by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–June 23
1934—For the 3rd year in a row, Marquette’s Ralph Metcalfe won the sprint double at the NCAA Championships (held this year in Los Angeles/June 22-23), finishing 1st in the 100y (9.7) and 220y (20.9/straight). He is still the only athlete to accomplish such a feat.
Princeton senior Bill Bonthron defeated Kansas senior Glenn Cunningham (4:10.6), the 2-time defending champion (1500-1932) in the Mile and set a Meet Record of 4:08.9. Cunningham tried to double back in the 880y, but dropped out (the race was won by Indiana senior Chuck Hornbostel (1:51.9).
Cunningham had set a World Record of 4:06.8 the week before at the Princeton Invitational, with Bonthron finishing a distant 2nd (4:12.5).
LSU junior Glenn Hardin, the defending champion in both events, won the 440y (47.0/Meet Record) and the 220y-Hurdles (22.7/straight-equals MR).
LSU senior Jack Torrance won his 2nd title in the Shot Put with a Meet Record throw of 54-6 ½ (16.62). He had set a World Record of 55-1 ½ (16.80) at the Drake Relays in April and would improve the Record twice more later in the season: 55-5 (16.89/a week after the NCAA meet) and 57-1 (17.40) in Oslo on August 5. The latter mark would stand as the Record for 14 years.
Helped by a late win in the Discus by Gordon Dunn (162-7 [49.56?]), Stanford (63) won the team title over USC (57-1/2). The meet drew a large crowd of 45,000 to the Coliseum.
Results: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/1934.pdf
NY Times(for subscribers): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/06/24/94544777.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
Mr.Triple-Double: http://www.ustfccca.org/ncaa-100/ralph-metcalfe-marquette-100-200-ncaa-history
1956–Thane Baker edged Andy Stanfield to win the 200-meters at the U.S. Championships in Bakersfield, CA, with both timed in 20.6. Only Baker got credit for the World Record, since Stanfield was only timed with two watches.
Stanfield was one of 8 future Hall-of-Famers competing at the meet (HOF or Wikipedia bios linked).
Other winners who went on to win Olympic gold were Tom Courtney (won the U.S. 400, gold in the 800), Glenn Davis (400h), Charlie Dumas (High Jump), Bob Richards (Pole Vault), Hal Connolly (Hammer Throw).
Milt Campbell finished 2nd to Rafer Johnson in the decathlon, but won the gold in Melbourne. Johnson would win his Olympic gold in 1960.
The 10,000-meters served as the Olympic Trials for the event, with Max Truex (30:52.0), Dick Hart (31:06.3), and Gordon McKenzie (31:06.8) claiming the three spots on the U.S. team.
Results(Great site—might require a free signup): http://trackfield.brinkster.net/USATournaments.asp?TourCode=N&Year=1956&Gender=M&TF=T&P=R&By=Y&Count=
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1956/07/02/and-now-the-biggest-battle-of-all
WR Progression:
110h: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_110_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
200: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_200_metres_world_record_progression
1967–Jim Ryun, running from the front, ran 3:51.1 to break his own World Record in the mile (3:51.3) at the AAU Championships in Bakersfield, CA. Marty Liquori, recently graduated from Essex Catholic H.S. (Newark,NJ), finished 7th in 3:59.8 to become the 3rd prep to run a sub 4-minute mile. Ironically, Liquori finished just ahead of the 2nd high schooler to break 4-minutes, Tim Danielson (1966-3:59.4), who finished 8th in 4:00.6. Ryun, of course, was the first to go under 4-minutes when he ran 3:59.0 as a junior in 1964. It appeared that the floodgates had opened for more high school runners to break 4-minutes, but it would be another 34 years before Alan Webb became the 4th prep to get under that barrier in 2001.
USC’s Paul Wilson won the pole vault with a clearance of 17-7 ¾ (ratified as 5.38) to break Bob Seagren’s 2-week old World Record of 17-7 (5.36). Seagren finished 2nd here with a jump of 17-3 ¾ (5.28).
