This Day in Track & Field, May 25, Wille Ritola breaks Nurmi’s 10,000m WR (1935), Jesse Owens sets 6 WRs in one hour (1935), the first Bruce Jenner Classic (1985), photo by Walt Murphy

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

This Day in Track & Field–May 25

1912-Competing on his home field, Harvard’s Ted Cable won the first of his two IC4A titles in the Hammer Throw (162-4 [49.47]). Cable was 3^rd in the Long Jump at the Eastern Olympic Trials (3^rd best mark of the three Trials meets/22-11  ½) and had the  4^th best mark in the Hammer/157-8 [48.05]), but was not selected for the U.S. Olympic team.

Described by Arthur Ashe in his book Hard Road To Glory, “black America’s first star in field events.”

https://hepstrack.wordpress.com/alumni/harvard/ted-cable/

1935—Ville “Willie” Ritola ran 30:35.4 for 10,000-meters in Helsinki to break the World Record of 30:40.2 that was set by fellow Finn Paavo Nurmi in 1921.

1935–One of the greatest days in T&F history. Ohio State’s Jesse Owens set a total of six World Records in 4 events in less than an hour at the Big-10 Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His big day went like this:

3:15   Wins 100-yard dash in 9.4

3:25   Only 10-minutes later, he sets a World Record of 26-8  ¼ (8.13) in his only effort in the Long Jump, a mark that

would last for 25 years.

3:45  Gets two for one as his 20.3 for 220-yards on the straight was also a new mark for 200-Meters

4:00  Another double-header, his 22.6 setting new marks for the 200m/220y-hurdles on the Straight

Remarkably, Owens had fallen down a flight of stairs the night before and had to persuade his coach, Larry Snyder, to let him compete the next day!

Related links:

Official Jesse Owens site: http://www.jesseowens.com/

ESPN: http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html

Jesse Owens Museum: http://www.jesseowensmuseum.org/

1963–It was an era during which the big meets on the West Coast often produced World Records, and this year’s California Relays in Modesto did its part to uphold that reputation, although two of the “records” were never ratified by the IAAF. The one mark that did stand up to scrutiny was the 2-mile relay, where Oregon State, coached by Sam Bell (who went on to a long career at Indiana), ran 7:18.9 (ratified as 7:19.0). The lineup of Jan Underwood (1:50.2), Jerry Brady (1:52.2), Norm Hoffman (1:48.4) and Morgan Groth (1:48.2) bettered the previous mark of 7:19.4, which had been set by a U.S. team in 1960.

While Groth was still on…