This Day in Observe & Box–February 24
1954—Columbia’s Al Thompson gained his 2d directly IC4A Shot Put name at Madison Sq. Lawn with a toss of
52-10 ¾ (16.12).
Completing 4th within the shot was once 6’-5” (1.96) Roosevelt “Rosey” Grier (Penn State), who went directly to have an 11-year NFL occupation as a defensive lineman with the NY Giants and Los Angeles Rams. He’s the final surviving member of L.A.’s well-known defensive unit, the “Fearsome Foursome“ (The others were Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen, and Deacon Jones).
Grier was with his friend Bobby Kennedy when the presidential hopeful was assassinated in 1968, and, along with Decathlon legend Rafer Johnson, helped subdue the shooter, Sirhan Sirhan.
Other meet highlights
Thompson was 3rd in the Weight Throw, Tom Courtney won the 1000y in 2:14.9, John Haines won the 60, Lou Jones beat Bill Persichetty in the 600y 1:12.0-1:13.2
Thompson: http://www.gocolumbialions.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&ATCLID=205024801
Grier: http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-06-2010/where_are_they_now_rosey_grier.html
1962—Jim Beatty, the defending champion, won the Mile at the U.S. Indoor Championships in front of 16,864 fans with a Madison Square Garden Record of 4:00.2. A 45-minute delay to the start of the race might have been enough of a distraction to keep Beatty from breaking his recent World Record of 3:58.9.
Another successful defender was 18-year old Canadian Bruce Kidd, who won the 3-mile in 13:48.8.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1962/02/25/113420127.html?pageNumber=188
There was a sub-plot to the mile. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words. However, there are occasions when a picture doesn’t tell the whole story. A prime example was the photo that appeared on the front page of the NY Times sports section the next day (see below). One look at it and you’d swear that Villanova freshman Tom Sullivan had just pulled off the biggest upset of the indoor season by beating Beatty!
Sullivan, who had set a U.S. High School Outdoor record of 4:03.5 in 1961, explains:
“I was put into the mile as a last minute chance for Jumbo (Elliott) to score points for the Nova team (they would win the team title over the NYAC). I had just run a 1000y heat earlier in the evening but fell on the first lap and rolled over, got up and the pack was a good half lap ahead of me. Jumbo always stands at the bottom of the final turn and as I passed, I saw him wildly waving his arms at me. I thought he was yelling for me to catch them and qualify for the points he needed. Each time I passed I saw him waving and screaming at me. I caught the back of the pack but failed to qualify.
When I saw Jumbo, he was angry at me. He said he was trying to tell me to drop out, drop out. He wanted to use me in the mile (which he had entered me in when he sent in the entries of our team). He asked if I felt good enough to try the mile which was about 3 hours away. What could I say. By race time, I was not fit to run a fast mile mentally and physically.
I looked over my shoulder as I went into the last turn with one lap to go and saw Beatty behind me and my pride said: ‘Tom, you can’t be lapped-how humiliating’, and I picked it up down the straightaway and saw the officials waving at me to move to the wall but there was no room at the wall which was filled with timers and judges. I ran past them and I believe they tried to raise the finish line over my head and then dropped it to let Beatty break the tape as he was only a few seconds behind me. I finished and don’t remember anyone in front of me as I went across the finish line.
I have given that picture in the NYT to my two daughters and four grandchildren and told them: ‘Sometimes you win, and sometimes it is not your day or time and lose in a big way. You move on and run your best you can in your next competition’.
1968–Martin McGrady had already established himself as the “Chairman of the Boards” (pre-Eamonn Coghlan’s reign), however now he can be dealing with Lee Evans for the primary time within the 600y ultimate on the AAU Indoor Championships in Oakland,CA.
Feeling susceptible after coming back from a meet in Moscow, McGrady in brief regarded as taking flight from the race, however idea, ”The folks got here to peer a display on this race. I assume I’m in excellent sufficient form to offer them one”.
And what a display it was once. Two afternoon heats arrange a vintage ultimate that incorporated McGrady, Evans, protecting champ Jim Kemp, and Ron Whitney, the reigning U.S. champion within the 440y-hurdles.
