Mathias, "Bob" (Robert B.)Track and Field
b. Nov. 19, 1930, Tulare, CA
d. Sept. 2, 2006
Other Resources
After he became the youngest person ever to win a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1948 Olympics, Mathias was asked what he would do to celebrate. The seventeen-year-old replied, "I'll start shaving, I guess."
Mathias averaged almost 9 yards a carry in football and 18 points a game in basketball during his high school years. At a high school track meet, he once won the shot, discus, and high hurdles, anchored the winning sprint relay team, and finished second in the high jump. His track coach suggested he should try the decathlon, even though it isn't usually a high school event. A month later, Mathias won his first competition, the Pacific Coast Games, and two weeks after that he finished first in the Olympic trials, beating Irving Mondschein,(PENN.. Brian's uncle and one of my favorite people..
) a three-time national champion.
At the 1948 Games, Mathias was the youngest member ever of a U. S. Olympic track team. He was in third place after the first day of competition, but he took the lead with a discus throw of 144 feet, 4 inches on the second day and still held the lead after finishing the 1,500-meter run at 10:35 that night.
When he returned to his hometown, the plane had to circle the airport until the runway was cleared of the crowds who had come to welcome him back. Mathias won the Sullivan Award as the nation's outstanding amateur athlete for his feat. He also received more than two hundred marriage proposals.
He enrolled at Stanford University after graduating from high school. A fullback on the football team, he played in the 1952 Rose Bowl, a 40-7 loss to Illinois, and then finished first in the Olympic decathlon trials again.
At 6-foot 3 and 205 pounds, Mathias was 3 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier than he had been in 1948, and this time he won the gold medal easily, setting a world record of 7,887 despite a badly pulled thigh muscle. His margin of victory, more than 900 points, is the largest in Olympic decathlon history.
Mathias won all 11 decathlons he entered, including the AAU national championships from 1948 through 1950 and in 1952. He appeared in four movies, including The Bob Mathias Story, in which he played himself, served as a U. S. Congressman, and then became director of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
National Track & Field Hall of Fame
Olympic Hall of Fame
Bragg, Donald G. ("Tarzan")Gold 1960 ROME
Track and field
b. May 15, 1935, Penns Grove, NJ
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Bragg's childhood ambition was to play Tarzan in the movies and he chose sports as a path toward that goal. As a student at Villanova University, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Bragg won the NCAA pole vault championship in 1955 and was the IC4A champion, both indoors and outdoors, from 1955 through 1957. He tied for the 1956 AAU indoor championship.
After graduating in 1957, Bragg entered the Army and continued to compete. He again tied for the AAU indoor championship in 1958, then won the event from 1959 through 1961. He was also the AAU outdoor champion in 1959.
At the 1960 Olympic trials, Bragg set a world record of 15 feet, 9 1/4 inches. That's still the best vault ever for an athlete using a metal pole; soon afterward, most vaulters began using fiberglass poles.
Bragg went on to win the Olympic gold medal, startling the crowd in Rome when he gave his Tarzan yell from the victory podium.
Bragg retired from competition after the Olympics. He did play Tarzan in a low-budget film, but it was never released because of copyright problems. He later became athletic director at a small New Jersey college and the owner of a summer camp.
National Track and Field Hall of Fame
Don Bragg (born 15 May 1935 in Penns Grove, New Jersey) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. He competed for the United States in the men's pole vault event at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy where he won the gold medal.
Bragg was the last of the great pole vaulters to use a aluminum pole. From 1954 until 1960, he was always world ranked and capped a brilliant career in 1960 by setting a world record of 15' 9¼" (4.80 m) at the Olympic Trials and winning an Olympic gold medal with a vault of 15' 5" (4.70 m). He set a world indoor record of 15' 9½" (4.81 m) at Philadelphia in 1959 and, like Hall of Famer Cornelius Warmerdam, vaulted better indoors than outdoors.
At 6' 3" and 197 pounds, Bragg was one of the largest vaulters in history. He had to stay on a 1200 calorie diet to stay at that weight. Any more and the aluminum alloy poles would crumple under the strain. [1] The aluminum pole had another disadvantage: while taking it aboard a train in Philadelphia, Bragg hit an electrical line and nearly electrocuted himself. [2]
While at Villanova University, he won the NCAA pole vault championship in 1955 and was the IC4A champion, both indoors and outdoors, from 1955 to 1957. He also tied for the AAU indoor championship. After graduating in 1957, Bragg again tied for the AAU indoor championship in 1958, then won the event from 1959 through 1961. He was also the AAU outdoor champion in 1959.
