Pole Vault History

[wayupthere]

I think you were pretty close! Only one I think may be wrong is the first person to clear 16. To my knowledge Bragg never made 16, it was............dangit. Some guy from Rice University. Somebodies got to know that one. But it aint me.

I know Dave Roberts went to Rice but he was a little later. 1970's or so.

[swtvault]

Pennel?????

[swtvault]

the first guy to sail 16 ft did it in the 1964 olympics. not sure if im right but he could do bent arm barbell pullovers with 300 pounds and he only weighd 160. although i dont know his name this sec

Forget the Pennel comment....I think our man is Dick Railsback

[Oldcoach]

Answers:
15 ft- "Dutch" Warmerdam
16 ft- John Uelses
17 ft- John Pennel
18 ft.- Christos Papanicolaou (sp?)
19 ft- Thierry Vigneron
20 ft - Sergei Bubka

Lots of good guesses --- mentioned some guys I had forgotten about

[Kirk]

My guesses are:

15' Cornelius Warmerdam
16' John Ulysses
17' John Pennel
18' Chris Papinicolau
19' Sergei Bubka (wrong, I know now)
20' Sergei Bubka

But I'm reasonably sure that I have the rest right!

Comments on the previous guesses:

Dick Railsback was an early 17 footer, but not the first. Not first over 16 either. His UCLA teammate Jon Vaughn had 17-4, when Railsback had 17-0 (1969). Besides Railsback and Vaughn, UCLA had a third vaulter Dick(?). Sloan whose claim to fame was the first 7-0 HJ 17-0 PV double. But they all ranked under Pennel and Seagren.

16' couldn't have been at '64 Olympics, as Brian Sternberg already had 16-8 WR in '63 (if memory serves me right).

Kirk Bryde

[Kirk]

Sorry, I didn't realize that the answers were posted when I posted. I forgot to go to the 2nd page of this thread. (I didn't cheat - honest!)

Kirk Bryde

[berthammondjr]

For 16 feet. It was John Ulysses. It was in Santa Barbara, CA, at the Easter Relays Track Meet. I believe it was 1962, 63, or 64. The reason I know: I was there, standing right next to the pit when Ulysses broke the world record. It obviously was in the pre-fiberglass days. My father coached track for Oxnard High School and used to take me to the meets. The Easter RElays were great. You had the high school, college, and open divisions. I remember that year Jim Beatty ran and won the mile open.

[dj]

John Ulysses browning skypole 1962

Dave Tork.. Browning skypole.. 1962

the vault boxes were 90 degree backs..

dj

[2-15-46]

John Ulysses browning skypole 1962

Dave Tork.. Browning skypole.. 1962

the vault boxes were 90 degree backs..

dj

Correct !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dj]

good morning,

i know John Pennell jumped 16-3plus (4.94?) in the spring of 1963 in Memphis.. and that was before Brian Sternberg's 5 meter jump.. maybe it was an American record but not a World Record because of Nikula's 5.94 in 1962....

...small sawdust pit... 90 degree box!!! back in those days if you did not have your feet/hips up and your body close to vertical the pole would "throw" you in whatever direction you were "pointed" from the swing when the pole smacked the box at the top..(8")

because of this and a very real chance the vaulter would come down short, the "vault" lobby was able to get the angle of the back changed to 105 degrees. We had been using towels in the box (i remember putting a piece of 1x4 wood in the back of mine in 1965) to give the poles a greater angle to "move" toward the pit so we could land in the softer stuff.

dj

[drcurran]

If my memory is correct John Ulysees was the first person over 16' and he did it indoors ('62 I believe). And if I've got it correct he first cleared the 16' mark in Phila (probably the Inquire games - Convention Hall), but the press rushed forward for a picture and bumped the standards and knocked the bar off the pegs before it could be remeasured (back then measured before and after a record jump). So Ulysees went up to NY the next night (I'm guessing "The Garden") and did it again. Anyway that is the way I remember it!

Dan