Top 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USA_Outdoor_Track_and_Field_Championships
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1967/07/03/see-you-later-jim-ryun
WR Progressions
Mile: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_run_world_record_progression
Pole Vault: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
1976—Killers on the Run–It was the “off-day” midway through the OIympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. Dave Roberts, using a pole borrowed from Earl Bell after his broke on his first attempt at the world record height of 18-8 1/4, had a shaky clearance on his final try to regain the vault record from Bell(6-22); Rick Wohlhuter had won the 800 (6-21) and would later double in the 1500(6-27); Edwin Moses had run his first “great” race, setting an American Record of 48.30 in the 400-hurdles (6-21); and Madeline Manning-Jackson had beaten Cindy Poor in the women’s 800 and set an American Record of 1:59.81(6-22), while Poor would come back later in the Trials to set her own AR in the 1500(4:07.32/6-27). This was also the first U.S. Trials where men and women competed together.
But today was a day for athletes and fans to catch their breath. I was taking a relaxing walk around Eugene when I ran into Don Steffens, a friend who had driven from Kansas to see the Trials. I mentioned that Jack Pfeifer and some of his buddies had gone to the Oregon coast to see the popular sand dunes, and Don suggested we try to hook up with them. We never did find Jack and his crew, who we later learned had conducted mock raids on the trams that carried visitors around the dunes. It sounded pretty funny at the time, but probably wouldn’t go over as well in today’s political climate. Don and I did our own tour of the dunes, and then stopped in the lovely town of Florence to have a late lunch at the local diner.
We were the only ones in the place, and thought it odd when a man came in, walked straight into the kitchen, and then right back out again. It soon became apparent what he was doing. As soon as we walked out into the parking lot, we heard someone yell, “Hit the dirt!”. We were surrounded by five men(including the one who had checked us out inside the diner), with varying sizes of weaponry trained on us! We weren’t about to ask any stupid questions or make any sudden moves, so we obediently went face down in the parking lot gravel.
They quickly identified themselves as police officers (probably the entire Florence squad!), frisked us, and asked who we were and what we were doing in Florence. One of my first thoughts, after my life had flashed in front of my eyes, was, “Where was (track fan/attorney) Bob Hersh staying in Eugene?”. Sure, he wasn’t a criminal lawyer, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
It turned out that Don fit the description of a wanted murderer, right down to his long blonde hair and his blue Mustang! Once we explained that we were in Oregon for the Trials, the officer in charge politely suggested that we go to the local station house to sort things out. My paranoia was striking deep, but before I could say I’d rather stay out in the open, where witnesses could see what was going on, Don said, “OK”.
We were placed in the back of a squad car, with one officer on the passenger side cradling a shotgun in his arms! I said, “If we’re not under arrest, why the need for the show of force?”. “Procedure when transporting anyone in our vehicle”, I was told.
When we arrived at the hoosegow, we were shown to a waiting room, offered some coffee, and everything seemed fine–until they locked the door! Now my fear was quickly overtaken by the last vestige of whatever rebel tendencies were left over from the 1960s. “If we’re not under arrest, I want this door open”, I shouted through an opening. “Procedure” was again cited, but they did open the door.
After what seemed like an eternity, they were finally convinced that we were indeed just mild-mannered track geeks, and what started out as potentially the biggest day in the history of the Florence police force (shades of Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant”— https://genius.com/Arlo-guthrie-alices-restaurant-massacree-lyrics) ended with a lukewarm apology and laughs all around from the officers involved in the initial takedown.
We were finally able to laugh about the incident ourselves as we retold the story many times during the remainder of the Trials (and throughout the ensuing years), but, since the wanted killer was still on the loose, Don had a very nervous ride all the way back to Kansas.
