By Howard Schmertz
1: 1959 – The First Indoor 7-Foot High Jump
A Millrose crowd of 16,000 held its collective breath in complete silence as 17-year old John Thomas, a freshman at Boston University competing against Olympic Champion Charles Dumas, the world’s first outdoor 7-foot high jumper, attempted to become the first 7-foot high jumper in indoor history. As Thomas cleared the bar cleanly in his belly straddle style, the crowd responded with perhaps the loudest roar ever heard in the Garden. Arthur Daley, in his “Sports for the Times” column of February 5, 1959, aptly described my Most Memorable Millrose Moment when he wrote, “The entire tingling drama of the affair was extraordinary. Over the past thirty years this reporter has viewed countless track meets from Los Angeles to Berlin and back again. Never did he witness anything quite like the Millrose high jump.” Before he completed his illustrious athletic career in 1968, John Thomas won the Millrose High Jump six times. In 1973 the event was named “The John Thomas High Jump” in recognition of his outstanding Millrose Games record.
2: 1942 – The First Indoor 15-Foot Pole Vault
With the Wanamaker Mile field poised on the line awaiting the starter’s gun, Cornelius Warmerdam raced down the 140-foot Madison Square Garden runway with a borrowed pole and zoomed upward and over for the first 15-foot pole vault ever made indoors. The runway had been lengthened by meet director Fred Schmertz at Warmerdam’s request. However, the chance for the first indoor 15-footer appeared to vanish when the great vaulter, en route from California, changed planes at Chicago but his favorite bamboo pole, with which he had cleared 15 feet or more a dozen times outdoors, was left behind. Borrowing a shorter pole from Milton Padway, Warmerdam cleared 12-6, 13-0, 13-6, 14-0, 14-4, 14-8.5 and 15-0 and three-eighths without a miss to thrill a sell-out crowd of 16,000. On his way to the historic 15 feet, Warmerdam broke the 1937 Millrose record of 14-3 held by Japan’s Sueo Ohe (killed several weeks earlier leading Japanese troops in the invasion of Luzon) and Olympic Champion Earle Meadows’ World Indoor Record of 14-7 and one-eighth. Warmerdam, the greatest of all vaulters prior to the fiberglass era, cleared 15 feet or more 43 times before the feat was accomplished by the second man, Bob Richards, nine years later in the 1951 Millrose Games.
3: 1955 – The Nielsen-Santee-Dwyer Wanamaker Mile.
The 1955 Wanamaker Mile was a World Indoor Record race, which fact alone would make it a memorable one. But it is my Most Memorable Millrose running event not because of the record, but because it was a world record that very few of the 16,000 spectators witnessed. One week previous, Wes Santee, America’s top miler, had defeated Gunnar Nielsen, by 40 yards in the Boston A.A. Games, creating a World Indoor Record of 4:03.8. His time smashed the record 4:05.3 set by Gil Dodds in the 1948 Wanamaker Mile. In the 1955 Wanamaker, a fast early pace indicated that Santee’s week-old record might fall. With a half-lap to go, Santee led, trailed by Fred Dwyer and Nielsen. Suddenly Nielsen charged past Dwyer and Santee and set sail for home. At the end of the back stretch as the tiring Santee veered out in a vain attempt to hold off Nielsen, Dwyer, trying to catch Nielsen, attempted to pass Santee on the inside. As Dwyer came abreast of Santee, Wes moved in, forcing Fred off the track and into the infield. Dwyer, unable to regain the track, ran the last turn in the infield and at the head of the stretch came back on the track ahead of Santee. In frustration, Santee grabbed Dwyer’s shoulder and Dwyer wrapped his arms around Santee’s waist. To the amazement of the crowd, the two pirouetted down the homestretch. Nielsen, well out in front and virtually unnoticed, broke the tape with a world record 4:03.6. Dwyer came out of his clinch with Santee to finish second but was disqualified for running in the infield. No wilder race has ever been seen in the Garden.
