by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–April 6
1896–The Olympic Games (April 6-15) were reborn in Athens as the first gold medals of the Modern Era were won by Americans James Connolly in the Triple Jump (44-11 ¾ [13.71]) and Bob Garrett in the Discus (95-7 1/4/WR/29.15). Garrett would return the next day to win the Shot Put (36-9 ¾ [11.22]) and finish 2nd in the Long Jump.
The day started with the Opening Ceremony, with 60,000 fans cheering as Greece’s King George I declared the Games open.
The American team, which would dominate these Games, was drawn from Princeton University and the Boston Athletic Association.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Summer_Olympics
NY Times(for subscribers): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/04/08/105746357.html?pageNumber=4
Panathenaic Stadium—Site of the 1896 Olympics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panathenaic_Stadium
1963–John Camien, a sophomore at Emporia State(KS) ran down Dyrol Burleson, the former American Record holder in the event, to pull off an upset win in the Mile at the Texas Relays (4:02.6-4:02.8).
Camien, a NY State champion in the 880 and Mile while at Sewanhaka H.S. on Long Island, won 7 NAIA titles while at Emporia, two in x-country (1963,1964), 3 in the mile (1962,1963,1965), and one at 1500-meters (1964). He probably would have won more, but the NAIA didn’t sponsor an indoor championship until 1966!
George Brose of Once Upon a Time in the Vest, a sophomore at Oklahoma at the time, took the video linked below from the infield. He also offers some other details from the meet at: https://onceuponatimeinthevest.blogspot.com/2013/02/april-1963.html (Scroll Down)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i6EtzHNSuo
Kansas Hall of Fame: https://www.kshof.org/team/john-camien
1968—Two of the top collegiate teams in the U.S. met in a dual meet, with Tennessee (77) beating Villanova (67) on the Vols’ home track in Knoxville.
Richmond Flowers (T/13.5) won the 120y-Hurdles over Erv Hall (V/13.6). Hall went on to win the silver medal in the 110m-Hurdles at the Mexico City Olympics later in the year.
Villanova’s Larry James, another future Olympic medalist, won the 440y (45.7). He won silver in the 400, gold in the 4×400 in Mexico City.
Tennessee’s Bill Skinner won the Javelin with a throw of 243-7 (74.24), and Villanova’s Dave Patrick won the 880y (1:48.6).
1973–A momentous day in the life of this track fan. It was a Friday, the day before my sister Eileen was to get married, and our house was abuzz with excitement and preparations for the big day. The phone rang, and it was my Wall Street boss telling me that my services were no longer required and that I didn’t need to report for work on Monday. He used some flimsy excuse to justify the firing, but, in reality, he had been looking for a reason to get rid of me for at least a year. He caught me off guard and I weakly protested, but to no avail. Not wanting to spoil the mood, I didn’t tell my family until after the wedding.
But let me go back to the beginning of my corporate career. After coasting through my senior year of H.S. in 1961, I anticipated doing the same when I entered Fordham that fall. But then I started realizing that I might actually have to work hard in college, and come up with things like “term papers”. That freaked me out, so I passed on one form of education for another.
My older sister Teresa worked for a Wall Street firm called DeCoppet & Doremus, and, nepotism being what it was in those days, she was able to get me a job as a filing clerk that fall. (By now, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with track & field, but I’m getting to that).
I was a very young and shy 17 when I started working, but Doremus, which was Wall Street’s version of “Animal House”, soon dragged me out of my shell. We had so much fun at that place that I couldn’t wait to go work each day (how many people can say that?), and friendships were formed that are still going strong six decades later.
This “funhouse” lasted until 1969, when word came out that we were going to merge with our competitor, Carlisle & Jacquelin (in reality, it was a takeover–by them). I was one of the “lucky” ones who was chosen to move on to the combined firm, but others, some with 20-years experience, were told on New Year’s Eve that they were out of a job.
As loose as the bosses at Doremus ran their ship (which I’m sure contributed to its downfall), the ones at Carlisle ran their’s like a Marine boot camp! A handful of us newcomers, unaccustomed to this strict environment, often voiced our displeasure, and I had more than one shouting match with the head honcho (so much for that shy teenager). And then came that fateful phone call.
