PoleVaultPower.com

Hi all,

I'm trying to put together examples of pole vault gear throughout the years as well as other Track & Field implements for a small museum hopefully to be located in an indoor track soon.

I have some of the "multi-part" crossbars from Gill that came as a kit complete with pink breakable joints so you could make HJ/PV crossbars
I have a Catapole Browning Golden Eagle pole (brown) with a three digit serial number
I have a Gill orange aluminum training pole from the mid-60's.
Non-roller base PV standards from the late 50's (round base Gill design)

So what I'm looking for are things that could not be used today such as poles from the 70's on back or triangular aluminum crossbars, or any of the other unusual shapes if anyone has any left in a barn somewhere.
Wooden javelins, discus, or anything you might suggest that could be interesting to show the history of our sport would be gratefully respected and displayed.

Even spikes would be interesting because none of the kids today have seen leather spikes which were often used on cinders or red dog crushed brick tracks which were common in the 60's. You ordered them from your local sporting goods store because there was no Nike brand then to go pick up from a big box store.

I live in the midwest just south of St. Louis, so if any of you old coaches are being made to clean out the garage I'd certainly like to see what you have. I could also send a letter thanking you for the contribution. This has been a pet project for some time, but now the old stuff seems to be getting thrown away.

Thanks, Vaultdad

Hi,

I collect the same items as well, except on the west coast. What is a Catapole Browning Golden Eagle pole (brown)? That pole I am not aware of. Catapole and Browning were two different companies.

If you ever visit Santa Barbara let me know and I'll give you the tour. I have poles from 1890 through 1972, along with all the shoes a vaulter would have used during the same period.

Craig

Your collection Sir, Is so way cool it's unbelievable!

The Browning Golden Eagle pole came out about 1965, and was sold by the Browning Arms Company. At the time, they also had a vested interest in other fiberglass items such as the Fred Bear Archery equipment.

Mine had an interesting story, as the Track coach at the time was starting the track team and he promised that if his athletes could get over the bar at 9' using the Orange Gill aluminum training poles he would get them a "real" pole. They did, and true to his word he went up to the Browning Arms plant in Arnold, MO and picked it up. It still has the Browning Arms golden label and is definitely a poopy brown in color.

and I'd love to see your place!

Best regards,
Vaultdad

botakatobi wrote:Hi,

I collect the same items as well, except on the west coast. What is a Catapole Browning Golden Eagle pole (brown)? That pole I am not aware of. Catapole and Browning were two different companies.

If you ever visit Santa Barbara let me know and I'll give you the tour. I have poles from 1890 through 1972, along with all the shoes a vaulter would have used during the same period.

Craig

I just got a pair of standards from the "good ole days"! Two piece units with round bases. They used a C Channel with a round post in the center that had the pins bolted in the top and you raised them by loosening a knob and pulling up! I doubt they got moved much though since the base is round. I'm guessing 60's but they could be older.

My dad might still have the triangular Gill cross bar I used to practice with.
I'll try to remember to check. No one uses it anymore.
BTW, I also have the 2 piece standards with the round base.
I also have a "Cloud 9" inflatable pit ... but, I had kids jumping on that just a couple of years ago and I still think of that as a fall back if I can't find a place to jump at.

Gary_vaulter wrote:My dad might still have the triangular Gill cross bar I used to practice with.
I'll try to remember to check. No one uses it anymore.
BTW, I also have the 2 piece standards with the round base.
I also have a "Cloud 9" inflatable pit ... but, I had kids jumping on that just a couple of years ago and I still think of that as a fall back if I can't find a place to jump at.

Cool! Thanks for checking. What part of the country are you located in?
Thanks, Vaultdad

Ah - those damn Cloud 9s!

You may have been "on Cloud 9" (literally and figuratively) if you landed in the center of them, but anything off center and you're bouncing off the damn thing! Possibly onto the track while a race was going on, possibly onto one of the standards, or potentially onto the metal-framed blower that kept it inflated (which should have been positioned further away).

And have any of you tried to walk gracefully off of a Cloud 9 without tripping? If I remember correctly, I think I either waited until it deflated, or I rolled to the nearest edge.

Thank goodness I was only jumping in the 14-foot range in high-school in the late-60s.

Gary_vaulter wrote: the triangular Gill cross bar ... No one uses it anymore.

It's just as well! Very painful if you ever landed on one, even if you landed feet-first!

Don't get me started ...

Kirk

KirkB wrote:Ah - those damn Cloud 9s!

And have any of you tried to walk gracefully off of a Cloud 9 without tripping?
Kirk

Rolling off it was the only safe and dignified(?) way to extract yourself from the thing.

That Cloud 9 was a career saver! Our school had no polevault facility of it's own and being able to pull that thing out and use it in my backyard kept me and my teammates training.
It DID force you to learn to be pretty precise with your technique.
- You had to make sure you landed on your butt. Land on your feet and you'd just about go right through. Learning to land like that saved us from knee and leg injuries associated with catching spikes in a mat. Oh yeh, and you couldn't use spikes on it.
- You learned to NEVER let go of the pole if you stalled out. It was much better to hold onto the pole and ride it back down to the grass rather then take a chance landing on the front legs ... and going through them ... or getting thrown out of them.
- I always wondered about hitting the fan in back but we never had any vaulters who had enough foreword momentum to go out the back. I don't think we had any vaulters ever jumping on it who were going above 13'6" though.

Clearly a "real" pit is much safer then these things were/are but in a decade of using them I don't think there was ever a serious accident. I'm sure there are facilities with "real" pits that can't claim the same. Given a choice though, I too would choose the "real" pit.

Still, I would still feel confident jumping on the "Cloud 9" today ... up to maybe 11 or 12 feet. It would be nice if going that high could someday be a problem for me again.

European pits up through the late 1960's (perhaps beyond) lagged behind the pits in the United States in terms of material.

When Americans went from sand to sawdust in the early 1900's Europe stayed with sand. Sawdust was even used at the 1960 Olympic Trials at Stanford along with a runway of grass like a putting green. Americans did not like jumping high in Europe due to the chance of injury with hard sand landings.

I asked Bob Seagren once the highest jump he took in sawdust. He told me that in the late 60's he showed up in a small European town for a competition. Not seeing a pit, he asked where it was. An official pointed to a 14 x 14 square of sand. Bob said he jumped 17' and forgot to land feet first.

Don't try this at home!

Decathletes get the title, but it sure sounds like vaulters from 50's - 70's were supermen too.