This Day in Track & Field, January 27, Paavo Nurmi wows crowd of 10,000m at MSG (1925), David Krummenacker sets AR at Boston Indoor Games (2002), by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field–December 1, Ron Delaney wins Melbourne Olympic 1,500 meters (1956), Did you know that he almost did not attend? Read the story! by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field/X-Country–November 28, Lee Calhoun wins 110 meter hurdles (1956), written by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field/X-Country–November 27, Al Oerter wins his first Olympic discus title (1956), written by Walt Murphy

This Day in Track & Field-January 27

1925–Capitalizing on the popularity of Finland’s Paavo Nurmi, who had won 5 gold medals at the previous year’s Olympics in Paris, the Millrose Games went to a 2-day format for the only time in its illustrious history.

Nurmi wowed the crowd of 10,000 on the 1^st night at Madison Square Garden by beating American favorite (and future Hall-of-Famer) Joie Ray and setting a World Record of 3:03.4/5s in the 3/4-mile run.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/01/28/101636054.html?pageNumber=1

Magazine cover of the era featuring Paavo Nurmi

1951-The Reverend Bob Richards became the 2^nd man (after Cornelius Warmerdam) to join the Indoor 15-foot club when he cleared 15-1 (4.60) at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden. It was the 5^th-straight win at Millrose for Richards, and that streak was matched by Harrison Dillard (7.5) in the 60y-Hurdles.

Don Gehrmann won the 3^rd of his 4 straight Wanamaker Miles in 4:07.5, which would turn out be his fastest winning time at Millrose.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/01/28/91639706.html?pageNumber=156

1962–Marine Corporal John Uelses vaulted 15-10 ¼ (4.835?) in Washington, DC, to become the first man to set a World Indoor Record using a fiberglass pole.

Sports Illustrated Vault: http://www.si.com/vault/1962/02/26/591327/he-could-do-it-on-bamboo

1962–On the same day, on the other side of the world, New Zealand’s Peter Snell, running in his home country on a grass track in Wanganui, set a World Outdoor Record in the Mile, running 3:54.4 to break Herb Elliott’s previous mark by .1s. It was the start of a 2-week record binge in which Snell would also set new marks in the outdoor 800m/880y (Feb.2) and the indoor 1000-yards (Feb.10). He passed away in 2019 at the age of 80.

Sports Illustrated Vault:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1962/02/05/a-novice-miler-runs-the-fastest-mile-ever

https://vault.si.com/vault/1962/02/12/meet-the-worlds-best-runner

WR Progression(mile): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_run_world_record_progression

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/20/sir-peter-snell-obituary

1966—Meet Records were set by Belgium’s Gaston Roelants in the 2-mile (8:40.6) and John Pennel in the Pole Vault (16-5 [5.00+]), while Willie Davenport tied the MR in the 60y-hurdles (7.0), at the Millrose Games in front of 16,000 fans at Madison Square Garden.

Kenya’s Kip Keino won the Wanamaker Mile in a slowish 4:03.9, barely staying on his feet as he strained to hold off the closing rush of UCLA’s Bob Day (4:04.2).

St.John’s grad Tom Farrell (1:12.0) overtook Ollan Cassell (1:12.1), the future head of U.S. T&F, coming off the final turn to win the Mel Sheppard 600y.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/01/28/79293590.html?pageNumber=24

Gaston Roelants, featured on cover of Runners World

1973–Two records were set at the Oregon Inv. in Portland. Steve Prefontaine won the 2-mile in 8:24.6 to break Frank Shorter’s previous American mark of 8:26.2, and Al Feuerbach improved his own World Record in the Shot Put to 69-5 ¾ (21.17+).