Now to the good part, that silver lining in my personal cloud. I had been traveling to track meets around the U.S. and I had been to three Olympics with Track and Field News, but they were all planned around whatever time I could get off from work. Now, for the first time in my life, I had this open window and I decided to take advantage of it. I had some money coming to me from my profit-sharing plan, so I decided to become a “track bum” for awhile (some would say I still am).
My “Excellent Adventure” lasted 16 months, and included a cross-country trip in 1973 in my bright orange Karmann (aka Kharman) Ghia, with stops in Baton Rouge (NCAA) and Bakersfield (AAU) before heading off to Europe for a series of meets involving the U.S. Junior and Senior teams.
In 1974, I started out again in my VW Ghia, but after driving down to Austin (NCAA) and then to Gainesville (U.S. Junior Championships), I lost all desire to drive back to California for the AAU meet. I left my car at the Gainesville airport, flew to Los Angeles, and then drove back to NY when I returned to Florida. With my cash reserves depleted and my credit card bills soaring, it was time for a reality check, so I reluctantly returned to the world of Wall Street in the fall of 1974, staying for 11-years before deciding to become a full-time “track bum” in 1985!
1984–Texas’ Einar Vilhjálmsson, a senior from Iceland, took advantage of strong winds to throw the “old” Javelin 303-2 (92.42) at the Texas Relays to set a Collegiate Record. The previous mark of 300-0 (91.44) was set by Arizona State’s Mark Murro in 1970. Vilhjálmsson went on to win his 2nd straight NCAA title in June and finished 6th at the L.A. Olympics. He also competed for Iceland at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics.
Vilhjálmsson, whose dad Vilhjálmur was the silver medalist in the Triple Jump at the 1956 Olympics, was elected President of the Icelandic Federation in September, 2014.
1984/1985–Texas prep Roy “The Robot” Martin kicked off an amazing two year stretch by winning overall MVP honors at the 1984 Texas Relays. On Friday (4-6), the junior at Roosevelt H.S. won the prep 100-meters in a wind-aided 10.14, then came back the following day (4-7) to anchor his team to fast wins in the 4×100 (40.65) and 4×400 (3:09.09). His 44.8 anchor in the latter race was thought at the time to be the fastest ever run by a prep.
In 1985, he repeated as the meet’s MVP, despite the presence of California phenom Henry Thomas. After Thomas was disqualified for a false-start, Martin beat Joe DeLoach to win the 100 meters in 10.18, only .02s off Houston McTear’s National H.S. Record (4-5). DeLoach went on to win the gold medal in the 200-meters at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
The fans were looking for a big matchup between Thomas and Martin on the anchor leg of the 4×400 (4-6), but the race was no contest. Thomas’s 44.5 anchor, which surpassed Martin’s 44.8 split from the previous year, led Hawthorne to the still-standing National Record of 3:07.40. Running a 47.9 opening split for Hawthorne was Mike Marsh, who would win the gold medal in the 200-meters at the 1992 Olympics. Martin, who had earlier anchored Roosevelt to victory in the 4×100 (41.01), still put on quite a show, running a 44.9 anchor to give his team 2nd place (3:10.49).
Martin, who set a National H.S. 200 Record of 20.13 (twice) in 1985, was chosen as Track and Field News’ Men’s Prep Athlete of the Year in both 1984 and 1985. He was ranked #5 in the world in the 200 in 1984 and moved up to #3 in 1985. He ran on three NCAA Champion 4×400 relay teams while at SMU (2-indoor, 1-outdoor) and made it to the semi-finals of the 200 at the 1988 Olympics. His 200 record lasted until 2016, when Noah Lyles ran 20.09 at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
He was inducted into the National H.S. T&F Hall of Fame in 2019.
Looking Back:
http://nationalhighschooltrackandfieldhof.org/roy-martin/
1985–Johnny Gray was hot at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, AZ. A couple of hours after running a 45-flat split in the DMR, Gray, who had set an American Record of 1:42.96 in the 800 the previous year (which Gray lowered to 1:42.60 later in 1985), watched as Carl Lewis opened the Sprint Medley for the Santa Monica TC with a 20.3/200 split. Ferran Tyler, a redshirt at the University of Houston, ran an excellent 20.1 for the 2nd 200, but collided with Benny Hollis (47.1), who was slow moving through the exchange zone.