4: 1980 – Mary Decker’s World Record 1500 Meters
Returning to the Millrose Games for the first time since she won the “1000” at the age of 15 in 1974, Mary Decker captivated the Garden crowd as no other athlete ever had. After two laps of the 1500 meters Mary had opened up a 40-yard lead and the announcement of her quarter-mile time of 60.3 (faster than in the Wanamaker Mile earlier) brought the crowd to its feet. It was quickly apparent that Francie Larrieu’s Millrose record of 4:15.0 would fall. As Mary passed the half-mile in 2:05.9, Larrieu’s American record of 4:09.8 was in jeopardy. The 18,000 spectators cheered wildly as this lovely and graceful athlete pushed on toward Romania’s Natalia Maracescu’s World Indoor Record of 4:03.0. The ear-splitting crowd noise during the last half of the race surely set a sustained decibel record. As she hit the finish tape an 80-yard winner, in a World Indoor Record 4:00.8, Mary Decker became the all-time darling of the Millrose Games. Mary eventually won 4 more Millrose races, at the mile, with her last victory in 1997 – 23 years after her first Millrose triumph.
5: 1974 – The First Sub-Four Minute Wanamaker Mile
Although Roger Bannister had run a sub-four minute mile as early as 1954 and Jim Beatty had broken four minutes indoors in 1962, no Wanamaker Mile through 1973 had a time beginning with a “3”. In the early ‘60s there had been eight indoor sub-four minute miles, but to the chagrin of Fred Schmertz, Millrose Games meet director since 1934, none had been in the venerable and prestigious Wanamaker Mile. Tom O’Hara had come close with a 4:00.6 in 1964. Marty Liquori’s three straight Wanamaker Mile victories in 1969-1971 were clocked in 4:00.8, 4:02.6, and 4:00.6, a last-lap collision causing him to miss a sub-4 in 1969. Tony Waldrop, a senior at the University of North Carolina, was the least heralded in a 1974 Wanamaker Mile field that included Liquori, Leonard Hilton, Bob Wheeler and Byron Dyce. Rating himself off a moderately fast pace, Waldrop blasted a 55.7 final quarter, passed Liquori on the last lap in the middle of the backstretch and raced to a 3:59.7 victory. Fred Schmertz at long last had his sub-4 Wanamaker Mile. During the preceding years Fred, then in his 80s, when asked by the members of the media when he would retire, jokingly replied that he would retire after he saw his first sub-four minute Wanamaker Mile. One month after Tony Waldrop fulfilled Fred’s dream, Fred broke his hip. He never returned to his beloved Millrose Games or the Garden after the 1974 meet and died in 1976 at the age of 87. Waldrop’s sub-four feat, although a long time in coming, opened the floodgates. There have been 86 sub-four minute Wanamaker Mile clockings since 1974 by 40 runners, Marcus O’Sullivan leading the list with 11.
6: 1962 – The First 16-Foot Pole Vault.
Twenty years after Cornelius Warmerdam cracked the indoor 15-foot barrier at the 1942 Millrose Games on a bamboo pole, Marine corporal John Uelses used a newly designed fiberglass pole in the 1962 Millrose Games to reach the hitherto “unreachable” height of 16 feet. Achieving a goal that Bob Richards and Don Bragg had failed to reach with their aluminum poles, Uelses cleared 16 feet, 0.25 inch on his third attempt to become the world’s first 16-footer, indoors or outdoors. His vault broke Bragg’s official indoor record of 15-9.50 and was higher than his own record of 15-10.25 set earlier that winter and the outdoor record of 15-10.25 established by George Davies the previous summer. With Uelses’ 16-foot vault, the fiberglass pole mania reached full bloom and in a few years John Pennel cleared 17 feet outdoors and Bob Seagren did the same indoors. In the 1973 Millrose Games, Steve Smith cracked the indoor 18-foot barrier. Now 19+ feet is common and Sergey Bubka’s 20+ vaults stand alone. John Uelses really started something in his Memorable Moment in the 1962 Millrose Games.
