by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com)
This Day in Track & Field–April 3
1868—William Gibbs set a World Record of 4:28.8 for the Mile at the Oxford-Cambridge dual meet in London
1915—Winthrop College’s Hazel Hutaff set a pre-IAAF World Record of 5-9 ¾ [1.77](yes, 5-9 3/4!) in the Pole Vault in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
1926—Future Hall-of-Famer Bud Houser set a World Record of 158-1 ¾ (48.20) in the discus at Stanford. The USC senior, who had won Olympic gold in the Shot Put and Discus at the 1924 Games in Paris, went on to win the NCAA title in June and would win a 2nd Olympic gold in the Discus at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam (He was also the flag-bearer for the American team in 1928). He is still the only man to win the Olympic Shot-Discus double.
http://www.olympic.org/news/bud-houser-athletics/179834
Wiki Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Houser
1959–Hall-of-Famer Bobby Morrow edged rival Ira Murchison in a special 100-meters race at the Texas Relays, with both being timed in 10.2. Morrow won three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne–100, 200, 4×100 relay. Murchison, who was only 5’-4” (1.62+) tall, ran the lead-off leg on the 4×100 team that set a World Record of 39.5 in Melbourne.
Murchison:
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/31/obituaries/ira-murchison-61-former-track-star.html
Texas Relays History:
http://texassports.com/sports/2013/10/25/relays_1025133916.aspx?path=relays
1965—Just a few days after winning the Cinque Mulini (Five Mills) cross country race in Italy, Billy Mills was the winner at 3-miles at the USA-Great Britain dual meet in the Wembley section of London. His time of 13:36.8 was the fastest ever run in Europe.
Mills had some unexpected support from a fan who yelled out before the race, “Billy, Billy! It’s me, Carl, from Haskell!”. Said Mills later, “I look up and see my fellow classmate from high school, Carl Pierce, a member of the Mohawk Nation. He quickly tells me he has to leave right after the meet, no time to get together, just wanted me to know he was watching me race. My mind flashes back to our high school days at Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas.
Carl was the smallest young boy in high school. I was the second smallest. He got stuck with the nickname “MONSTER”! Every day, I counted my blessings in high school for Carl attending Haskell!
The starter gives the command ‘set’; there is a momentary pause and the pistol is fired. Subconsciously my mind commands my body to take the lead. I charge to the front with the thought of leading from start to finish to honor my Mohawk friend and former classmate, “Monster”!
In a rematch of the top two finishers at the 1964 Olympics, gold medalist Lynn Davies (25-9 ¼ [7.85]) gave the partisan British crowd a thrill with his win in the Long Jump over Ralph Boston (25-8 ½) [7.83+], the 1960 Olympic champion.
https://indianyouth.org/road-to-tokyo-a-trip-to-berlin-and-check-point-charlie/
1976—19-year old Auburn freshman Harvey Glance ran 9.9 in Columbia, South Carolina, to become the 6th man to equal Jim Hines’ World Record for 100-meters. Glance would run 9.9 again a month later and then won NCAA titles in the 100 and 200 in June (he also won the NCAA 100 in 1977). He won the 100 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, finished 4th at the Montreal Olympics, and won a gold medal in the 4×100 relay.
Glance retired in 2011 after spending the previous 14 years as the coach at Alabama, but was quickly coaxed by Nike into continuing as the personal coach for Grenada’s Kirani James, who had just won the NCAA title under Glance’s guidance The move paid off, with James winning the gold medal in the 400 at the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics! (and later winning bronze at the 2015 Worlds–silver in 2022, Olympic silver in 2016 and bronze in 2021). Sadly, Glance passed away suddenly in 2023 at the age of 66.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78456
Glance/James: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/08/coming_out_of_retirement_pays.html
The 9.9 Club
Jim Hines 1968 (twice)
Ronnie Ray Smith 1968
Charlie Greene 1968
Eddie Hart 1972
Rey Robinson 1972
Steve Williams 1974, 1975(3 times)
Silvio Leonard-Cuba 1975
Harvey Gance 1976 (twice)
Don Quarrie-Jamaica 1976
1976—UTEP’s all-Kenyan foursome of Joseph Gichongeri (4:05.2), James Munyala (4:05.9), Frank Munene (4:05.5), and Wilson Waigwa (3:58.5) ran 16:14.1 for the 4xMile at the Texas Relays. UTEP is still the 9th-fastest school in the event.
https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/collegiate-all-time-list-men/
2004–Texas, with Sanya Richards running a 50.3 anchor, won the 4×400 at the Texas Relays for the 6th year in a row and set a Collegiate Record of 3:23.75. Preceding Richards were Sheretta Jones (52.8), Raasin McIntosh (50.7), and Jerrika Chapple (50.0). The mark stood until 2017 when Oregon ran 3:23.12 to beat USC (3:23.35) at the NCAA Championships.
