by Larry Eder
This Day in Track & Field–May 15
1926-Lillian Copeland set American Records in the Shot Put (8-pounds/38-8 ¼ [11.79]) and Discus (2.75 pounds/
103-5 ½ [31.53]) in L.A. Copeland won Olympic gold (1932) and silver (1928) in the Discus, and won 9 U.S. titles in the Shot (5), Discus (2), and Javelin (2), winning all three in 1926. The New York native enrolled at USC after the 1928 Olympics.
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/lillian-copeland
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77792
U.S. Champions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Copeland
1926–After officially tying the existing World Record of 9.6 for 100-yards on four occasions, Charley Paddock finally
became the first man to run 9.5, doing so at the L.A. Coliseum. Under the timing rules of the day, however, his time had to be rounded up to 9.6! (The AAU ratified the AR as 9.5).
There was some doubt that Paddock had actually won the race. USC’s Charley Borah looked like a winner as they neared the finish, but Paddock, a former USC Trojan, relied on his signature leap at the tape to earn the judges’ decision.
Maxwell Stiles, writing for the “Los Angeles Examiner”: “There was the wildest confusion as Borah leading by more than 2 feet at 98 yards, was caught by Paddock’s savage finish (his famous leap of 12-15 ft at the tape). They broke the tape together and Borah was raised on the shoulders of a Trojan serpentine and carried off the field as the conqueror of the mighty Paddock. So certain was the writer that Borah had won by inches that he went straight to Paddock and began to offer sympathy for the latter’s defeat. Paddock, thinking he had won, glared back in surprise…when the official announcer named Paddock as the winner a mighty roar of protest swept the vast enclosure (with) cries of “Robber ! Robber !” …(2 judges picked Paddock for 1st, while the 2 second place judges picked Borah and a tie)…Paddock said after the race that he was certain he had won by turning his shoulder into the tape at the proper moment”. (Don) Potts adds “I have 2 pictures of the finish. There is no doubt that Paddock won”.
Paddock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Paddock
1948–Competing at the West Coast Relays in Fresno, California, future Hall-of-Famer Mel Patton became the first man to run 9.3 for the 100-yard dash. He had been part of the group, which included Jesse Owens, that held the previous record of 9.4. Patton’s record run came after there were 4 false starts, with at least one (some reports say 3!) attributed to Panamanian Lloyd LaBeach, who matched the old record of 9.4 in 2nd place.
LaBeach returned to the track later in the day to win the 100-meters in 10.2 to join Jesse Owens and Hal Davis as a World Record holder in the event.
In 1949, Patton ran 20.2 to break Owens’ World Record for 220-yards on the straightaway. At the 1948 Olympics, “Pell Mel” finished a disappointing 5th in the 100-meters after getting a bad start, but came back to win gold medals in the 200 and 4×100 relay.
He also won five individual NCAA sprint titles while at USC (1947-100y, 1948-100m,200m, 1949-100y,220y), and anchored the Trojans to a World Record of 1:24.4 in the 4x220y-relay at the 1949 West Coast Relays in Fresno. (They improved the record to 1:24.0 the following week at the Coliseum Relays).
After retiring from the amateur side of the sport in 1950, he competed as a professional in Australia before entering the business world.
Time Magazine Cover Story–1948 Olympics
http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19480802,00.html (Patton on the cover)
https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,888423-2,00.html
Interview: http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHpatton.pdf
1965 –Senior Jim Ryun (Wichita East,KS), who had become the first prep to break 4-minutes for the mile when he ran against open competition in 1964, did it again, this time against other high school runners, running 3:58.3 to win the Kansas state title. His unofficial splits were 58.1, 2:00.9, 3:02.4. That was the fastest time ever run in a high school-only race until 2022, when senior Gary Martin (Archbishop Wood) ran 3:57.98 at the Philadelphia Catholic League Championships.
Ryun has received as much media attention during (and especially after) his career as any T&F athlete in history, but there are two little-known, but significant, facts that even hard-core fans might be surprised to learn.
While Bob Timmons rightfully received credit for turning Ryun into an Olympian by his junior year at Wichita East H.S. in Kansas, it was J.D. Edmiston who coached Ryun during his final prep season in 1965. In addition to his sub-4 performance at the State meet, Ryun went on to beat the legendary Peter Snell at the U.S. Championships in June, setting an American Record of 3:55.3. That time, of course, also improved his H.S. record, which lasted for 36 years until Alan Webb ran 3:53.43 in 2001.
