., and the judges unilaterally concluded the competition, telling the Japanese teams to determine among themselves who would be given second place.
Finally, it was settled that Nishida won the second place by vaulting 4 meters and 25 centimeters in his first try and Oe won the third place by vaulting the same height as Nishida in his second try.
After coming back to Japan, both Nishida and Oe cut their Olympic medals in two, and exchanged one piece with each other so they could stick them with the other pieces they originally had.
Later the medal came to be called “Medal of Friendship” and the two men's story has been handed down to the present.

Sueo Oe subsequently joined the Japanese Imperial Army and died during the battle of Wake Island.

The medal was donated to Waseda University by kindness and support of Mr. Nishida's bereaved family in June, 2005.

Copyright (C) 2007 Student Affairs Division, WASEDA University. All rights reserved.
First drafted 2007 October 25.

Hans  Woellke             30                  Germany        Shot Put              WWII               1944

A battalion commander  of a Police Security Unit under the Waffen SS in Belarus,   Woellke was killed by Russian partisans in an area where the SS subsequently executed 149 civilians in retaliation.     The village site  Kahtyn has become a national shrine to the atrocities suffered at the hands of the occupiers. Woellke is the only one of this list who appears to have died under less than honorable conditions.  

Vol. 3 No. 35 November, 1963

November 1963

There was no report of cross country in the October issue so this issue jumps right to the championship meets with little mention of what preceded them. The IC4A meet is held November 18 in New York City, probably Van Cortlandt Park though it is not mentioned. Former Marine and current Villanova student Vic Zwolak opens such a large lead that even though he is bothered by a stitch in his side which slows him to a 5:13 final mile, he still wins by 120 yards and breaks the course record he set last year with a 24:46.8. Notre Dame takes the team title easily with 55 points followed by Brown (133), Michigan State (154) and Villanova (159).

A week later, November 26, the NCAA meet is held in East Lansing, Michigan and Notre Dame runs into the big boys from the west coast. Defending champion San Jose State enters the meet as a strong favorite and more than lives up to that billing, winning with 53 points to beat Oregon's 68. The Fighting Irish edge Kansas and Michigan State for third 128 – 130 - 135.

Vick Zwolak leading John Camien and Geoff Walker

Once again Vic Zwolak is the man of the hour though this time he has little margin for error. Emporia State's John Camien 

stays with him throughout the race only to be outkicked by ten yards. San Jose had it pretty much wrapped up early with three runners in the top ten: Jeff Fishback 3^rd, Danny Murphy 5^th and Ben Tucker 8^th.

From Dick Drake's “On Your Marks” column we learn that Wilbur Hutsell has retired after coaching Auburn for 42 years. He is replaced by Melvin Rosen...

Mel Rosen

.Larry Questad scored 18 points for Stanford in this year's NCAA meet, but he won't score any next year as he has been suspended for the year for an unmentioned fraternity prank. He will continue to train with Payton Jordan.....Joe Faust has married the unnamed 1962 Mt. SAC Relays Queen. (Her name, Joanne Radaich, was mentioned in the September issue. How hard would that have been to include?) ...Ernie Cunliffe has been transferred by the Air Force to the ROTC unit at the University of Oregon and will train with Bill Bowerman.....Max Truex has retired from track. He is the vice-president of his class at the USC School of Law.....Another USC post graduate, Dallas Long, has arranged his studies at the SC School of Dentistry so that he will have time to train for the Olympics. “He is on an all out weight training program and is as strong as an ox”.......Former Oxy and Strider hurdler Clarence Treat is the lead singer with the New Christy Minstrels…....Ray Barry, a 20 year old sprinter from the Virgin Islands will become the University of Miami's first Negro athlete......Speaking of Miami, Bob Schul has just enrolled. That would be the Ohio type Miami.....Oliver Jackson who has helped individuals or relay teams to break or tie 15 world records in his 15 years as coach at Abilene Christian has resigned to become district manager of American Founders' Insurance Company where he has worked part time for the last nine years.