Nicknamed "Tarzan" because of his size and strength, Bragg's goal was to play that role in the movies. Few have so actively pursued a role. He toured Europe and Africa for the U.S. State Department as a goodwill ambassador, climbing trees and swinging from vines.[3] He met Johnny Weissmüller who agreed that Bragg would be perfect as Tarzan. When he won the Gold at the 1960 Olympics he did the infamous Tarzan yell from the podium, shocking the crowd. He was offered the role twice, but was injured and missed both opportunities. His dream was unfulfilled.
He later became athletic director at Stockton State College (N.J.), the owner of a summer camp, and the author of A Chance to Dare: The Don Bragg Story.
RON MORRIS Silver 1960 ROME
Ron Morris (born 27 April 1935) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault.
He competed for the United States in the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy in the pole vault where he won the silver medal.
Athletic and coaching experience includes:
1952-1953 Two time California Interscholastic Pole Vault and U.S. Interscholastic Record Holder
1955-1957 Twice Intercollegiate All-American and University of Southern California Pole Vault Record Holder
1956 Sixth man in history to clear 15 feet
1956-1966 Eight times AAU All-American - ranked in the top 10 in the world for ten years
1960 Silver Medal in XVII Olympiad, Rome, Italy
1962 Only World Class athlete to successfully convert from steel to fiberglass (ranked #1 in the world that year)
1978 Ranked by Track and Field News as the 2nd Best Pole Vaulter (longevity) in history
1960-1978 Track Coach at California State University, Los Angeles (several All-American athletes)
1978-present Owner and operator of On Track
View Ron Morris pole vaulting at the 1960 Olympics
http://www.gettyimages.com/search/detai ... ogle_videoHe is currently CEO of On Track
http://www.ontrackandfield.com a major supplier of Track and Field equipment.
Eeles LandströmBronze 1960 ROME
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eeles Enok Landström (born 3 January 1932 in Viiala, Finland) is a Finnish Olympic medalist and double European Champion in pole vault, a former member of the Finnish parliament and former business executive.
Eeles Landström was the first Finnish participant at the Olympic Academy arranged by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) (Athens 1961).
Landström studied in the United States at the University of Michigan and graduated as Bachelor of Science in 1959.
Landström was a member of the Finnish parliament in 1966-1971 and worked also in executive positions, for example as Assistant Director of Finance in the Finnish Broadcasting Company in 1976-1981 and as a member of the Administrative Council of the Finnish Broadcasting Company in 1967-1976.
Landström participated in the International Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) as a board member of Finland’s group and as a representative of Finland in the European Broadcasting Union, nominated by the Finnish Broadcasting Company.
Landström has written two youth novels (1966, 1974) and a biography (2002). His first novel was awarded as the best Finnish youth novel in 1966.
Landström has lived in Spain since 1981.
Achievements in sports
Olympic bronze medal in the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome (Italy) (pole vault)
Gold in the European Championships in Athletics in Bern (Germany) in 1954 and in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1958 (The only medal Finland won in these games)
Australian record in pole vault in Bendigo (Australia) in 1956
Landström improved the European record three times in the years 1955-1956
Landström improved the Finnish record 13 times in the years 1954-1958
He participated as a member of the Finnish team in 30 international competitions, winning 25 games in a row.
He won the Finnish championship eight times in a row in the years 1953-1960.
In 1961, Landström won the Nordic Championship still using a steel pole; the following year 1962 began the era of fiber glass poles.
Eeles Landström carried the flag for the Finnish team in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
Landström won the Spanish International Senior Amateur Championship in golf in 1992.
Other on his athletic career:
Said on the Finnish Athletes website: ”In the 1950s, Finnish track and field had introduced talented and skilled pole vaulters. One of the pole vault legends, Eeles Landström, became a key figure in track and field, and due to the steel pole changing into glass fiber; a lot of young men around the country were tempted to try their skills with the new equipment.
By the beginning of 1960’s, Landström’s European Championships in 1954 and 1958, as well as the Olympic bronze medal in 1960, the pole vault enthusiasm had reached its peak in Finland."
During the last year of his sports career, Landström arranged fiber glass poles to be exported from the United States, and thus Finns were the first in Europe to use the new equipment in pole vault.