7: 1984 – Carl Lewis’ World Record Long Jump
Prior to the sixth and final round of the 1984 Millrose Games long jump competition, Carl Lewis, considered by many to be the greatest track-and-field athlete in history, trailed Larry Myricks’ 27-6 jump and was in danger of having his long victory streak broken. On his final jump Lewis leaped 28 feet, 10.25 inches, equaling his best ever outdoor performance at that time and shattering his own World Indoor Record by 9.50 inches. Many experts rated Lewis’ Millrose record jump, made on a short indoor board runway, superior to Bob Beamon’s prodigious outdoor record of 29-2.25 made in the 1968 Olympics at the high altitude of Mexico City with a maximum allowed trailing wind. This was the beginning of Carl’s fabulous year culminating in his winning four gold medals in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. His Millrose Games world indoor long jump record still stands after 23 years.
8: 1987 – Eamonn Coghlan’s Seventh Wanamaker Mile Victory
In perhaps the most emotional race ever seen at the Millrose Games, Eamonn Coghlan’s farewell appearance in the Wanamaker Mile produced a seventh victory to surpass the former record skein of six by Glenn Cunningham in the 1930s. Eamonn defeated Marcus O’Sullivan, who had thwarted Eamonn’s victory record bid in the 1986 Wanamaker, by overcoming his Irish compatriot in the last half-lap. When O’Sullivan completed his running career a few years later he had won five Wanamaker Miles. Appropriately, I would rank Coghlan, Cunningham and O’Sullivan, in that order, as the greatest milers in Millrose and Madison Square Garden history..
9: 1981 – The Nyambui-Salazar Duel in the “Fabulous 5000”
As the outstanding field of American and foreign distance runners developed in the weeks leading up to the 1981 Millrose Games, I answered a reporter’s query by stating, “The Millrose 5000 will be fabulous.” And so was born the “Fabulous 5000.” The race more than lived up to its advanced billing. Early on it developed into a duel between the strength of 1980 NYC Marathon winner Alberto Salazar and the speed of Tanzania’s Suleiman Nyambui. Salazar set a wicked pace, covering the first mile in 4:13.8, and led by 20 meters. At 1.5 miles Nyambui had cut the lead to 10 meters and before the 2-mile mark caught up to Salazar. For the next 13 laps these two great runners ran together almost in lockstep on world record pace in one of the most exciting races ever seen in the Garden. With two laps to go Nyambui sprinted into the lead and, with Salazar hanging on gamely, crossed the finish line in a World Indoor Record 13:20.4. Salazar broke the American record by 18 seconds with his 13:22.6. Alberto’s 3-mile time enroute of 12:56.6 was also an American record. Behind Nyambui and Salazar came the greatest mass finish that had ever been recorded in the indoor 5000m, with six other runners (Geoff Smith, Nick Rose, Matt Centrowitz, Bruce Bickford, Craig Virgin and Sydney Maree) also running faster than the former American record. The race involved the longest sustained excitement of any happening on my memory list.
10. 2005 – Bernard Lagat’s Record Wanamaker Mile
Bernard Lagat, one of the world’s top milers, with a searing pace of 55.8, 1:54.3, 2:52.8, drove on to smash Eamonn Coghlan’s 24-year-old Wanamaker Mile record of 3:53.0 and Noureddine Morceli’s 14-year old Madison Square Garden record 3:52.99, running a scorching 3:52.87, to defeat the leading contenders, Laban Rotich and Alan Webb, by more than 50 yards to a deafening din of the Garden crowd. Lagat’s overwhelming performance on the tight Garden track was a reminder of Mary Decker’s Millrose masterpieces of the 1980s.
Howard Schmertz was the Meet Director of the Mlllrose Games from 1975 to 2003, succeeding his father, Fred Schmertz (previous meet director for 41 years) with whom he had worked closely on the preparation and staging of the Games for more than 25 years. Howard is currently Meet Director Emeritus.