The 1976 Trials provided great track and field memories for those who were there, but folks like Pfeifer and his band of desert marauders and me and my “partner-in-crime” Steffens will always recall the meet as much for what happened off the track as for the World and American Records that we witnessed.
1979—The New Jersey Olympic Track Classic, the brainchild of Bill Fitzpatrick, a recent Rutgers grad, drew many of the sport’s biggest names to the track at Rutgers, the site of the 1964 U.S. Championships.
The featured event was the men’s mile, with Villanova junior Don Paige, fresh off his historic 800-1500 double win at the NCAA Championships, overtaking New Zealand’s John Walker, the World Record holder(3:49.4) in the homestretch to capture the win (3:54.0-3:55.2). Close behind Walker was Craig Masback with a personal best time of 3:55.7, and 5th was New Zealand’s Rod Dixon (3:58.04),
Eamonn Coghlan (8:26.3) won a star-studded 2-mile over Matt Centrowitz (8:26.9), fellow Irishman John Treacy(8:34.1), who had won his World X-Country title in March, and New Zealand’s Dick Quax (8:37.2), the 1976 Olympic silver medalist at 5000-meters.
In other highlights, New Jersey native Mary Decker won the Women’s 1500 (4:09.2), Mike Tully (18-3/4 [5.505]) won the Pole Vault over Earl Bell (17-0 [5.18]) before missing 3 attempts at a World Record height of 18-8 ¾ (5.71), Valerie Brisco won the women’s 200 (23.18) and 400 (52.08), a young Carl Lewis (24-4 [7.415]), just finishing up his senior year at Willingboro(NJ) H.S., finished 2nd to Bill Rea (24-5 [7.44]) in the men’s Long Jump, and Art Swarts (204-5 [62.30?]) won the Discus over his longtime friend and rival Al Oerter (204-4 [62.28?]).
Sitting in the stands, alongside his coach, Villanova’s Jumbo Elliott, was a disappointed Sydney Maree, who had traveled to the meet with his Wildcat teammates, expecting to compete in the 1500-meters. However, the IAAF had prohibited South Africa native Maree (and others) from competing in non-collegiate meets because of his country’s restrictive racial policies(Maree won the NCAA 5000 earlier in the month). New Zealand officials, concerned that the IAAF would invoke its “contamination” rule, warned Walker and his teammates not to run if Maree was allowed to compete. Meet Director Fitzpatrick, who had been advised by TAC (The Athletics Congress) and the U.S. Olympic Committee not to let Maree compete, reluctantly told the Villanova soph he wouldn’t be allowed to run.
Footnotes From Bill Fitzpatrick, who was just 19 when he first came up with the idea for the meet in 1976:
The last lap of the mile was shown the next day on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Bob Iger, then a young PA for ABC (he’s now the Chairman of the Walt Disney Company), calls me on Friday morning, the day before the meet, and requests footage to the Mile and offers $750 and another $750 if it is a world record. (I should have asked Bob Iger for a job interview in lieu of the $750!)
NJ Public Television televised the Meet, a 90 minute production which is aired nationally one week later. Dick Landis is announcer. Larry Ellis is color announcer for track events, and Fred Samara does the color for the field events.
Evolution of a Track Meet
As a young man with an exciting idea, I was in the right place at the right time. It was 1976 and there was talk of an all-weather track surface coming to Rutgers Stadium in a few years.
Was there a singular moment when it clicked for me that I would organize this world class track meet at my alma mater some day? Yes, that moment occurred as I stared at a window of a train from Newcaste, England to Edinburgh, Scotland on the last Saturday in May 1976. I had arrived in London four days earlier with a backpack, sleeping bag and a youth hostel card on a three week touring trip before my summer job would begin the following month back in New Jersey.
