| Few, if any, athletes have ever dominated an event as did Dutch Warmerdam in the pole vault in the 1940s. He raised the world record from 14-11 to 15-7 3/4 outdoors and the latter mark, made in 1942, lasted 15 years. He also held the world indoor best at 15-8 1/2 and had 43 vaults over 15 feet at a time when no other vaulter in the world had yet to clear 15 feet.
Warmerdam learned to vault in a cabbage patch with a bamboo pole before enrolling at Fresno State, where he did 14-1 3/4. He later competed for the San Francisco Olympic Club during a period when he won or tied for nine National AAU titles, seven of them outdoors. He was the first man to clear 15 feet, accomplishing that feat on April 13, 1940. His last competition was in 1944 when he cleared 15 feet at the National AAU meet. In 1942, he won the Sullivan Award as the nation's top amateur athlete. Deprived of Olympic competition by World War II, Warmerdam later returned to Fresno State as head track coach. |
USA