Sport: Trojan Twain

Peering over sunny Edwards Field at Berkeley, Calif. last week, 15,000 pairs of curious eyes strained to see the University of Southern California’s track team defend its National Collegiate Athletic Association title. They expected Stanford, whom the Trojans had already vanquished in a dual meet and in the Pacific Coast Conference championships, to take second place. They expected to see Johnny Woodruff, long-striding University of Pittsburgh Negro, break the N.C.A.A. record for the half-mile. They expected old Amos Alonzo Stagg, now coaching football at the College of the Pacific, to officiate as head referee at the meet he inaugurated in Chicago 16 years ago. In particular, the 15,000 track fans had come expecting to see Southern California’s Bill Sefton and Earle Meadows tie for an all-time record pole-vault of 15 ft. or over. In only the last instance was the audience disappointed.

Earle Elmer Meadows, 24, and William Healy Sefton, 22, pole-vaulted separately before they entered U.S.C. in 1933. Beginning at 10, Earle practiced with an old rug cane and clothesline strung up in his Little Rock front yard. Anxious to spur his son’s aerial career, Father Meadows, a cloth manufacturer, offered him a nickel for every inch above 5 ft. that he could make. In 1932 when he was a high-school senior at Fort Worth, Earle cleared 13 ft. to establish a Texas scholastic record, 6½ in. less than the national interscholastic record Bill Sefton, son of a California oilman, chalked up while at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School the same year.

Once united, Sefton and Meadows learned from each other. The two started vaulting to equal heights, soon were breaking records in partnership. Meadows did 13 ft. 11½ in. by the end of freshman year, Sefton an even 14 ft. With almost monotonous regularity they tied for national and intercollegiate titles during the next two years. Meadows took the Olympic title alone last year, but twice this spring the Trojan “twins” have vaulted to identical heights to smash the accepted world’s record of 14 ft. 6½ in. held by Oregon’s George Varoff. At the Stanford-U.S.C. dual meet they soared 14 ft. 8 ½in. Three weeks later at the Pacific Coast Conference meet they vaulted 14 ft. 11 in., quit then simply because the crossbar could not be extended higher. As host for the N.C.A.A. meet last week, the University of California erected new standards 15 ft. 6 in. high. Somewhat psychic, Sefton and Meadows both correctly guessed before the meet that their four-year doubling streak might not last. They explained: “People are looking too hard for it.” As it turned out, Sefton went over at 14 ft. 8 ⅞in. and Meadows could not get higher than 14 ft. 4⅞in.

Sefton and Meadows learned their art from Southern California’s Coach Dean Cromwell, who declares that an expert vaulter’s greatest single asset is a correct psychological outlook. Both run a 99-ft. stretch before the takeoff, grasp the pole at 12 ft. 2 in. for the ascension. At the crest of their flight they are poised almost upside down, flip their bodies over the bar with a quick kick. Meadows is light (165 lb.) and fleet, depends upon speed along the runway. Sefton is taller (6 ft. 3 in.) and huskier (180 lb.), counts more upon brute strength.

Only on the field are the Trojan twain. Meadows works as a part-time janitor, plays excellent tennis for relaxation, is studying to be a physical education instructor. Inclined to be retiring, he is “unofficially” engaged to Marguerite Caswell, Western Women’s sprint champion. More sociable, Sefton belongs to Phi Sigma Kappa, was cited this year as U.S.C.’s model all-round senior. At this week’s intersectional meet between the Pacific Coast Conference and Big Ten track teams Earle Meadows and Bill Sefton will pole-vault as college teammates for the last time.

Running a two-mile race as a program filler at last year’s Princeton Invitation Track Meet, barrel-chested Donald Ray Lash of the University of Indiana proceeded to dash the eight laps in the fastest time ever recorded for the distance outdoors. This year Princeton, hoping for another sensation, invited him to run the mile against Archie San Romani, Luigi Beccali of Italy and Glenn Cunningham, world’s record holder. Gene Venzke also entered to shoot at the world mark for three-quarters of a mile, incidentally pace the other four.

As Venzke pounded into the chilly wind at Palmer Stadium last week only Lash stuck close to his heels. At the half, with Venzke well in the van, Lash was leading Beccali by 15 yards, with Cunningham and San Romani in the rear, refusing to be rushed. Lash was certain to be winded by the terrific pace. When Venzke dropped out, Lash faltered and Cunningham and San Romani swept into the final lap to pass him. Twenty yards from the finish, San Romani spurted ahead of Cunningham and Lash uncorked his galloping sprint. As far as the spectators could see, they split the tape neck and neck. Both were clocked by their individual timers at 4 min. 7.2 sec., half a second short of the world mark of Cunningham who finished a close third. It took the judges five minutes of rapid argument to decide that San Romani had won by a thumb. Gene Venzke had missed his try for the three-quarter record by 8/10 of a second.