I had no itinerary other than a return flight from Dublin in a few weeks. My first morning there, I read in the London newspapers that there was a track meet in Gateshead two nights later but the meet was sold out. Wow, that sounded interesting and I wondered whether my Rutgers teammate Ron Speirs would be there since I knew he was training in Scotland staying with relatives. I set off for the British AAA office in London, knocked on the door and said I was an American visitor and wanted to go to the Gateshead track meet but I was concerned that it was sold out and I didn’t want to travel there without a ticket. The elder British gentleman said no problem and he wrote a short note to the meet director asking to admit me and handed me an envelope with “Mr. A.J. Norman” inscribed. That was for Andy Norman, the famed British track promoter, who was a policeman.
I went to the meet, in a cold-soaking rain in Northeast England, saw Ron Speirs run the 800-meters, and Scottish Olympian Frank Clement run the One Mile in Ron’s Rutgers singlet in a field with Brendan Foster and perhaps Steve Ovett. Ronny was so surprised to see me. I loved the excitement of a European track meet and this was the inspiration for me to bring the same to my home state and my alma mater.
The next day on the train ride, I sketched the plan for June 1978 or 1979 at Rutgers. I wrote lists of events with names of possible athletes. I wrote names of New Jersey companies that could sponsor individual events.
I absolutely knew this could be done and I could make it happen. Why was I so confident? I knew I had the magnificent Rutgers Stadium, the goodwill in the track world of Coach (Les) Wallack, Coach (Frank) Gagliano, so many Rutgers athletes making a name for themselves in the sport.
The first Rutgers Relays had been staged very successfully only six weeks before and the athletes had flocked there including a large contingent from Villanova. I knew Coach Wallack was close with Jumbo Elliott, Fred Dwyer and Bob Giegengack. Jumbo used to drive his Cadillac into the long chute inside Rutgers Stadium through the maintenance entrance off River Road.
My first meeting with Eamonn Coghlan occurred when he lapped me in the 1976 RU Relays 5000-meters. When I first talked to him in January 1978 about running at Rutgers, he was immediately interested. He loved running in the stadium.
So, as you see, I had a tremendous product to sell with so much existing goodwill. I was in the right place at the right time.
After graduating from Rutgers in December 1977, I had a part-time job with Pan American Airways and I boarded a plane for New Zealand. Another backpacking trip with a youth hostel card and no itinerary but a return ticket. Same thing happened as in England. I read in the newspapers about a series of four international track meets. I showed up, introduced myself as a visitor from the US and the locals rolled out their wonderful Kiwi hospitality.
I went to all the meets and the parties and met Eamonn Coghlan, the NZ trio of Walker, Dixon and Quax, Lasse Viren, Mary Decker, Henry Rono, Andy Norman, and all the organizers and TV folks. I talked to everybody, took great notes and started pitching the idea of a June 1979 meet to many of them. Coghlan was interested. Dixon and Quax said this makes sense, travel to the US for a meet on the way to Europe. Walker’s coach liked the idea but John was skeptical when I spoke with him one-on-one. The irony is that one month before the June 1979 meet it was John Walker who was convincing Dixon and Quax to come to Rutgers.
That May and June 1978, I took my backpack and air ticket from Pan Am and traveled to Eugene to see Mike Roche run in the Pre steeplechase, slept on the floor in the hotel with RU athletes and watched the RU One Mile Relay place in the NCAA finals. What a great NCAA meet that year with Rono, Nehemiah, Foster, Roggy, et al. A week later I am crashing on the floor in a motel near UCLA where NJ guys from Rutgers and the Athletic Attic are competing in the AAU Championships at Drake Stadium
At this point, I was a full-time salesman for a 1979 track meet at Rutgers. During that summer, I start conversations with Fred Gruninger about co-sponsoring the meet and the Governor’s office to support the idea.
A Rutgers government relations man named John MacDonald introduces me to J&J PR consultant Andy Baglivo, who was a Rutgers sprinter in 1950 and covered the Helsinki Olympics for the Newark newspapers.
Andy, who just passed away this year, had been Communications Director to Governor Cahill.