Three quarters of a page is devoted to a fictitious 800 competition among the 12 greatest half milers of all time as seen by Roberto Quercetani, the European correspondent. To cut to the chase, semis pare the field down to Mal Whitfield, John Woodruff, Arthur Wint, Tom Courtney, Peter Snell and Rudolf Harbig. Wint leads with 200 to go, but Courtney and Harbig pass and pull away. But here comes Snell. He squeezes through on the inside with 50 meters to go and wins in a WR 1:43.6 (even 51.8 second splits). Harbig 1:43.9, Courtney 1:44.0, Woodruff 1:44.2, Whitfield 1:45.0 and Wint 1:45.2 follow.

Snell, Courtney, Woodruff and Dave Wottle.
 Looks like Dave Wottle could mediate this conversation about a hypothetical 800 race.  Where might he place himself?

Arthur Wint defeating Herb McKenley and Mal Whitfield while equalling the WR in 400 M at Wembley Stadium August , 1948

Harbig Smoking a Field in Berlin

This is somewhat akin to Sandy Koufax, leading 3-2 with one out in the ninth, pitching to Babe Ruth with Ricky Henderson on second.

Three pages are devoted to “The Tokyo Diary”, publisher Bert Nelson's diary of his experience as the manager of the US team at the recent Tokyo International Sportsweek meet. He relates incidents involving John Pennel, Russ Rogers and Larry Questad, but most importantly, this journal answers the question of what Pat Boone was doing anchoring a relay team in Ireland this summer.

The August issue of TFN has a photo of the singer running with baton in hand and no competition in sight. Even the boys down at the Dew Drop Inn were flumoxed by this seeming inanity. Finally we have the answer from the lips of one of Boone's relay teammates, Larry Questad.

“That's the craziest thing you will ever hear. Pat is a good friend of the owner of the stadium. The stadium wasn't doing well, so Pat wanted to help him with publicity. It worked. The stadium was packed. Pat may have looked good in the picture (editor's note: no he didn't), but he can't run worth a darn. He had about a 35 yard lead when I handed off to him and he lost all but six inches of it. He was running against a half miler, too.

Larry Questad, Any Resemblance to
Pat Boone , below?

Boone training for track meet?  I swear we
didn't photoshop this picture

“Everybody in town seemed to know that Boone was arriving and when our group got there they mistook me for him (ed. note: there is a resemblance) Ain't That a Shame?  . After the meet Pat threw a big party for us. Starlets and everything.” That's Pat Boone, lousy runner, but a friend of track and field. The boys will raise a glass in his honor Friday night at the Dew Drop.

Vol. 3 No. 34 Brian Sternberg R.I.P.

For the past week I've been working on a post covering international track and field athletes who died in war.  It has been a very sad thing to do , but one that in some way might keep their memories out there where people would be reminded of the sacrifices young men and women have had to endure, so that old men could consolidate their power and make money under the false guise of nationalism.  Today I received this following story about Brian Sternberg who passed from us on May 23, 2013 in his 70th year.  Few persons have accomplished so much in a short period of time only to be put in a place of  suffering for the remainder of their lives.  Brian exemplified the human spirit in the face of tragedy more than anyone I can think of.   I remember those months of his pole vaulting fame as much as any of the other great athletes and competitions of that time. His life too tells us of the capacity of a mother's love.    Nothing helps answer the question why these things must happen.  "Life only tells us of the agony of people who cannot answer those questions." Nikos Kazantzakis.     ed.

BY Steve Rudman 05:33PM 05/31/2013

Huskies vault legend Brian Sternberg (1943-13)

Washington’s Brian Sternberg might have become history’s first 20-foot pole vaulter, but a tragic trampoline accident placed him in a wheelchair the rest of his life.