1978–Fairleigh Dickinson’s Franklin Jacobs, all 5’-8” (1.73) of him, cleared an amazing 7-7 ¼ (2.32), 23-1/4” above his head, before a sell-out crowd of 18,118 fans at the Millrose Games to set a World Record in the High Jump. Among his victims were the two previous record holders, Canadian Greg Joy and Dwight Stones. Two other world indoor marks fell at the meet, with Houston McTear setting a new standard in the 60-yard dash (6.11), and Maryland freshman Renaldo Nehemiah got his first global mark in the 60-yard hurdles (7.07).

Dick Buerkle (3:58.4), who had set a World Indoor Record of 3:54.9 two weeks earlier, held off Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi (3:59.0) and Kenya’s Wilson Waigwa (3:59.4) to win the Wanamaker Mile.

Here’s how Dwight Stones remembers the meet. “As I recall that night at the Garden in 1978, I remember that I was on my way to a Superstars competition down in the Bahamas, so my coach, Harry Sneider, was with me”.

“I believe I was error-free through 7′ 5″ (2.26m) and was beating Franklin on misses. Because I rarely got the opportunity to win at Millrose (I was 13-1 in 1975 and lost to Mel Embree at Millrose), I was anxious to have this pest out of my hair. I encouraged him to go for the world record because I really thought myself capable of it more than anything else and this ploy was successfully played out many times I might add (1976 NCAA meet vs. Mike Winsor, 1984 Millrose vs. Jimmy Howard).”

“I had a couple of very good jumps at the height but was amazed at how good Franklin’s attempts were as well. He didn’t appear to be intimidated by the fact that he was jumping at the world record. He happened to be jumping after me in the order and when I missed my third attempt there wasn’t any part of me that thought he would clear it. When he skimmed over on his final jump I was so pissed because I had lost the meet, lost the American Record, and I was certain he would get the athlete of the meet trophy which of course he did.”

Jacobs, who never jumped higher during his brief career, was coached by FDU’s Walt Marusyn and jump specialist Bill Monahan, but he also received help from an unlikely source. Jay Horwitz, FDU’s Sports Information Director at the time (and who was the media director for the NY Mets for almost 40 years!), traveled with Jacobs to meets and often helped him get his steps down before a competition!

Jacobs’ remarkable 23-1/4” clearance over his head has been matched only by Sweden’s Stefan Holm, who, at 5-11 1/4, cleared 7-10 1/2 in 2005.

NY Times Coverage

Video (Jacobs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnAinOc5Ss

Sports Illustrated Vault SI Feature

Jacobs 20 Years Later: http://www.fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine/99su/jacobs.html

Horwitz: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24658896/long-new-york-mets-pr-boss-jay-horwitz-moves-new-role

1984–With his three-year winning streak on the line, Carl Lewis was trailing Larry Myricks (27-6 [8.38]) as he prepared for his final effort in the Long Jump at the Millrose Games. With sister Carol, who had finished 5th in the 60y-hurdles earlier in the meet, using her feet to keep in place a loose board at the head of the runway, “King” Carl added another line to his already impressive resume by reaching out to an amazing 28-10 ¼ (8.79m).

The jump broke Lewis’s previous World Indoor Record of 28-1 (8.56m) and broke the heart of Myricks, who had the misfortune of having his career coincide with that of Lewis’s. The mark matched Lewis’s outdoor best and, at the time, had been surpassed only by Bob Beamon’s 29-2 ½ (8.90) at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Lewis was so close to the takeoff board that some observers felt he had fouled, but chief judge Stan Dawkins said, “It was a perfect board…he used every bit the law allows”.

Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1984/02/06/a-long-jump-thatll-be-long-remembered

1996–Haile Gebrselassie set a World Indoor Record of 13:10.98 for 5000-meters in Sindelfingen, Germany (Since broken).

2002–Three American Records were set at the adidas Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury(MA).

