Florida High School Vault History

                                                    
Recently I received a comment to my blog that gave me the name of Florida's first 15' high school pole vaulter. He was Steve Owens of Miami Palmetto High School. He accomplished his feat in 1965. That year he won the State High School meet at 14'6.5". He had won the State meet the year before '64 at 13'7.75".

This prompted me to do a little research into the past Florida High School State Champions. What I found was interesting to me and I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to contribute any additional facts, marks or stories to my blog about this subject.

My vaulting career began in 1969 as I have described in my name dropping post. Meeting Ken McCall and following his son Gary was the beginning of my vault awareness. I guess that's how I missed Steve Owens, he was just a little before my time.

When I looked up Steve Owens on Google I found a site that listed all the Florida High School Champions from 1912 to 2000. I was both surprised and delighted to read so many familiar names on the list. Here is a link. www.angelfire.com/fl4/polevault/state_meet_history.html‎

My first pleasant surprise was seeing my old coach Ken McCall  was the state champ in 1944 with 10'9". I'm pretty sure this was on bamboo. I knew Ken was a great athlete at The University of Georgia, Football, Basketball and Track, but I did not realize he was Florida's premier high school performer as well.

Other names from the past that I recognized were Henry Wadsworth 1956 champ with a 12' vault. Earl Poucher 1952 with a 12' 5.75. I had met Earl in Gainesville in the 80's and that was probably my first contact with a really notable former vaulter. He was humble and generous with his time and we discussed vault history. He owned a pizza parlor in Gainesville at that time.

One thing I was very interested in was to look for the vaulters who I had coached at Showalter Field in Winter Park. I often refer to the number of vaulters who won State Championships that I worked with, so it was like a trip down memory lane to see those names again and it brought back connections that I had forgotten.

Beginning in 1970 when I was a senior and did not even make it to the state meet. Thanks to Ken McCall the vaulters from the Orlando area provided fierce competition. Although I had set the Winter Park school record at 13' 6" earlier in the year, I could only manage 12' 6" at the regional and did not advance to state. My friend from Evans and a junior Doug Becker won the state meet in 1970 at 14'.

At that time in Orlando we had a great little group of vaulters. Ken McCall was still helping us. One of the first vaulters that I believe that I had an influence on was Dan Mattox. Dan was from Edgewater High School and he and I jumped together a lot during his sophomore and junior year. He topped the state in 1971 with a 14' 6" vault.

By 1972 I was having a big year at Seminole Jr. College but still going to Showalter to train. I would help everyone who came out including vaulters from other schools. Winter Park always had a good vault crew but in 1972 Evans vaulter Bruce Ward came out on top with a big 14'8.75 vault. I jumped some with Bruce but he was more influenced by McCall and Doug Becker and Becker's dad who was a really nice man with three sons who excelled at the event.

By 1973 my influence stated to produce results. I had worked with Phares Rolle at Showalter and although I can't claim him as one of my proteges I do think I must have has some positive effect on him. He broke every high school record at the time and went on to vault at Seminole Jr. College then to Florida State. He vaulted over 17' in college and we became good friends. I helped him train for the 1976 Olympic Trails. His state high school mark was 15'.75"

The next vaulter to come out of Winter Park following Rolle was Tommy Kaminer. I would say that he was equally coached by myself and Ken McCall. He was the only Winter Park vaulter to claim two state titles, 1974 and '75 at 14'.5" and 14' 6". He also went to Seminole Jr. College where he vaulted 16' and won the National Championship. We trained together and were good friends for many years.

While jumping and training at Seminole Jr. College I was able to help out at Lyman High School. The coach there was happy to let me work with his vaulters and he also took an interest in the event. The first success I had was with Lee Baker. Lee was exceptionally motivated and one of the most determined vaulters I ever coached. What he lacked in size he easily made up for in heart. He took the 1979 title at 14'6".

I was working with at least 20 vaulters from Orlando by this time and we were having great success. As I look back at the list of state champions I remember so many other great vaulters who may have finished second or third at state but set records at their school or conference. One name that comes to mind is Al Stanley. He was also a Lyman vaulter. Al went on to a competitive stint at Florida State.

The next vaulter who I coached was a coaches dream. Todd Postlmayr listened to everything I said and he progressed rapidly. I had coached his brother at Winter Park who was one of the top vaulters in the state, and who spent all three years at Winter Park in the shadow of Phares Rolle and Tom Kaminer. Greg played a significant role in getting Todd off on the right foot in their makeshift backyard pit nestled between two towering pine trees, using a few bags of scrap foam rubber from a local upholstery shop to land on. Todd ended up at Edgewater due to rezoning.