The University of Washington ’s Brian Sternberg set three world pole vault records in the spring and early summer of 1963. He died May 23, 2013. / University of Washington

It saddened, but hardly surprised anyone close to him, that Brian Sternberg died May 23 following a “convalescence” that spanned 10 presidential administrations. In fact, many of Sternberg’s family and friends expressed amazement that the former world record holder in the pole vault, who starred for the University of Washington in the early 1960s, lasted as long as he did given the agony he endured for 50 years.

“He had spent the last 14-15 months in the hospital,” said Helen Sternberg, Sternberg’s mother and long-time caretaker. “His heart and lungs finally gave out.”

“I actually thought he would go May 25, 50 years after the fact,” said close friend, e-mail pal and one-time teammate Phil Shinnick, himself a UW track legend.

“I thought he was going to go last year,” said another friend, Bill Knudsen, who ran track with Sternberg in high school. “We almost lost him then.”

Sternberg, born June 21, 1943 in Seattle, graduated from Shoreline High School in 1961 and enrolled at the University of Washington later that fall. A year later, as a 19-year-old sophomore, Sternberg burst upon the world track and field scene like no other Husky athlete in his sport before or since.

After winning the pole vault at the 1963 NCAA Championships by clearing 16-4¼ at Albuquerque, NM., Sternberg set world records in the event three times in a seven-week span. The first was April 27 in front of 37,432 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, when Sternberg jumped 16-5, taking the world mark away from Finland’s Pentti Nikula, whose 16-2½ stood for a year.

On May 25, the date Shinnick referenced above, Sternberg increased the world mark to 16-7 at the California Relays in Modesto, within an hour of Shinnick, also a sophomore, establishing a world standard of 27-4 in the long jump.

Shinnick’s record would be argued in court and before arbitration panels for the next 40 years and is an amazing tale in itself. But for a few days, two Washington track athletes, friends, roommates and sophomores, made sports headlines worldwide.

Sternberg had one more record in him. On June 7, he sailed over the crossbar at 16-8 at the Compton Relays in Compton, CA. Two weeks later, June 21 in St. Louis, Sternberg didn’t set a record, but he won the National AAU Track and FieldChampionships, the premier track event in the U.S. at the time, with a jump of 16-4. He came thisclose to clearing 16-9.

At that point, Sternberg became the favorite over American rivals John Pennel and Fred Hansen to not only win the gold medal at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but to become the first vaulter to clear 17 feet. Sternberg was already the first in the world to attempt it, and he barely missed.

Sternberg confided to friends after his near miss that 17 feet – and well beyond – was within his grasp. He was making the transition from a metal to a pliable fiberglass model and still getting the hang of it.

“I had no doubt he was going to be the first man to clear 20 feet,” said his UW coach, Stan Hiserman. “That’s how good he was.”

But Sternberg never made it to Tokyo. Indeed, he didn’t even make it to the noon speech he was scheduled to deliver to the North Central Kiwanis Club July 5 in Wallingford.

On July 2, Sternberg, an accomplished gymnast, and the only state athlete since World War II to hold a world track and field record, arrived at Hec Edmundson Pavilion about 8 p.m. to train on a trampoline in preparation for a trip to the Soviet Union.

On the basis of his superb showings in Modesto and Compton, Sternberg was selected to represent the U.S.  in its annual dual meet against the Soviets.

Working with UW gymnast Bob Hall, which he often did when plagued by shin splints, Sternberg executed a double-back somersault with a twist, a move he had made thousands of times, including once — on a crazy lark — off the Montlake Bridge. In fact, the evening before, Sternberg participated in a demonstration with the Greater Seattle Gymnastics Club at Tacoma’s Clover Park High and performed the double-back somersault with a twist.

But this time, Sternberg landed awkwardly on his neck. He didn’t break it, but he couldn’t move. An ambulance was summoned at about 8:30 p.m.

“It’s a difficult stunt,” Washington gymnastics coach Eric Hughes told The Seattle Post-Intelligencer hours after the accident. “Brian had done it many times before and several times before the accident. He just seemed to lose control of his body.”