Earning bonuses for their efforts were David Krummenacker in the Men’s 1000-meters (2:17.86/$25,000), Tim Broe in the Men’s 3000-meters (7:39.23/$25,000) and Regina Jacobs in the Women’s 2-mile (9:23.38, $10,000)

https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/records-fall-at-adidas-boston-indoor-games

Results: http://www.nbindoorgrandprix.com/meet-info/history/history-2002/

2006—Competing at the Zia Classic in Albuquerque, Texas senior Trey Hardee, the 2005 NCAA Champion in the Decathlon, set a Collegiate Record of 6208 points in the 7-event Heptathlon (Now #7 All-Time). Paying more attention to the competition than where it was taking place, Hardee said afterwards, “I got trashed in the 1000 (2:55.16)—I didn’t know I was at altitude”!

His marks: 6.73, 7.73 (25-4 ½), 14.31 (46-11 ¼), 1.95 (6-4 ¾), 7.87, 5.30 (17-4 ½), 2:55.16

Hardee, who announced his retirement after failing to finish the decathlon at the 2017 World Championships in London, won two World titles (2009,2011) and was the silver medalist at the 2012 Olympics.

He is currently a member of NBC’s T&F broadcast team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Hardee

2007–The plan all along was to go for the World Record in the Women’s 5000 at the Reebok Boston meet at the Reggie Lewis Center, and Ethiopia’s Tirunesh DIbaba, the “baby-faced destroyer”, delivered, running 14:27.42 (now #3 all-time) to break her own mark of 14:32.93, which was set on the same track in 2005.

Later in the meet, fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar, who was under-the-weather, made a run at the 3000 World Record of 8:29.15, but fell just short with her winning time of 8:30.31.

The big news in the event was provided by Massachusetts native Shalane Flanagan. With her mom, photographer Cheryl Treworgy, taking pictures throughout the race, Flanagan stayed on Defar’s heels until losing contact with less than a lap to go, but still finished well and crossed the line in the American Record time of 8:33.25 (now #7 U.S.).

Alan Webb (3:55.18) won the Mile over Kevin Sullivan (3:57.33), and Jenn Stuczynski (later Suhr) won the Pole Vault with a clearance of 15-2 ¼ (4.63).

Results: http://www.nbindoorgrandprix.com/meet-info/history/history-2007/

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/sports/othersports/28track.html?_r=0

2007–Competing at Penn State, Hampton University frosh Francena McCorory set a Collegiate Record of 1:09.16 for 500-meters (now #4 All-Time).

2017—Competing at the East-West Challenge at NY’s Armory, a team from Oregon set the Collegiate Indoor Record of 10:48.77 in the Women’s Distance Medley (Now #8).

(Lilli Burdon’ 3:20.6, Ashante Horsley’ 53.8, Raevyn Rogers 2:03.5, Katie Rainsberger 4:30.9)

https://www.flotrack.org/articles/5060523-oregon-women-break-dmr-collegiate-record-in-new-york

Results

2018—A lineup of Kyra Jefferson, Deajah Stevens, Daina Harper-23.3, and Asha Ruth-23.3 set an American Record of 1:32.67 (#6 All-Time World) at the inaugural Dr. Norbert Sander Invitational, named in honor of the man who brought NY’s Armory back to life. (The meet used to be known as the Armory Track Invitational).

https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=news&news_id=508169

Results: https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=news&news_id=507911

Born On This Day*

Not much to choose from on this day

Tim Harden 51 (1974) 2001 World Indoor Champion—60-meters; 2-time U.S. Indoor Champion (1998,1999)

1996 NCAA Indoor Champion 55m (Kentucky/2^nd Outdoors-100); 1996 Olympic silver medalist—4×100

PBs: 6.43 (1999/=#9-All-Time World/=# 5 U.S.), 9.92 (1999)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Harden

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78517

https://www.kshb.com/sports/olympics/100-days-of-kansas-city-area-olympians-tim-harden-track-and-field

Khristo Markov—Bulgaria 60 (1965) Gold medalist in the Triple Jump at the 1987 World Championships and 1988

Olympics; PB: 58-9 ½ (17.92/=#10 All-Time(Indoors/Outdoors).