The 1979 New Jersey Olympic Track Classic happened really because so many people loved Rutgers, loved Rutgers track, loved the sport for NJ and loved this idea. I had a lot of help.
(WM-Fitzpatrick has remained close to the sport ever since as a coach and the Director of other meets)
1979–Three American Records were set at the relays-only meet in Bourges, France. Western Michigan’s Tom Duits ran a great 3:35.8 anchor split to lead the U.S. to victory in the 4×1500 in the AR time of 14:46.3. Preceding Duits were Dan Aldridge (3:44.9), Andy Clifford (3:42.8), and Todd Harbour (3:42.8). U.S. women accounted for the other two marks, with Wanda Hooker, Karen Hawkins, Chandra Cheeseborough, and Brenda Morehead winning the 4×200 in 1:32.6, and Robin Campbell (2:04.5), Joetta Clark (2:04.1), who was 5 weeks shy of her 17th birthday, Chris Mullen (2:06.5), and Essie Kelley (2:04.8) taking the 4×800 in 8:19.9.
1984—Henry Marsh (8:15.91) won the Steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the L.A. Coliseum and was joined on the U.S. team by Brian Diemer (8:17.00) and John Gregorek (8:18.45). Returning to the stadium for the Olympics, Diemer edged Marsh to win the bronze medal.
In one of the closest finishes in U.S. Trials history, Kim Turner won the 100-Meter Hurdles in 13.12, with next 3 finishers trailing by only .01s! Benita Fitzgerald and Pam Page earned the next two spots on the team, with Stephanie Hightower missing out (all timed in 13.13). Fitzgerald would win the gold medal at the Olympics, with Turner picking up the bronze (tied for 3rd).
Others making the team (with eventual Olympic medals):
Men
Shot Put-1.Dave Laut 70-1/2 (21.35/bronze), 2.Augie Wolf 69-8 ¼ (21.24), Michael Carter 68-4 ½ (20.84/silver)
Discus-1.John Powell 220-3 (67.14/bronze), 2.Mac Wilkins 217-0 (66.14/silver), 3.Art Burns 215-0 (65.54)
Women
3000-1.Mary Decker 8:34.91, 2.Cindy Bremser 8:41.19, 3.Joan Hansen 8:41.43…5.Francie Larrieu-Smith 8:50.85
High Jump-1.Louise Ritter 6-3 ½ (1.92), 2.Pam Spencer 6-2 ¼ (1.89), 3.Joni Huntley 6-2 ¼ (1.89/bronze).
Results/Notes: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/1984.pdf
Sports Illustrated: https://vault.si.com/vault/1984/07/02/trials-and-jubilation
1987—Sergey Bubka cleared 19-9 ¼ (6.03) in Prague to break his own World Record in the Pole Vault (19-8 ½ [6.01]).
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
1989—Dion Bentley (Penn Hills,PA) won the Long Jump at the Pan-American Junior Championships in Sante Fe, Argentina with a leap of 26-9 ¼ (8.16) to break the U.S. High School Record of 26-8 ¼ (8.13) that was set by Carl Lewis(Willingboro,NJ) in 1979. Bentley’s mark lasted for 20 years until Marquise Goodwin (Rowlett,TX) jumped 26-10 (8.18) in 2009. He still holds the H.S. Indoor Record at 26-6 ½ (8.09), also set in 1989.
Now living in Snellville, GA, he’s the Captain of the DeKalb Country Fire Department and the department’s Public Information Director.
Catching Up(May,2020): https://www.pressreader.com/usa/pittsburgh-post-gazette/20200515/282226602911206
1992—This was supposed to be an off-day at the U.S. Olympic Trials in New Orleans, but instead, the first two rounds of the Men’s 400, already postponed twice, were finally contested.
The reason for the delay centered around World Record holder Butch Reynolds, who had been hit in November, 1990, with a 2-year suspension for a doping violation, a ruling he had been battling ever since.
