Coach Joe Hammond passed away (OH)
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:02 pm
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Pole vault coach remembered with love
Joe Hammond, the pole vault coach of Austintown Fitch High School, passed away on June 20 after battling with pancreatic cancer. Joe was my pole vault coach, and he certainly knew pole vault. (We would constantly exclaim “Joe knows pole vault” after eating dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack with him during the 2002 State Meet where we saw “Joe knows crab” memorabilia everywhere).
Pole vaulting is a science, and Joe certainly was an expert. To be an above average vaulter, you must be extremely quick, perhaps the fastest on a track and field team, and you must drive your knee.
Though Joe scrutinized many other technicalities of the pole vault (planting high, initiating a turn, and throwing the pole) you would always hear him shout “Drive your knee, drive your knee.”
Joe had such a devout love for pole vaulting that he constructed a pole vaulting area in his backyard for when the pits were removed from the track in the summer. Though the pole vault pit was substituted with “donated” high jump mats, the runway was a dirt path, and the box was rusty, it was awesome.
In the fall, we would work on invert drills in his garage where he built an indescribable wooden contraption to practice them. In the winter, he would have practice at 5:30 in the morning before his 7-3 shift at the General Motors car plant where he installed the windshields on Chevy Cavaliers and Cobalts for 35 years. Of course, we would complain at the time, but in hindsight, I am certainly grateful for his commitment.
Joe was also the only person I know who could pole vault 12 feet at the age of 52. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to jump with him at an open meet at Kent State a year ago before the pancreatic cancer had spread. He kicked my butt.
You will be missed Joe.
Pole vault coach remembered with love
Joe Hammond, the pole vault coach of Austintown Fitch High School, passed away on June 20 after battling with pancreatic cancer. Joe was my pole vault coach, and he certainly knew pole vault. (We would constantly exclaim “Joe knows pole vault” after eating dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack with him during the 2002 State Meet where we saw “Joe knows crab” memorabilia everywhere).
Pole vaulting is a science, and Joe certainly was an expert. To be an above average vaulter, you must be extremely quick, perhaps the fastest on a track and field team, and you must drive your knee.
Though Joe scrutinized many other technicalities of the pole vault (planting high, initiating a turn, and throwing the pole) you would always hear him shout “Drive your knee, drive your knee.”
Joe had such a devout love for pole vaulting that he constructed a pole vaulting area in his backyard for when the pits were removed from the track in the summer. Though the pole vault pit was substituted with “donated” high jump mats, the runway was a dirt path, and the box was rusty, it was awesome.
In the fall, we would work on invert drills in his garage where he built an indescribable wooden contraption to practice them. In the winter, he would have practice at 5:30 in the morning before his 7-3 shift at the General Motors car plant where he installed the windshields on Chevy Cavaliers and Cobalts for 35 years. Of course, we would complain at the time, but in hindsight, I am certainly grateful for his commitment.
Joe was also the only person I know who could pole vault 12 feet at the age of 52. I’m thankful I had the opportunity to jump with him at an open meet at Kent State a year ago before the pancreatic cancer had spread. He kicked my butt.
You will be missed Joe.