by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
This Day in Track & Field-May 14
(c)Copyright 2024-all rights reserved. It may not be reprinted or retransmitted without permission.
By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field-May 13
1916—Penn’s Ted Meredith, already the World Record holder at 800 meters (1:51.9-1912), added the 880-y mark to his portfolio after running 1:52.2 in a dual meet with Cornell at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Two weeks later, he added the 440y/400m mark by running 47 2/5 at the IC4A Championships. Meredith won gold medals in the 800 and 4×400 relay at the 1912 Olympics.
1933—Fresno State’s Walter Marty set a World Record of 6-8 5/8 (ratified as 6-8 3/8 [2.04]) on his home field at the West Coast Relays.
https://archives.stanforddaily.com/1933/05/16?page=4§ion=MODSMD_ARTICLE50#article
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19341201.2.36
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Marty
1950—Dick Attlesey, a senior at USC, ran 13.5 at the West Coast Relays in Fresno to break Harrison”“Bone”” Dillard’ss
2-year-old World Record of 13.6 for the 120-yard hurdles. It was the first of three World Records Attlesey would set this year. In June, he ran 13.6 for the slightly longer 110-meter hurdles, then 13.5 in July. He also won NCAA and U.S. titles in 1950 and was the first Pan-American Games Champion in 1951,
https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19510521.2.60&e=——-en–20–1–txt-txIN——–1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Attlesey
1966—It was a typical high-class Coliseum Relays In Los Angeles, with four significant records being set.
USC set a World Record of 7:17.4 in the 2-mile relay with a lineup of John Link (1:51.7), Bruce Bess (1:49.7), Dave Buck (1:48.2), and Dennis Carr(1:47.8). The Trojans were pressed all the way by Texas (7:18.6) and Villanova (7:18.8), which were anchored by Preston Davis (1:47.8) and Dave Patrick (1:47.7), respectively.
In the 2Kenya’sKenya’, Kipp Keino threw off his orange cap with a little more than a lap to go, a sign that he usually has a race in hand. Still, he was passed by Kansas freshman Jim Ryun and Jim Grelle, the present and past American Record holders in the Mile, on the final turn. Those two went stride-for-stride down the homestretch, with Ryun holding on for a narrow win as both were credited with an American Record of 8:25.2. The previous mark of 8:26.4 was set by Bob Schul in 1966.
Charlette Cooke, a St. Mary’s Academy-Inglewood, CA senior, set an American (and World Junior) Record of 53.5 Women’s Women’s 440 yards. Cooke competed for the Compton Track Club throughout her career and was inducted into the National H.S. Track & Field Hall of Fame in March 2020.
The first record of the day came before most of the 17,000+ fans had arrived, with AriArizona’shn Tushaus throwing the Javelin 284-0 (86.57?) to break Al CanCantello’syear old American Record (282-3 [86.04]).
Cooke: https://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=13078&do=videos&video_id=298415
1967—Tommie Smith and Lee Evans put on quite a show at the West Coast Relays in Fresno, CA. Getting unexpected help from teammates Ken Shackelford and Bob Talmadge, the two Olympic champions to be the following year (Smith-200, Evans-400) led San Jose State to a World Record of 1:22.1 in the 880y-relay (also getting credit for a new 800m standard) and an American Record of 3:03.1 in the Mile Relay.
The shorter race came first, with Shackelford leading off in 21.2 and Talmadge contributing a 20.5 split on the second leg. A shaky handoff led to Evans’slowish’sh (for him) 21.1 split before Smith finished things off with a great 19.4 anchor, the fastest split ever recorded.
Just 35 minutes later, Talmadge (47.5) and Shackelford (46.4) set the table for the mile relay, with Evans turning in a sensational 44.2 carry, yet another fastest-ever split. Smith topped off the AR with a quick split of his own—45.2 (reported splits add up to 3:03.4).
Collegiate Records were set by USC’USC’s Seagren in the Pole Vault (17-4 ¼[5.29]) and Arizona State’s Scott in the 2-mile (8:34.4). Seagren had set a World Record of 17-5 ½ (5.32) the previous year. Still, the markwasn’t eligiblee for consideration as a CR since he was a Junior College (Mt.SAC) student then. Following T&F News’ lead, News’ Div. I athletes can set CRs. (From Track & Field News)
1967—Jim Hines ran 9.1 at the Southwestern Athletic Conference championships in Houston to tie Bob Hayes’s WoHayes’sord for 100 yards. Hines also won the 220 (20.4) and anchored the 2nd-place 440 relay to lead Texas Southern to the team title.
1978–Running before a couple of hundred fans in excellent conditions at the Northwest Relays in Seattle, Washington StateState’ Rono ran 8:05.4 to set a World Record in the Steeplechase. The previous mark of 8:08.0 had been set by SwedeSweden’srs Gärderud at the 1976 Olympics. For the native of Kenya, it was the 2nd of what would be an incredible string of 4 World Records set within 81 days
4-08-78 Berkeley, CA 5,000 13:08.4
5-13-78 Seattle, WA Steeplechase 8:05.4
6-11-78 Vienna 10,000 27:22.4
6-27-78 Oslo 3,000 7:32.1
Jack Pfeifer, the former director of college events at NY’s Armory, was NY’she stands that day. “I was there. TAs”I recall,the temperature is in the low 50s, but it is calm, with good distance control. It didn’t rain, although I think it did later in the day. It may have been one of the few WRs set before noon. (Rono) ran with Jim Johnson of Club Northwest for the first 2 laps, then Johnson gave way, and it was solo the rest of the way. He practically jogged it in, knowing he had the record well in hand”.