He was unable to compete at the Jenner Classic the previous month after the IAAF threatened to brand any athlete competing against Reynolds as “contaminated”, thereby jeopardizing their eligibility for the upcoming Olympics.
After a series of rulings that first gave Reynolds’ lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and when Justice John Stevens ruled in his favor, Reynolds was allowed to compete here at the Trials, with the IAAF withdrawing the “contamination” threat.
Running faster than necessary, Reynolds won his heat in 44.58 and his ¼-final race in 44.68. He would finish 5th in the final 5 days layer (6-28), which would ordinarily qualify him for the 4×400 relay “pool”, but he was ultimately banned from competing at the Barcelona Olympics.
(Reynolds was accompanied by a security detail every time he made his way to the stadium)
Chronology(for subscribers): http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-21/sports/sp-1475_1_reynolds-case
1996–Michael Johnson, who had already made the team in the 400, won the 200 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta and his time of 19.66 broke the 17-year old World Record of 19.72, which was set by Italy’s Pietro Mennea in Mexico City in 1979. Joining Johnson on the team were Jeff Williams (20.03) and Mike Marsh (20.04), with Ramon Clay finishing a close 4th in 20.08. Running out of lane 1, Carl Lewis finished 5th in 20.20. Johnson would return to Atlanta and win Olympic gold in the 200 and 400.
Making the team in the 8 other finals on this busy day were (with eventual Olympic medals listed):
Men
1500-1.Paul McMullen 3:43.86, 3.Jason Pyrah 3:44.03, 4.Brian Hyde 3:44.13…runnerup Jim Sorensen (3:43.88) didn’t
have an Olympic qualifier, giving Hyde the 3rd Olympic berth.
110m-Hurdles-1.Allen Johnson (gold), 12.92(=American Record), 2.Mark Crear (silver) 13.05, 3.Eugene Swift 13.21…5th
was 2-time Olympic Champion Roger Kingdom (13.34)…Jack Pierce pulled up after hitting the 1st hurdle.
High Jump-1.Charles Austin (gold), 2.Ed Broxterman, 3.Cameron Wright…all 3 cleared 7-6 ½ (2.30), as did Matt
Hemingway, who finished 4th based on misses.
Women
200-1.Carlette Guidry 22.14, 2.Dannette Young-Stone 22.18, 3.Inger Miller, who barely edged Gwen Torrence for the 3rd
spot on the team (22.25 for both). Torrence had already made the team by winning the 100 earlier in the Trials,
but was dealing with a sore hamstring in this race.
1500-1.Regina Jacobs 4:08.67, 2.Juli Henner 4:09.49, 3.Vicki Huber 4:11.23…other notable finishers:13.Suzy Favor
Hamilton 4:17.28, 14.Ruth Wysocki 4:23.59-fell…37-year old Mary Slaney was eliminated in the semi-final round.
100m-Hurdles-1.Gail Devers 12.62, 2.Lynda Tolbert-Goode 12.69, 3.Cheryl Dickey 12.76
Long Jump-1.Jackie Joyner-Kersee (bronze) 23-11 1/4w (7.04), 2.Shana Williams 22-9 (6.93), 3.Marike Veltman
22-7 (6.88)
Shot Put-1.Connie Price-Smith 62-7 ¾ (19.09), 2.Ramona Pagel 61-1/14 (18.60), 4.Valeyta Althouse 57-9 ½ (17.61)
(3rd-placer Dawn Dumble [58-2 {17.73]] didn’t have an Olympic qualifier)
Results/Notes: https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/1996.pdf
Video(200): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HdW5vfG_k
NY Times: http://tinyurl.com/NYTimesMJ1966
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_200_metres_world_record_progression
2002—American Record holder (at the time) Lance Deal won his 9th (and final) title in the Hammer Throw (6-21) at the U.S. Championships at Stanford(June 21-23).
Other winners included:
Men
10,000: Meb Keflezighi (27:41.68)