“I landed in the middle of the trampoline where no one could reach me,” Sternberg said in an interview years later. “I yelled at the top of my voice, ‘I’m paralyzed! I’m paralyzed!’ I knew it was bad right away. What I didn’t know was how bad. When I realized how bad it was, it came as a shock.”

“I’ve been around a million athletes,” said Knudsen, a long-time front office executive and marketing specialist for the Seattle Mariners. “He had a body like a god. He was a world-class gymnast. He could do vertical pushups while standing on his hands. He had an unbelievable chest and arms. He had the original six pack (abs), only Brian was about a 12 pack.”

Two months after the accident, Greater Seattle Inc., charged with promoting Seattle to the world, donated all of its profits, about $3,000, from an Oakland Raiders-Kansas City Chiefs exhibition game at Husky Stadium to a trust fund set up in Sternberg’s name.

A special halftime show for the Aug. 17 contest drew several notable athletes, including two-time Olympic decathlon champion Bob Mathias. A clutch of star milers, many who beat the four-minute barrier, ran a special “Brian Sternberg Mile.” Vault rivals John Pennel and John Uelses put on an exhibition for 13,330 onlookers.

It took all of halftime, all of the third quarter and most of the fourth for the vaulters to complete their work, Pennel providing Seattle fans the highest vault they had ever witnessed, 16-6½.

Imagine the scene: vaulters shooting into the sky while football players collided nearby and bands blared in the stands. Sternberg watched the spectacle from his bed at nearby University Hospital.

In the weeks following the accident, doctors feared they would lose Sternberg, and they might have if he hadn’t been such a superbly conditioned athlete. But Sternberg never walked again. A quadriplegic, for many years he had difficulty speaking above a whisper.

“I used to go visit him and could barely make out what he was saying,” said Shinnick.

On the day of the accident, Shinnick was in Eugene, OR., for a competition. He heard about Sternberg’s injury on the radio.

“We were friends and teammates and incredibly connected,” Shinnick said. “It was devastating to hear. That took the heart right out of me. Right after that, I went to Alaska for two months to try and sort it out.”

Tethered to a high-tech wheelchair and unable to do anything by himself – his mother, Helen, tended to his needs — Sternberg had 50 years to sort things out and mull a cruel fate that not only denied him further athletic glory and the fulfillment of his dream, to become a high school science teacher, but just a plain, ordinary life.

“Brian was off charts,” said Knudsen. “He lived so much longer than the average quadriplegic. He lived with pain and agony for 50 years.”

“And he never once complained,” said Helen.

“People ask if I’m mad at the world or mad at God, but being mad doesn’t do me any good,” Sternberg said in one of his last interviews. “Sometimes I feel I was cheated a bit, but what can I do about it?”

A few years ago, when Knudsen noticed how slow and outdated Sternberg’s personal computer was, Knudsen made a dozen phone calls and in about three hours raised $5,000 to equip Sternberg with a state-of-the-art Mac. Sternberg pecked out e-mails using a small wand in his teeth.

In 1996, all efforts having failed to significantly improve his quality of life, Sternberg went to Germany for an operation that cost $100,000. Knudsen helped direct that fundraising effort as well.

“The operation on his spinal cord allowed Sternberg to breathe deeper and easier, to speak more clearly and in greater volume and to remain upright for longer periods, which had the effect of improving his feeling of well being,” said Knudsen. “It allowed him to get vertical for about 10 hours a day. But these past few months, his body finally just gave out.”

A few months following his trampoline accident, Sternberg received the 1963 Helms World Trophy, awarded to the top athlete on each of the six major continents. He subsequently entered the Washington Sports Hall of Fame (1980), Husky Hall of Fame (1981) and North American Pole Vault Hall of Fame (2005).

Two months ago, Sternberg was informed that his name would be added to the Penn Relays “Wall of Fame” for setting a meet and world record at Franklin Field in Philadelphia in April of 1963.

