John Pennel

Pole Vaulter

• Born: July 25, 1940
• Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee
• Died: September 26, 1993
• Place of death: Santa Monica, California

Sport: Track and field (pole vault)

Early Life

John Thomas Pennel was born on July 25, 1940, in Memphis, Tennessee, and grew up in Miami, Florida. His father, William Pennel, an aviator and welding-equipment supplier, was a high school track star in his youth. John’s mother, Margaret Pennel, was an avid musician and encouraged her two sons to play musical instruments. John played the sousaphone in the Coral Gables High School band and participated in track, football, and gymnastics. John did not become interested in the pole vault until his senior year, while watching Henry Wadsworth, a pole-vaulter from the University of Florida. John complained that practicing the sousaphone was interfering with his pole-vaulting, so he gave up playing music and concentrated on vaulting.

The Road to Excellence

By the end of his senior year, John was all-city and all-state and the national youth champion in the pole vault. He earned an athletic scholarship to Northeast Louisiana State College (now University of Louisiana at Monroe) in Monroe, Louisiana, and had success in a number of track and field events. He set the school record for the long jump with a leap of 23 feet 8 inches, ran the 100-yard dash in 10.1 seconds, and threw the javelin more than 191 feet. During the 1962-1963 track season, John was named the Gulf State Conference athlete of the year. Bob Groseclose, his college coach, said John’s assets were his strength and acrobatic finesse, both of which aided him in the pole vault.

At the Chattanooga, Tennessee, relays, using an aluminum pole, John became the first college freshman to clear 15 feet. By 1963, John, and the majority of pole-vaulters, had switched to using fiberglass poles. In a meet in Shreveport, Louisiana, on March 16, John cleared 15 feet 9 inches. A week later, on March 23, using a borrowed pole—he had broken his favorite fiberglass pole in practice that week—from rival pole-vaulter Fred Hanson, John vaulted 16 feet 3 inches, setting a new world record.

The Emerging Champion

In 1963, John and the world of pole-vaulting had an amazing year. John broke his own world record on April 10, at Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a leap of 16 feet 4 inches. However, at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 27, Brian Sternberg from the University of Washington cleared 16 feet 5 inches to set a new record. Only three days later, at a home meet on the campus of Northeast Louisiana State College, John reclaimed the record with a leap of 16 feet 6 3/4 inches. The battle between John and Sternberg continued throughout the summer.

On May 25, Sternberg set a new record with a jump of 16 feet 7 inches and increased that by another inch on June 7. By this time, the rivalry between these two vaulters had gained national media attention. However, tragedy ended the rivalry when Sternberg suffered paralysis from a trampoline injury on July 2. At the time, John was competing in Europe as a member of a U.S. track and field team. At the British track and field championship in London on July 13, John cleared 16 feet 8 3/4 inches to set another record. He tied his record on July 26, before 20,000 cheering spectators at a meet in Warsaw, Poland. Back in London, on August 5, before 30,000 spectators, he broke his record with a jump of 16 feet 10 1/4 inches.

Continuing the Story

On August 24, 1963, John entered the Amateur Athletic Union’s Gold Coast track and field meet held at the University of Miami. He cleared the starting height of 15 feet 1 inch easily. The only other serious competitor missed on three attempts, so John had the bar raised to a world record height of 16 feet 10 3/4 inches. He cleared it on his first attempt. The bar was raised to 17 feet 3/4 inch, and on his first attempt, John became the first man ever to clear 17 feet in the pole vault. He had always said clearing 17 feet was a psychological barrier. He told his mother that he had cleared 17 feet in practice but did not want the information made public until he cleared the height officially. At the end of 1963, John was named the Sullivan Award winner as the nation’s top amateur athlete.

Before the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, John was considered the favorite to win the gold medal, but he sustained a back injury six weeks before the Games and finished in eleventh place with a jump of 15 feet 5 inches. John continued vaulting, and, in 1966, he set another world record with a leap of 17 feet 6 inches. He was the Olympic favorite for the 1968 Mexico City Games. He cleared 17 feet 8 1/2 inches, which would have kept him in the competition for the gold medal. However, his pole fell under the bar, which was a violation. The rule was one which international athletic authorities had already voted to remove. Unfortunately for John, the implementation of the new rule had been delayed until after the Olympics. John settled for fifth place. Despite his disappointment at the Olympic Games, he set a total of eight world records in the pole vault—six outdoors and two indoors. In 1969, he set his final world record with a jump of 17 feet 10 1/4 inches. After a series of injuries, John retired from pole-vaulting in 1970.

Summary

John Pennel’s love of competition and desire for excellence helped put pole-vaulting on the international athletic stage during the 1960’s. Recognized as one of the greatest pole-vaulters of all time, John was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004.

Bibliography

“Alone at the Top of the Mark.” Sports Illustrated, September 2, 1963.

“John Pennel.” Current Biography Yearbook. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1963.

Thomas, Robert McG., Jr. “John Pennel, First Pole-Vaulter to Clear Seventeen Feet, Is Dead at Fifty-three.” The New York Times, September 29, 1993.