He would come everyday to Showalter to practice. He got a lot of attention when he topped Gary McCall's school record at Edgewater but his prowess did not end there. He was Florida's first 16' vaulter although unofficially. The story was documented in the Orlando Sentinel in 1980. It was the regional meet and I was the official. The head official had given us instructions that each record must be measured both before and after the jump. It was a cold night and we had to set up a 12' ladder under the bar. I would climb to the top and measure each mark after Todd passed 15'. That night he vaulted 15' then 15'6" then 15'9". All were new records and each one had to be measured twice. This process took so much time that Todd could not stay warmed up. When we went to 16' you could see the effect the extra time was having on his vaulting. He had progressively better vaults at 16' each jump. On his third he barely touched it and it fell. I knew it was against the rules but I told him to take another jump. He made it over and the small crowd that had stayed to watch gave a huge ovation. I was reprimanded for giving a third jump and of course it did not count but I have no regrets. Todd won the state meet the following week in 1980 at 15'7.5 for the new record.    

 Mike Woodruff was the next vaulter I coached. Mike was a terrific all around athlete at Winter Park and very easy to coach. He vaulted 15' as a junior and I believed he would break all the records his senior year. He wanted to play football against my suggestion against it. he broke his leg in football season but was still able to come back and in just three weeks training before the state meet he climbed back to 15' and won at state.

It wasn't long until we had all the central Florida vaulters training at Showalter. I would go to other high schools in the area and recruit as well. My daughter was attending a small private school in Orlando and I would go out to the pole vault pit and help out the vaulters some days after school. They were a 1A school and the competition level was much lower than at the 4A schools I was used to, but I tried to make a difference in their skill. One day a father came up to me with his son who he said wanted to try vaulting. The kid was really tall and skinny and were some coaches would overlook him I saw potential as I imagined him growing. His parents were totally supportive which I really appreciated and used to his advantage. I told them his best chance to improve fast was to put a pit in his back yard where he could practice every day. The father did exactly that and it wasn't long until Mike Holloway won the state 1A state meet in 1985 vaulting for Lake Highland Prep.

Mike improved rapidly over the next two years and changed schools to compete at the 4A level. He won again in 1986 vaulting 14'6" for Edgewater High. Mike's senior year was really a year to remember as he set records in just about every meet in which he vaulted. He won the National Indoor title his senior year clearing 16'6" and topped 17'1" at the end of the season. To this day he stands alone as Florida's only 17 foot high school vaulter. Mike suffered a back injury just days before his state meet in 1988. He managed to win the state meet in '88 at 15'6" with a lot of courage and aspirin.

Mike went on to the University of Florida to set the record there and eventually to vault 19'1". He finished 3rd in the U.S. in 1993 and made the World Championship team. I coached him during his entire career and I have many more posts about Mike on my blog.

I moved from Florida in 1989 but not before I had another state champion. Darryl  Meadows also vaulted at Lake Highland Prep and he was inspired by Mike's success and set out to make a name for himself as well. Although he remained at Lake Highland all three years he set the standard for what 1A schools could produce as he vaulted to two state titles, 1987 at 14' and 1988 when he topped 15' 6".

Florida has produced many great vaulters. Another notable champion was John Pennel who won the state meet in 1958. He went on to be the first 17' vaulter in history and claimed three World Records. He set another four World Records that were not ratified. In the 1968 Olympics he cleared the winning height only to have his jump ruled a miss due to an old rule which nullified the jump if the pole passed under the bar. This same rule cost Mike Cotton from Ocala the state title in 1969 when he cleared 15'. It would have been the winning vault but the same antiquated rule cost him the title.

Cotton went on to be a super success story for Jimmy Carnes and the University of Florida as he went on a record setting spree across the southeastern conference during his years at Florida. He eventually won the Pan Am Games and was the National Champion in 1973. He had many close vaults at 18' but his personal record was 17'8".

Steve Owens who's name got me started down this historical trail went on to Tennessee where he set records of his own. My best information shows he jumped at least 15'2" while there. Another Florida high school state winner that I remember seeing at Gainesville was Mike Flanagan. Mike jumped 16'6" for the school record before Scott Hurley topped 16'8" at the Milrose games to win that prestigious meet in 1971.

One final addition to my post must be Richard Klehm. Richard set the 1963 record at 13'. He straight vaulted the mark, probably the last to win at the state on a steel pole. Just a few years ago at a Masters Southeastern Championship meet in Savanna, Georgia, Richard was entered in the vault and he vaulted 10'. He was still straight vaulting and everyone was impressed at his athletic ability. I have been at a few more meets with Dick and he always represents himself well. I never knew what a great high school champion he was until yesterday when I saw his name on the list.

Congratulations to all of Florida's High School State Champions and all to come.   
To be continued