When Gray got the stick, he was trailing a Bud Light team that was anchored by Ocky Clark. Gray chased Clark through a fast 400 (50.8), then pulled away on the final backstretch and finished off his carry in 1:43.3, the fastest 800 split in history. Gray’s effort gave Santa Monica a “World Record” (it’s not an official IAAF event) of 3:10.76, just under the previous mark of 3:11.08, set by the Athletic Attic here in 1983. (From T&F News)
1993—Czech Jan Železný improved his World Record in the Javelin to 313-5 (95.54/Still #5 performance all-time) at a meet in Pietersburg, South Africa.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_javelin_throw_world_record_progression
Conversion: https://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/markConversions/index.html
2006-Texas senior Trey Hardee could only manage to run 5:06.73 in the closing 1500-meters, but it was enough for him to score 8465 points on his home track at the Texas Relays to narrowly break the Collegiate Record of 8463, set by Tennessee’s Tom Pappas in 1999.
10.35w, 25-3 ¼ (7.70w), 47-5 (14.45), 6-6 ¼ (1.99), 49.11, 13.83w, 158-3 (48.24), 17-3/4 (5.20), 196-10 (60.00), 5:06.73
Hardee, the 2005 NCAA Champion, went on to win World titles in 2009 and 2011, and won the silver medal at the 2012 Olympics. He is currently a member of NBC’s broadcast team.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Hardee
2018—Arizona State (redshirt) senior Maggie Ewen broke her own Collegiate Record in the Hammer Throw twice on her home field at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe. She first threw 241-6 (73.61) to better her previous mark of 240-7 (73.32), then improved to 244-6 (74.53). She finished off her big day with a final throw of 242-5 (73.89).
She would come back the next day to complete her trifecta, winning the Shot Put (63-3/4 [19.22]) and the Discus (201-0 [61.27]). She would gain a 2nd Outdoor CR later in the month when she threw the shot 63-10 ¼ (19.46) in Tucson.
Ewen would complete her collegiate career in June by winning NCAA titles in the Shot Put and Discus. She had previously won the Indoor Shot Put in March and the Hammer in 2017.
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/maggie-ewen-257691
https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/collegiate-all-time-list-women/
2019—Chloe Cunliffe, a senior at West Seattle (WA) H.S., set a U.S. High School and Junior Record of 14-8 (4.47) at the Arcadia (CA) Inv. Cunliffe, who set the Indoor Record of 14-9 (4.50) in March, originally intended to compete for Washington State, but instead decided to join the pro ranks.
https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=568090
https://trackandfieldnews.com/article/chloe-cunliffe-chooses-the-pro-route/
Born On This Day*
Shelby McEwen 29 (1996) 2024 Olympic silver medalist—High Jump, 2021 (12th)
Also the silver medalist at the 2024 World Indoor Championships
5th at the 2022 World Championships, 7th in 2023; 2019 (qual.)
2019 NCAA Indoor Champion, 3rd outdoors (Alabama)
Other NCAA placings-2018 (3rd indoors, 2nd outdoors)
Fomer basketball player got to dunk a ball during the 2024 NBA All-Star week.
PB: 7-8 ¾ (2.36/2024)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_McEwen
https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/shelby-mcewen
2024 OG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl2qu1Mn9tE
Dunk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXqeaTwdqdw
Patti Catalano 72 (1953) One of the early pioneers of American female marathoners; PB-2:27:52 (’81)
https://www.runningstateofthesport.com/2023/11/episode-6-patti-catalano-dillon-first.html
2006 Chat: http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/a-chat-with-patti-catalano-dillon
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patti_Catalano
https://www.outsideonline.com/running/news/elite-team-for-native-runners/
Running For Her Life: https://www.howtobefit.com/patti-catalano.htm
Fred Samara 75 (1950) 1976 U.S. Olympian—Decathlon (15th); PB: 7430 (1976)
Retired after the 2023 season after serving as the head men’s coach at Princeton since 1977
Member of the USTFCCCA Coaches’ Hall of Fame
https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/mens-track-and-field/roster/coaches/fred-samara/7244
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78991
http://www.ustfccca.org/awards/fred-samara-ustfccca-class-of-2017
Arnie Sowell 90 (1935) 4th in the 800 at the 1956 Olympics (led off final turn);
2-time NCAA Champion—Pittsburgh (1954-880y, 1956-800m). Fordham’s Tom Courtney, who would win the gold medal in the
the 1956 Olympic final, was 2nd in the 1954 NCAA race.