The most highly recruited runner in the country eventually wound up attending the University of Kansas, but did you know that he initially planned to join Timmons at Oregon State, where his H.S. mentor had become the head coach? (Timmons spent a year in Corvallis before becoming the head coach at Kansas, where he was reunited with Ryun).
http://faculty.randolphcollege.edu/tmichalik/ryun.htm (scroll down for a great picture of the finish).
Video-with Ryun’s commentary!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RsSkU7WuIY
https://vault.si.com/vault/1965/07/05/fast-teenagers-in-grownup-time
Ryun Talks About His H.S. Training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewKbGJanxso
1971—A meet dedicating a new Tartan track in Bakersfield (CA) yielded 3 American Records.
Veteran George Young shook off Frank Shorter (13:35.0) on his way to winning the 5000-meters in 13:32.2 to
break Gerry Lindgren’s 3-year old mark of 13:33.8.
The other records were set at “odd” distances. Jim Kemp won the 300 in 32.1 to break his own AR of 32.8. His
time also bettered the all-time best of 32.4, held by Jamaica’s Herb McKenley.
The 3rd record went to Cal freshman Rick Brown, who ran 1:16.2 for 600-meters to break Tom Farrell’s mark of 1:16.5.
From Track and Field News
1983–Competing early at the UCLA/Pepsi Invitational, Tom Petranoff caught many people at the meet off guard when he threw the (old) javelin an amazing 327-2 (99.24) in the 2nd round to set a new World Record. The throw shattered the previous mark of 317-4 (96.72m), which was set by Hungary’s Ferenc Paragi in 1980.
Petranoff, with a previous best of 297-2 (90.58m?), passed in the next two rounds, but was convinced to take another throw in the 5th round (281-10 [85.90]) to satisfy TV and newspaper photographers who had missed the big throw! Finishing 3rd was the late Bob Roggy (274-7/83.70m), who saw his American Record of 314-4 (95.80) obliterated by Petranoff.
The 2-time U.S. Olympian (1984-1988), who made a controversial move to South Africa in 1989 (see links), is still active in the sport, promoting his “Turbo-Jav” training implement. On the same date, 26-years later (2009), his daughter Leigh won the first of her four Missouri Valley Conference javelin titles while at Illinois State and had a personal best of 191-6 (58.37).
T&F News Cover 1997 Interview
2011–Kenya’s Sammy Wanjiru, the gold medalist in the Marathon at the 2008 Olympics, died after falling from a balcony. What led to the fall is still a mystery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/17/sports/marathon-champion-dies-in-fall-from-balcony.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Wanjiru
2015—It was an epic battle in the Men’s Triple Jump at the Diamond League Meeting in Doha, Qatar. Pedro Pablo Pichardo set a Cuban Record of 59-3 (18.06) in the 3rd round, but was almost beaten by American Christian Taylor, who jumped a personal best of 59-2 ¼ (18.04) on his final effort. Both would improve later in the season, Pichardo to 59-4 (18.08) and Taylor to an American Record of 59-9 (18.21) while winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Beijing (Pichardo won silver [58-2/17.73]).
Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=507859142955141
All-Time Top-10 (From T&F News)
18.29 | 60-¼ Jonathan Edwards (Great Britain) 8/07/95
18.21 | 59-9 Christian Taylor (US) 8/27/15
18.16 | 59-7 ————Edwards ! 8/07/95
18.14 | 59-6¼ Will Claye (US) 6/29/19
18.11 | 59-5 ————Taylor 5/27/17
18.09 | 59-4¼ Kenny Harrison (US) 7/27/96
18.08 | 59-4 Pedro Pablo Pichardo (Cuba) 5/28/15
18.07 | 59-3½i Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso) 1/16/21
18.06 | 59-3 ————Pichardo 5/15/15
18.06 | 59-3 ————Taylor 7/09/15
18.06 | 59-3 ————Claye 8/24/19
**11 performances by 6 performers**
18.04 | 59-2¼ Teddy Tamgho (France) 8/18/13
17.97 | 58-11½ Willie Banks (US) 6/16/85
17.92 | 58-9½ Khristo Markov (Bulgaria) 8/31/87
17.92 | 58-9½ James Beckford (Jamaica) 5/20/95
Born On This Day*
Raven Saunders 29 (1996) 2021 Olympic silver medalist—Shot Put (2016-5th, 2024-11th)
10th at the 2017 World Championships
2015 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion (Southern Illinois)
2016 NCAA Outdoor and 2017 NCAA Indoor Champion (Ole Miss)
Set a Collegiate Indoor Record of 64-2 ¼ (19.56) in 2017
2-time U.S. Junior Champion (2014,2015)
American Junior Record holder-Indoors and Outdoors: 61-1 1/4i (16.57/2015), 60-2 ½ (18.35/2015)
Spent her freshman year (2015) at Southern Illinois, then followed Saluki coach Connie Price-
Smith when she took a similar position at Mississippi.