“He was the most gifted athlete that I have ever known,” said Knudsen, “and one of the classiest people on the planet. Everyone who knew him loved him, and I am so very proud to have called him my friend, from kindergarten to today.

“I hope they have a good pole vault setup in heaven, as I know Brian would like another shot at that record.”

——————————————

A public memorial service, still in the works, will be held June 22 at First Free Methodist Church, near Seattle Pacific University, at 2 p.m. The family will provide additional details when they are complete.

Follow Steve Rudman on Twitter at @SportspressNW

Vol. 3 No. 33 A Labor of Love

2009 Rancho Alamitos Track Yearbook

I recently received  copies of two track and field annual publications from a high school in California , Rancho Alamitos coached by Darryl Taylor who has been coaching at Rancho Alamitos  1965-66 school year until his retirement in 2004 and then for another seven years until 2011.  I can truly say that this annual book that Darryl puts together for his kids is a unique work that few high school or college athletes will ever have to remember their days on their team.  The humble beginning  is on mimeograph paper a modest 29 pages and two pages of photos on card stock.  In the 2009 issue,  Darryl goes into great detail about every meet and every race his kids have run for the whole year.  Their relay splits, times and progression throughout the season are all detailed. He did similar work in the 1966  early issue as well, but there wasn't as much data to process early in his coaching career.   He covers the 800, 1600,  3200 for both the boys and girls and 880, mile and 2 miles, back when those distances mattered..  Now in 2009 there are-all time lists at three levels Gold, Silver, and Bronze that runners can strive to move up to.   It is a tremendous motivational tool.   There are color photos of almost every runner in every race they ran for the year.  Darryl has done this every year for every student he has coached.  It is an incredible life's work and a monument to his devotion to his athletes and to his sport.   He also breaks performances down in to all time best for each class year Freshmen, Soph's etc.  Those lists are 20 deep. He lists great same day Middle Distance Doubles  30 deep.   It just goes on and on.  The 2009 issue is  approximately 175 pages long.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

2009 New Hall of Fame Members

Not only is this a motivational tool and a great memory for every kid who ever wore a Rancho Alamitos uniform, but someday when these children are forty years old and putting on weight, it may inspire them to renew the efforts they once made for the sport and get themselves back on the solid path of fitness and good health.  It will surely affect some of them all their lives.

Tom Baird Winning  the 1967
Garden Grove City League Mile Finals in 4:22.1

1967 Record Setters  (UL) Ted Bechtel, (UR) Rusty Nelson
(LL) Sid Williams , (LR) Tom Baird

The one thing I find missing in the issue I have on my desk is a picture of Darryl Taylor or a single mention of his name anywhere in this book.  This says everything about the humbleness of the man.  Our hats at the Once Upon a Time in the Vest  boardroom go off to Darryl and are thrown high in the air with accompanying Huzzahs and Hip Hip Hoorays.  ed. 

We will not be too shy to put Darryl's picture in here running for Long Beach State against John Bork and a more recent picture of Darryl and his wife.  All the best to you, Darryl.  

Several comments have come in related to this post.  We've listed them below.

From John Bork

"I'd like to communicate with Darryl Taylor. "

                                                                    From Richard Trace

"Phenomenal work!"

From Mike Solomon

"Rancho Alamitos High!!! only a few miles from my high school...we competed against them even.All of those names go back to the Spanish and Mexican haciendas in California.One of their more famous alums was Gary Hall..olympic swimmer years ago.

A good friend of mine played football at Rancho Alamitos...went on to Stanford on a football scholarship and played a long time in the NFL for the Patriots....Randy Vataha( wide receiver).....now a sports agent in the Boston area.  He married a gal from my high school.

Keep up the good work....I forwarded the Memorial Day story to Billy Mills.
will be in Tahoe in a few days for this seven man relay around the lake...... each guy runs about 10 miles...and one of our runners was also a wide receiver at Stanford and much better shape than yours truly."
Mike