This Day in Track & Field History, September 6, Charley Paddocks runs 9.6 (1924), Herb Elliott wins Rome 1,500m (1960),

This Day in Track & Field-September  6

1924—Charley Paddock ran 9.6 in West Orange, NJ, to equal the official World Record for 100 yards for the 4th time in his career.

1955–Hungary’s László Tábori came from behind in the last 5 meters to edge Denmark’s Gunnar Nielsen in the 1500 meters in Oslo as both were clocked in 3:40.8, which equaled the World Record set by Sándor Iharos of Hungary just six weeks earlier. Iharos was an interested spectator at this meet.

WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500_metres_world_record_progression

 NY Times(for subscribers): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/09/07/82670878.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0

1960–In one of the closest Olympic finishes ever, American Otis Davis edged a lunging Carl Kaufmann (Germany) to win the Men’s 400 meters–both runners were credited with a World Record of 44.9 (auto-times were 45.07-45.08).  3^rd was South Africa’s Malcolm Spence (45.5/45.60)

Davis, 7^th in the 440y at the 1959 NCAA Championships, joined the Air Force after high school, then entered the University of Oregon on a basketball scholarship at 25. He didn’t fit into Oregon’s style of play, so his coach suggested he go out for the track team, where Hall of Fame coach Bill Bowerman soon discovered he had something special in Davis! He was the first Oregon athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in T&F.

Davis, who lives in New Jersey, traveled to Eugene in 2020 to partake in a ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of his image on the new Hayward Field Tower. He joined four other University of Oregon greats whose likenesses already graced the structure coach Bill Bowerman, Steve Prefontaine, Raevyn Rogers, and Ashton Eaton.

Taking the lead after 800 meters from France’s Michel Jazy, the man he feared the most,  Australia’s Herb Elliott went into his customary long drive, extending his lead with every stride as he went on to win the Men’s 1500 meters in 3:35.6. His time broke his own World Record of 3:36.0 and his 2.8s margin of victory over  Jazy (3:38.4) was the biggest ever in an Olympic 1500 final. The bronze medal was won by Hungary’s István Rózsavölgyi (3:39.2). Americans Dyrol Burleson and Jim Grelle, both part of Oregon’s incredible history, finished 6th and 8th, respectively.  Burleson ran 3:40.9 to break his own American Record of 3:41.3.

Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang, good friends and former UCLA teammates, waged one of the greatest Decathlon battles in history. Yang…