This Day in Athletics History, March 11, 2024, John Thomas cleared 2.20m (1960), Dave Wottle, by Walt Murphy News & Results

Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.

This Day in Track & Field–March 11

1922—Cornell won the team title at the 1^st IC4A Indoor Championships, held at NY’s 22^nd Regiment Armory, which had an 8-lap banked track.

Among the winners was Penn State’s Larry Shields in the Mile. Shields, the bronze medalist at 1500-Meters at the 1920 Olympics, would win his 2^nd IC4A Outdoor title (he also won in 1920) in the Mile later in the year.

1960—John Thomas cleared 7-2  ½  (2.20) in the High Jump in Chicago to set the final World Indoor Record of his career.

His Records

6-11  1/8      2.111        1-10-59      Hanover,NH

6-11  ¾         2.13          1-17-59      Boston,MA

7-00              2.134        1-21-59      New York (Millrose)

7-00              2.134        2-14-59      New York (AAU)

7-01  ¼         2.165        2-14-59      New York (AAU)

7-01  ½         2.17          1-30-60      New York (Millrose)

7-01  ½         2.17          2-06-60      Boston

7-02              2.184        2-20-60      New York (AAU)

7-02  ½         2.20          3-11-60      Chicago

1961–Jim Grelle set an American Indoor Record of 4:03.6 at the Milwaukee Journal Games.

Other notable winners:

50y-hurdles: Hayes Jones (5.9)

2-mile: Bruce Kidd (8:59.2)

PV: Don Bragg (15-5[4.70])

SP: Parry O’Brien (61-10  ½ [18.86])

1967—Some additional winners/highlights from the NCAA Indoor Championships, which were held on the 11-lap banked track inside Detroit’s Cobo Arena (see an earlier report on March 10).

60y Hurdles-USC’s Earl McCullouch (7.0)  beat Villanova’s Erv Hall (7.2)

Pole Vault-Bob Seagren (USC) 17-1/4 (5.19)

USC (26) won the team title over Oklahoma (17). Scoring was 5-4-3-2-1.

Results: http://trojanforcestats.us/iNCAA-Meet-Results/iNCAAresults1967.pdf

1967—East Texas State’s John Carlos, who would win the bronze medal in the 200 meters at the 1968 Olympics, ran 20.3 in the…