Sport: No Doubt Whatever

In two of the biggest moments of last year’s winter track season, boggles by the officials blurred the results to the point of farcical anticlimax. The two big questions: 1) Did Don Gehrmann or Fred Wilt win the Wanamaker Mile? 2) Did, or did not, the Rev. Robert Richards become the second man in history to pole-vault 15 feet?†

It took the wrangling authorities ten months to declare, beyond further appeal, that Gehrmann had won the Wanamaker (TIME, Dec. 18). It took an admission of grievous error (the crossbar had been too low) to convince Robert Richards, and the crowd, that he had vaulted only 14 ft. 11½ in.

In successive one-night stands in Philadelphia and Boston last week, Gehrmann and Wilt went after each other again, and Parson Richards went after 15 feet. With the officials behaving impeccably this time, there was no doubt whatever about the results.

Fred Wilt, 30, a Manhattan FBI man in working hours, announced his strategy for the Philadelphia Inquirer Mile in advance: to set a fast pace in order to tire Don Gehrmann as much as possible, take the edge off Gehrmann’s famous last-lap sprinting.

But Wilt’s timing was way off. He ran the first three-quarters in a stodgy 3:11.6, leaving 23-year-old Gehrmann plenty of finishing kick. Gehrmann scooted past in the last 70 yards, won by a clear seven. The time (not fast, not slow): 4:12.4. In Boston next night, Gehrmann repeated the lesson, won by ten yards in the time of 4:11.5.

Parson Bob Richards, 24, a philosophy teacher at La Verne College, Calif., had his hands full keeping up with Illinois’ Don Laz, 21, in Philadelphia. They wound up in a tie at 14 ft. 9 5/8 in. It was good pole-vaulting, but still not within breath-holding distance of 15 feet. The breath-holding came in Boston. After clearing the bar easily at 14 ft. 9½ in., Richards tried for the elusive 15. He missed the first time. On his second try, with the crowd on seat-edges, he went over beautifully, only to flick the bar off with his fingers as he let go of the pole.

† The first and only man to clear 15 feet: California’s Cornelius Warmerdam, who did it 43 times.