The quick-starting Kemp took the early lead, adopted by means of McGrady and Evans. With a lap to move, Evans moved as much as problem Kemp, with McGrady boxed at the inside of. Kemp was once in a position to carry onto the lead as Evans and McGrady collided, just about taking the latter out of the race. However McGrady was once in a position to regain his stability, and, with Evans now having a look like a winner, he was once in a position to will himself previous either one of his opponents to nab the victory as all 3 males have been timed in 1:09.2, simply .2s 2d above McGrady’s Global Document of one:09.0. It stays one of the vital biggest indoor races in historical past.
Eleanor 1st viscount montgomery of alamein set an American Document of 5-10 ½ (1.79) within the Girls’s Prime Bounce.
Sports activities Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1968/03/04/three-on-the-line-in-the-600
McGrady, Evans, and Kemp pass the road in combination
1978—Houston McTear set a Global Document of 6.04 for 60-Yards on the U.S. Indoor Championships at Madison Sq. Lawn. McTear shaved .07s off his earlier file of 6.11 that was once set previous within the season on the Millrose Video games.
Francie Larrieu(Smith) gained the Girls’s Mile over rival Jan Merrill (4:37.0-4:37.6), with prep Lynn Jennings completing third with a Prime College Document of four:39.0.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/02/25/110935399.html?pageNumber=11
Sports activities Illustrated (for subcribers)
1983—With Earl Jones operating a 1:49.2 anchor, Jap Michigan set a short-lived Collegiate Document of seven:21.22 at the flat 220y-yard monitor in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Arkansas would run 7:19.92 two days afterward their house monitor in Fayetteville.
1984–Germany’s Carlo Thränhardt cleared 7-9 ¼ (2.37) in Berlin to set a brand new Global Indoor Document within the Prime Bounce.
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Thränhardt
1985–365 days to the day after fellow German Carlo Thränhardt jumped 7-9 ¼ (2.37), Dietmar Mögenburg upped the Global Indoor Document to 7-10 (2.39) in Cologne. (Sweden’s Patrik Sjöberg had damaged Thränhardt’s mark two days previous with a clearance of 7-9 ¾ (2.38)
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietmar_Mögenburg
WR Development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Males’s_high_jump_indoor_world_record_progression
1989—Brazil’s Robson da Silva set a Global Indoor Document of 32.19 for 300-meters in Karlsruhe, Germany.
2002–Russia’s Svetlana Feofanova broke her 2-week previous Global Document within the Pole Vault when she cleared 15-6 ½ (4.64m) in Liévin, France.
2002–Leaping in Donetsk, Ukraine, Jeff Hartwig changed into the primary American to transparent 6-meters (19-8 1/4) indoors. He would vault upper two times extra within the subsequent two weeks with jumps of 19-8 ½ (6.01m) and 19-9 (6.02), however neither mark was once ratified as an American Document. He misplaced his AR to Sam Kendricks, who cleared 19-8 ½ (6.01) in Rouen, France, on February 8, 2020.
2019—16-year previous Athing Mu, a Junior at Trenton(NJ) H.S., had set a Global Junior Document of one:26.53 in her qualifying warmth of the 600m the day prior to, however that did little to arrange fanatics for what came about within the ultimate. Preventing off a robust problem from veteran Raevyn Rogers at the ultimate backstretch, Mu pulled away within the ultimate 100-meters and went directly to win in 1:23.57. Her time, which triggered stunned reactions from her fellow finalists, now not handiest bettered her day-old WJR Document, it additionally broke Alysia Montaño’s American Document of one:23.59! Rogers hung on for 2d-place (1:24.88/#5 U.S.). Mu and Rogers would end 1-3 within the 800-Meters on the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, whilst Mu would win some other gold on the 2022 Global Outside Championships in Eugene (She gained bronze on the 2023 Global Championships).
Donavan Brazier went Mu one higher within the very subsequent race, environment a Global Document of one:13.77 within the Males’s 600. Kenya’s Michael Saruni set the former file of one:14.79 in 2018.