Set an American Record of 1:46.7 in the 1956 final.
1955 Pan-American Games Champion—800m
5-time IC4A Champion (Outdoor-880y/’54-’56), Indoor-1000y/’55, ’56)
4-time U.S. Indoor Champion—1000y (’55-’57, ’59)
Former World Indoor Record holder in the 880y (1:50.3) and 1000y (2:08.2)
Made the top-10 World Rankings 4 years in a row(’54-9, ’55-3, ’56-5, ’57-6)
In 1959, while serving in the Army, Sowell competed in the Pan Am trials for the modern pentathlon, placing seventh!
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnie_Sowell
https://pittsburghpanthers.com/honors/pitt-athletics-hall-of-fame/arnie-sowell/52
“Runs So Soft”: https://vault.si.com/vault/1955/05/30/arnie-sowell-runs-so-soft
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79074
https://trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/
Rise From Obscurity: https://vault.si.com/vault/1955/05/30/duel-at-880-yards
https://oldestolympians.sdsu.edu
Bob Soth 92 (1933) 1960 U.S. Olympian—5000m (1st round)
As Olympedia.org states, “Soth is actually best known for a race he did not finish”. That would be the 10,000-Meters at the 2nd
annual USA-USSR meet in 1959, held at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field. Here’s what I wrote for “This Day in T&F—July 19”: The top
mark of the first day (7-18) was the 63-2 1/2(19.265m) “world record” by Parry O’Brien in the shot put (for some unknown
reason, the mark was never submitted to the IAAF), but the most memorable event was the men’s 10,000-meters. The
temperature was in the mid-80s, and the humidity was close to 60%–great conditions for sprinters, not so much for distance
runners. The race progressed without incident through the first 4-1/2 miles, with American Bob Soth splitting the Soviet duo of
leader Aleksey Desyatchikov and Hubert Pyarnakivi and Max Truex, the 2nd American, trailing behind.
It was at this point that Soth began to show early signs of distress. He was able to maintain reasonable form through 5-miles, but
then started that scary high-stepping gait of someone who is having serious problems with the heat. Moving backwards at times,
Soth continued in this painful-to-watch manner for another three laps before collapsing on the track, his head narrowly missing
the inside railing.
While officials attended to Soth, the race continued, with Desyatchikov, handling the heat the best of all, going on to what seemed
to be an easy win (30:29.9). But, wait! As Desyatchikov approached the finish, the gun was fired, signaling another lap to go!
With about a mile to go, the lap-counter flashed “4 to go” for Desyatchikov and Soth, who was just about to begin his “death
march”, and then switched to five for Truex, who had been lapped. The official, who apparently got caught up in Soth’s plight,
never returned the lap cards to the correct number, resulting in the confusion at the end. While Desyatchikov took his time
completing his extra lap, Truex, knowing he was truly on his final go-round, put on a big finish to overtake Pyarnakivi to take 2nd.
However, mindful of what was going on, 1952 Olympic steeplechase champion Horace Ashenfelter, working as an inspector, advised
Truex to take another lap. Truex did so, then collapsed and joined Soth on a trip to the local hospital for treatment (neither
suffered lasting after-effects).Finally, Pyranakivi, who also stopped at the right time, was awarded 2nd place over Truex, since
officials assumed that he wouldn’t have run an extra lap if he didn’t think he had to. U.S. officials acknowledged their mistake the
following day, but they let stand the original results.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79072
https://frontporch.net/olympic-runner-bob-soth-goes-for-the-gold-at-walnut-village/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypn6TzuD4hM
Oldest Living Olympians: https://oldestolympians.sdsu.edu
Deceased
Roger “The Rocket” Sayers 78 (1942-September 23, 2020) 3-time NAIA Champion (Omaha):
1962-100y (Bob Hayes was 2nd!), 1963-100y, 220y)
Former Chicago Bear is a member of the NFL Hall of Fame. His roommate with the Bears was Brian Piccolo, who died
of cancer and was the subject of the movie “Brian’s Song”.
Older brother of football great Gale Sayers
PBs: 9.45y, 10.2h, 20.81 (all 1962)
