1959: John Thomas, a 17-year-old Boston University freshman, sends the capacity crowd wild when he clears the first 7-foot indoor high jump in history. The next year, his mark of 7 feet, 1.50 inches at Millrose would break the World Indoor Record once again.
1960: Mal Spence of Arizona State wins the Sheppard 600, but not before some pre-race confusion because Mal’s brother, Mel, is also a fine runner and student at ASU. While Mal with an “a” is the invited athlete, race officials receive a wire from Mel with an “e” two days before the event confirming the time of arrival for his flight. Hurried long-distance phone calls followed to straighten out the matter, which turns out to be a typo.
1961: A raging blizzard almost prevents a World Indoor Record when a member of the Manhattan College 2-Mile Relay team is delayed in the storm and arrives at the Garden just minutes before his race. Many of the athletes are stranded in New York for days after the meet because of the storm. In the women’s 60-Yard Dash, Wilma Rudolph is the victor. The Tennessee Tigerbell and three-time gold medalist at the 1960 Olympics in Rome was featured in the first women’s individual event to be conducted at Millrose since 1932.
Ireland's Ron Delany won the Wanamaker Mile four consecutive years from 1956-1959. In 1956, he won Olympic gold at 1500 meters.
1962: John Uelses, a 24-year-old Marine, becomes the first pole vaulter in the world to crack the 16-foot barrier, indoors or outdoors. In the shot put, Gary Gubner’s toss of 63 feet, 10.25 inches breaks the World Indoor mark of Parry O’Brien, who misses the competition after his plane is delayed by bad weather. He arrives in time for an “exhibition,” in which Gubner beats him with what would have been another World Record toss.
1963: Russians star this year, as Igor Ter-Ovaneysan sets a World Indoor Record in the long jump and Olympic gold medalist Valery Brumel establishes a meet record for the high jump in defeating John Thomas.
1964: After winning the 1963 Penn Relays, pole vaulter Brian Sternberg is invited to compete at the 1964 Millrose Games. Although the University of Washington vaulter sets several World Records that summer, he never makes it to Madison Square Garden: in early July, Sternberg is left paralyzed after a training accident on a trampoline. The Millrose Athletic Association, on behalf of the 1964 capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden, forwards the official Millrose Gold Medal to him.
1965: The women’s 60-Yard Dash is won by Wyomia Tyus, the 1964 Olympic 100-meter champion and member of the ground-breaking Tennessee State Tigerbelles. Tyus would repeat as Olympic Champion in 1968.
1966: Kenyan distance pioneer Kip Keino is a huge hit, throwing his cap to the crowd. He wins the Wanamaker Mile. But the biggest triumph of the night belongs to the Holy Cross freshman relay team. After organizers at first deny their entry because the field is full, a spot is found for them – but they are somehow never told. Luckily, they all come to watch the meet, where they read in the program that they are on the card. Even though two of the runners have eaten large meals before coming to the Garden and another ran 4 miles in the morning and ice skated for 3 hours in the afternoon, they round each other up, borrow uniforms and win the race.
1967: At the 60th annual Millrose Games, a handsome 19-year-old University of Southern California sophomore named Bob Seagren, already the World Indoor Record-holder, wins the pole vault with a jump of 16 feet, 7 inches, breaking the Madison Square Garden and meet records. Meanwhile, in the Wanamaker Mile, a 17-year-old high school senior named Marty Liquori finishes an impressive fifth.