Ajee’ Wilson gained a deep Girls’s 1000 in 2:34.71, the #2 U.S. time ever, and he or she was once adopted by means of Hanna Inexperienced (2:35.40/#4 U.S.), Ce’Aira Brown (2:35.64/#5), and Laura Roesler (2:36.60/#7). (A-T placings on the time)
Shelby Houlihan, 2d within the mile the day prior to, gained her third directly indoor distance name, completing 1st within the 2-mile with a time of 9:31.38. (She gained the 2-mile in 2017, the 3000 in 2018/Gained her 4th directly by means of completing first within the 3000 in 2020).
https://www.letsrun.com/occasions/2019/02/2019-usatf-indoor-championships
https://www.letsrun.com/occasions/2019/02/2019-usatf-indoor-championships
Effects: https://www.flashresults.com/2019_Meets/Indoor/02-22_USATF/
Movies(Subscription Required): https://www.usatf.television/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45365&mgroup_event_id=25&do=movies&folder_id=contemporary&yr=2019
2021— Grant Holloway gained the 60-Meter Hurdles in 7.29 in Madrid, Spain, breaking the 27-year previous Global Document of seven.30 that was once set by means of Nice Britain’s Colin Jackson in 1994. He would fit his personal file in 2022 and higher it when he ran 7.27 in his warmth on the 2024 U.S. Indoor Championships.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8omN7pyirA
2024—Georgia’s Christopher Morales-Williams, a freshman from Canada, gained the 400 on the SEC Indoor Championships in 44.49, quicker than the authentic Global Indoor Document of 44.57 that was once set by means of Kerron Clement in 2005, and quicker than Michael Norman’s 44.52 that was once by no means ratified by means of Global Athletics (neither was once Morales-Williams’ time).
After 17 earlier misses at 2-meters (6-6 ¾), Texas A&M’s Tamara Distin in the end cleared the elusive barrier on her ultimate try, breaking the Collegiate Document of 6-6 (1.98) that was once shared by means of Destinee Hooker (Texas/2009) and Akela Jones (Kansas State/2018).
Important Birthdays
Born On This Day*
Aleia Hobbs 29 (1996) 2022 Global Champion-4×100 (1st spherical)…Fifth within the 100
2021 Olympic silver medalist—4×100 (1st spherical)
2018 U.S. Champion—100m…2d in 2022…sixth on the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, Fifth in 2024
2-time U.S. Indoor Champion-60m (2023, 2024)…set the American Document of 6.94 within the 2023 ultimate
2018 NCAA Indoor (60m) and Outside (100m) Champion (LSU)…additionally anchored LSU to a win within the 4×100
Had previous anchored the Tigers to a Collegiate Document of 42.05 within the 4×100 on the SEC Champs (since damaged)
Aleia Hobbs takes the 60 meters, New Steadiness Indoor Grand Prix Observe & FieldBoston Massachusetts, USAFebruary 3, 2023World Athletics Indoor Excursion Gold assembly, picture by means of Kevin Morris
NCAA 100-Fifth (2015), sixth (2017)
2019 Global Relays Champion-4×100: Mikiah Brisco, Ashley Henderson, Dezerea Bryant, Aleia Hobbs
PBs: 6.94i (2023/NR), 10.81 (2022), 22.93 (2018); 2024 SB: 10.88; 2025 SB: 7.16i
Nonetheless trains at LSU with trainer Dennis Shaver…coaching spouse is former LSU teammate Mikiah Brisco
Followed her son Amir in 2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleia_Hobbs
https://lsusports.web/sports activities/tf/roster/participant/aleia-hobbs/
Movies: 2023 U.S.i-6.94 2024 U.S.i 2018 NCAA 100 2018 NCAA-4×1 4×100 CR
Henrik Ingebrigtsen-Norway 34 (1991) 2-time Olympian-1500m (2012-Fifth, 2016-semi finalist)
Henrik Ingebrigtsen, picture from YouTube
2012 Ecu Champion (silver medalist-2014 & 2018, bronze-2016)
eighth on the 2013 Global Championships
The oldest of 3 brothers, all of whom have had luck at the global scene
Filip-2016 Ecu Champion-1500m, bronze medalist within the 1500 on the 2017 Global Championships
Jakob-2021 Olympic gold medalist-1500m, 2024 Olympic gold medalist-5000 (amongst his many accomplishments);
PBs: 3:31.46 (2014), 3:50.72 (2014), 7:36.85 (2019), 13:15.38 (2019), 28:20.39 (2022);
2024 SB: 13:26.92
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/121422
