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This Day in Track & Field–August 12
1937—Mel Walker had jumped 6-9 7/8 (ratified as 2.08 [6-9 ¾]) in Stockholm four days earlier to set an American Record, but the IAAF didn’t accept the mark as a World Record since the bar fell off, even though it was well after Walker’s clearance. He handled any confusion by getting over 6-10 ¼ (2.09) on this date in Malmö, Sweden.
Walker, a teammate of Jesse Owens at Ohio State, was the co-NCAA Champion (with another teammate-Dave Albritton) in 1936.
From his Wikipedia bio: Walker benefitted from a rule change that had outlawed diving or clearing the bar first with his head. Walker used a variation of the Western roll
1939—Germany’s Rudolf Harbig won the 400-meter in 46.0 in Frankfurt to break Archie Williams’ World Record 46.1, set at the 1936 NCAA Championships. Harbin had set a World Record of 1:46.6 for 800 meters the previous month.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_400_metres_world_record_progression
Racing Past: http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=125
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Harbig
1960–The Mt.SAC Relays were only two years old, so few track fans in the U.S., let alone the world, had ever heard of Walnut, California. But that all changed when the results of this final pre-Olympic tuneup for the U.S. team that would compete in Rome spread throughout the T&F community.
World and American Records fell like dominoes, with Ralph Boston producing the most stunning performance. The 21-year-old from Tennessee State long-jumped 26-11 ¼ (8.28) to break Jesse Owens’ 25-year old World Record of 26-8 ¼ (8.13).
Topping their own World Records were Bill Nieder in the Shot Put (65-10 [20.06]) and Hal Connolly in the Hammer (230-9 [70.33]), while Rink Babka matched the WR in the Discus (196-6 [59.91])….
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