Left Ole Miss early in 2018 “for health reasons”, but eventually returned to competition.
“While I am sad that Raven will no longer be competing for Ole Miss, I support her decision to work
on herself and her medical matters,” said Rebel head coach Connie Price-Smith. “I thank her for all
that she has done for our program and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors.”
Saunders later revealed that the real reason she left school was that she had contemplated committing
suicide before getting help from a therapist. (See Recovery link)
PB: 65-6 (19.96/2021/#8 All-Time U.S.), 64-2 1/2i (19.57/2021/#6 A-T U.S.); 2024 SB: 65 -3 ½ (19.90)
Ranked #10 in the World in 2024 (#3-U.S.), #4 in 2021 (#1-U.S.), #3 in 2018 (#1-U.S.), #7 in 2016 and 2017
(#3-U.S. both years); Also: U.S.-2015 (#7), 2022 (#6),
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/132046
Rankings: https://trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/
https://olympics.com/en/news/i-belong-here-raven-saunders-battles-depression-for-shot-at-tokyo-crown
The “X” gesture on the podium in Tokyo:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58048727
Veronica Campbell-Brown-Jamaica 43 (1982) 3-time Olympic gold medalist-200 (2004,2008), 4×100 (2008)
2004 NCAA Indoor Champion-200m(Arkansas);
PBs:10.76 (’11/=#14 All-Time), 21.74 (’08/=#13 All-Time); Announced her retirement in June, 2021
Won 21 medals (8 gold) in Olympic and World Championship competition
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/87116
Retirement: https://worldathletics.org/news/news/veronica-campbell-brown-retires#
http://www.veronicacampbellbrown.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Campbell-Brown
Doping Controversy: www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/14/veronica-campbell-brown-jamaican-athletics
Medal table courtesy of Mirko Jalava (http://www.tilastopaja.org)
3 Olympic Golds 2004: 200, 4×1 2008: 200
3 World Titles 2007: 100 2011: 200 2015: 4×1
2 World Indoor Titles 2010: 60 2012: 60
3 Olympic Silvers 2000: 4×1 2012: 4×1, 2016:4×100
7 World Championships Silvers 2005: 100, 4×1 2007: 200, 4×1 2009: 200 2011: 100, 4×1
2 Olympic Bronzes 2004: 100 2012: 100
1 World Championships Bronze 2015:200
Deceased
Don Bragg 83 (1935-February 16, 2019) 1960 Olympic gold medalist-Pole Vault
Former World Record holder, Indoors (15-9 1/2[4.81/1959) and Outdoors (15-9 ¼ [ratified
as 4.80/1960])
1955 NCAA Champion (Villanova); 6-time IC4A Champion (3-indoor, 3-outdoor/1955-1957)
1959 U.S. Champion; 5-time U.S. Indoor Champion (’56, ’58-’61)
3-time Penn Relays Champion (1955-1957); 3-time winner at the Millrose Games (1958-1960)
Inducted into the U.S. Hall of Fame in 1996
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bragg
Hall of Fame Bio: http://legacy.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=22
Sports Illustrated Articles
https://vault.si.com/vault/1967/02/20/he-sizzles-at-the-end-of-a-swizzle-stick
Would-Be Tarzan(2003):
www.sfgate.com/sports/article/WHERE-ARE-THEY-NOW-Don-Bragg-Bragg-lives-out-2666334.php
“A Chance to Dare: The Don Bragg Story.”
http://www.polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1233
Miruts Yifter-Ethiopia 72 (1944-Dec.22, 2016) Double gold medalist at the 1980 Olympics—5000, 10,000; was
Bronze medalist in the 10,000 at the 1972 Olympics; PBs: 13:13.82 (1977), 27:40.96 (1972)
Known as “Yifter the Shifter” for his ability to accelerate at the end of races
Died in 2016 in Toronto, where he had settled after leaving his native Ethiopia.
NY Times Obituary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miruts_Yifter
1980 OG
(5k): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mnbtp9Pldo
(10k-What a Race!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6eHUXDCKmQ
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/miruts-yifter-14349904
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/miruts-yifter-funeral-1.3913309
http://www.athleticsweekly.com/featured/miruts-yifter-the-shifter-dies-54795
Celebrating a Legend: www.ethiosports.com/2016/12/08/celebrating-a-living-legend-miruts-yifter/