Baylor won the Men’s 4×400 for the 17th time at Texas as Jeremy Wariner (44.3) and Darold Williamson (44.5) ran the 3rd and 4th legs, just as they would later in the year when they won Olympic gold in Athens. Wariner also won gold in the 400 that year and another relay gold at the 2008 Olympics. Richards (Ross) won the gold in the 400 at the 2012 Olympics in London and won her 4th Olympic gold medal in the 4×400 relay.
Texas Relays History:
http://www.texassports.com/sports/2013/10/25/relays_1025133916.aspx?path=relays
2004—39-year old Colleen De Reuck led the way at the U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in St.Louis, and she was joined on the U.S. team by Deena Kastor and Jen Rhines. Kastor went on to win the bronze medal at the Athens Olympics.
Results: https://www.runnerspace.com/news.php?news_id=10014
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uBA_qXua8g
Born On This Day*
Trinity Gray 47 (1978) 1999 IC4A Champion—800m (Brown)
4-time All-American in the 800
(‘98-6th NCAA Outdoors, ’99-2nd Indoors, ’00-4th Indoors, 3rd-Outdoors
6th 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials; 2001 U.S. Indoor champion
Fastest American in 2001 with a time of 1:44.54
Currently a financial advisor
Suffered brain seizures in 2009 that required two operations. Read more about this chapter in
his life, and his relationship with coach Bob Rothenberg, at:
https://browntrack.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/trinity-gray-00-2011-brown-hall-of-fame-inductee/
https://disabilityin.org/bio/trinity-gray/
Dawn Ellerbe 51 (1974) 6-time U.S. Champion—Hammer Throw (1995-1997, 1999-2001)
6-time U.S. Indoor champion—20-pound Weight Throw (1996-2001)
2-time NCAA Champion—Hammer Throw (South Carolina/1996,1997—1st NCAA Champion in
the event)
2-time NCAA Indoor Champion—20-pound Weight Throw (1996,1997);
7th at the 2000 Olympics;
PBs: 77-5 ¼ (’00), 231-8 (’01)
Currently (?) the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Athletic Communications and Senior Associate Athletic Director at
Vanderbilt. https://vucommodores.com/staff/dawn-ellerbe/
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Ellerbe
https://www.suffolksportshof.com/ellerbe-dawn/
Deby LaPlante 72 (1953) 2-time U.S. Champion—100m-hurdles (1978,1979)
2-time U.S. Indoor champion—60y hurdles (1976,1978)
1976 U.S. Olympian—100m-hurdles (semi-finalist)
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77895
https://digital.sdsu.edu/view-item?i=108814&WINID=1712005690455
http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19771208-01.2.42
Deceased
Stella Walsh/Stanisława Walasiewicz-Poland 69 (1911-Dec. 4, 1980) 1932 Olympic gold medalist-100m(1936-silver)
An autopsy performed after she was fatally shot in a robbery revealed mixed sexual characteristics (see links).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisława_Walasiewicz
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/74664
https://www.britannica.com/topic/1932-Olympic-Games-The-Curious-Story-of-Stella-Walsh-1367962
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/05/cleveland_track_star_stella_wa.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3620520/
Russ Francis 70 (1953-October 1, 2023) A senior at Pleasant Hill H.S. (OR) who had never even seen a javelin when he
moved from Hawaii to Oregon, threw 184-2 (56.13) in his first competition in 1971. That was a modest opener for
Francis, who went on to set three National H.S. Records with the “old” implement that year: 253-1 (77.14m/5-7),
254-11 (77.70m/5-27), and 259-9 (79.17m/6-12). The latter mark stood for 17 years until the late Art Skipper
threw 259-10 (79.20m, Sandy,OR) in 1988. He also finished 4th at the U.S. Championships in 1971.
Francis spent more than ten years in the NFL as a tight end with New England and San Francisco and was a
member of the 49ers’ 1985 Super Bowl Championship team. Among his teammates were fellow track and field stars
Michael Carter and Renaldo Nehemiah. Francis, following in the footsteps of his father (Ed), also spent some time as a professional wrestler and ran for Congress in Hawaii in 2000.
He died in a plane crash in Lake Placid, NY, in 2023 at the age of 70.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FranRu00.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Francis
Wrestling Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW9_b9U4084
Wrestling Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW9_b9U4084
All-World: https://twitter.com/KevG163/status/1708915430423744601
