This Day in Track & Field History, March 29, George Horine sets WR at high jump of 1.985 (6’6.17″), written and compiled by Walt Murphy

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service  (wmurphy25@aol.com)

This Day in Track & Field—March 29 

1912—Stanford’s George Horine set a World Record of 6-6  1/8 (1.985) in the High Jump at home in a dual meet with USC. Horine was the  first to set a record in the event using the Western Roll. He would improve to 6-7 (2.007) on May 17, becoming the first man to clear 2-meters, and that was the first HJ record ratified by the IAAF. Horine went on to win the bronze medal at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.

            Read about the development of his style, dictated by the limitations of his family’s backyard in Palo Alto, in his Wiki bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Horine

Stockholm Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd1kuIhtNOs

The High Jump: http://www.iaaf.org/disciplines/jumps/high-jump

1921–USC’s Charley Paddock edged Stanford’s Morris Kirksey in the 100-yard dash at Stanford Stadium in a dual meet between the two schools. Both were timed in 9-3/5 (9.6) to equal Paddock’s World Record that he shared with fellow Americans Daniel Kelly and Howard Drew. However, the marks were never ratified by the IAAF. It was the closest Kirksey would ever come to beating Paddock, whom he never beat in the 25 times they met!

Kirksey finished 2^nd to Paddock in the 100-Meters  at the previous year’s Olympics in Antwerp, anchored the winning U.S. team to a World Record in the 4×100 (Paddock ran the lead-off leg) , and won a 2^nd gold medal in Rugby!

(From the IAAF Progression of World Records)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Kirksey

1975—13 days after winning the World X-Country title, Julie Brown set a pre-IAAF World Record of 35:00.4 for 10,000 Meters at UCLA. She also established the first American Record in the event. (Kathy Gibbons had run 34:51.0 in a mixed-gender race in 1971).

WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10,000_metres_world_record_progression

1981–Inspired by his participation in the 1979 NY City Marathon (see below), Chris Brasher, the 1956 Olympic gold medalist in the Steeplechase, was instrumental in founding the London Marathon, which made its debut in the rain on this date. (Brasher and Chris Chataway paced Roger Bannister to the 1^st sub-4 mile in 1954).

The inaugural winners were American Dick Beardsley and Norway’s Inge Sorenson (2:11:48), who crossed the finish line together holding hands, and Great Britian’s own Joyce Smith (2:29:57).

Upon his return from his race in NY, Brasher…