Life Lessons Learned from Pole Vaulting with a Fiberglass Pole
I loved to pole vault! It started when we got a new rug in the summer of 1952. In those days, if you ordered a rug from Sears and Roebuck’s Catalog, it arrived with a bamboo pole inside. Since my father did some pole vaulting at Haskell, he decided to teach me.
He wrapped the bamboo pole with white surgical tape around all the joints, as bamboo poles had been known to shatter and impaled vaulters in the process. My father wanted to keep me safe. He found a long, thin, wooden crossbar, got a few bales of straw to make a landing pit and built wooden standards.
To get me motivated, he told me that when I cleared 6 feet that he would take me to Pendleton, to see a movie. Pendleton was about 60 miles away. I wanted to see an upcoming film, "Rob Roy: The Great Rogue," as it was one of my favorite movies when I was a boy. I loved movies where the oppressed defeated the oppressor or died trying, in a brave and honorable manner.
Another movie I liked was Gunga Din. I saw it when we lived in McNary, Oregon. It was black and white and old, but we only paid 10 cents for a Saturday afternoon matinee.
The weekly Saturday shows were not in a movie theater. There was a large room with folding chairs that they would use for the show. The main feature started with a cartoon, usually a Three Stooges or Abbott and Costello short, and then the main feature. It was a big deal when Abbott and Costello made their first full-length movie.
Anyway, I was pole vaulting every day! I was bound and determined to see Rob Roy in Pendleton. Finally, I cleared 6 feet. I went and got my father so he could verify my accomplishment with measuring tape. I remember my second jump over six feet well. My dad smiled and clapped and said, "Dugo, you did it. Let's go and see Rob Roy next Saturday!" And we did.
My dad made the same promise to a young friend of mine, who sometimes would join me during my daily pole vault practice. He never vaulted 6 feet, but we took him to see Rob Roy anyway.
After that, I pole vaulted every spring. I won my first gold medal in pole vaulting when I was in the sixth grade. It felt good because, in the Umatilla County Track Meet, I had to compete against 8th graders.
I loved to pole vault so much that my father shipped my pole to Sherwood Corners, on the Standing Rock Reservation, where my dad was born.
I would spend summers staying with my Unchi Martina and the Sherwood Clan. I had a great time horseback riding and helping to round up their cattle for branding and cutting.
I did not enjoy riding a bale sled very much because it required standing behind a tractor and stacking hay bales with a continuous stream of dirt and other debris blowing in your face. Every so often they bailed up a live rattlesnake, so had you had to carefully check out every bale of hay before grabbing and stacking it!
Anyway, with the help of my younger Tahansi, Greg Sherwood, my only fan and, helper, we set up a pole vault pit, standards, and runway near some corrals. Tahansi Greg was my loyal supporter and came down each day I vaulted and caught my pole after each vault. That was a great summer!
I was not a gifted athlete like my daughters, Joslynn, (Soccer) Shannon (Long Distance), Lisa (Volleyball and Basketball) and Deloria (Boy's Football the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 Meters and Basketball ), but I did train very hard and was very competitive.
After using various editions of a bamboo pole, I graduated to using a Swedish steel pole. Then in my senior year, I got my hands on a fiberglass pole. I always researched the sports I participated, and after reading about a fiberglass pole, I found a way to order one immediately. I can still remember how excited I was when the new fiberglass pole arrived in a long tube.
When it came to pole vaulting, I did not have the speed or the height to continue vaulting much beyond high school, but with the innovation of the fiberglass pole, I did have a window of opportunity to master how to use the flexibility of this type of pole before others caught on. That became my spring passion!
There was no coach. At the time, many high school and university coaches didn't know how to use a fiberglass pole, so I was on my own.
I quickly found out that perfecting the utilization of a fiberglass pole was like learning to ride a wild horse. Time after time, that pole would throw me everywhere but over the crossbar. Sometimes, I ended up in the pit upside down or entirely out of the pit, but very slowly, day by day, I got better and better.
By the start of the track season, I hit about 60% of my vaults. Since I was the only vaulters in our high school league that was using a fiberglass pole, I won.
My only challenge was my friend, Doyle Clapper, from Pasco High School, who also started using a fiberglass pole after I did. Doyle was a great pole vaulter and a fierce competitor.
Doyle and I competed against each other in football, wrestling, and track. Pasco never won in football against our Blue Devils football team or on the wrestling mat against me, but once he got a hold of a fiberglass pole, he won more times against me in pole vaulting than I won against him, until our last meet.
Finally, at the last track meet of the season, the Inland Empire Jr. Olympics, all my practice, and work finally came to fruition. On a beautiful, warm, sunny, June day, my fiberglass pole and I became one. My speed, the exact steps I needed take before planting my pole, the drive of my arch, and my push off and the flexible action of my pole were perfect.
This track meet was the last time I ever competed in the pole vault. I vaulted 13'6" that day. I won the pole vault and set a new Inland Empire Jr. Olympics pole vault record. Today, some High School Vaulters warm up at 13'6"
That was a beautiful day -- the most beautiful part was that my father and mother were sitting in the stands watching me, as was usual They were the first persons I looked at after breaking the record on my last try.
After my last vault, they asked me if I wanted to try 13'7", and I said, "No, that is enough for today!" Then I walked over and gave my parents a hug, and we went home.
It is a good feeling when you arrive at places in your life where you are entirely satisfied with your performance. After hitting that peak pole vault performance, I was wise enough to walk away from what I had enjoyed for so many years.
There were a few times, just for fun, when I would encounter some young vaulters who were struggling with 9 or 10 feet that I asked if I could give the pole a try. I would take off my shoes and take off down the runway in my bare feet and soar over the bar. Then I would share a little bit of my story, and told them that they were going to vault much higher than I ever did -- and they did.
As I said, it was a wise decision to walk away from pole vaulting after my peak performance! Within a year, much better junior and senior high school pole vaulters began to master vaulting with a fiberglass pole.
After a few years, the pole vault record I set in June 1962 was broken numerous times. Today, many high school male vaulters warm up at 15 feet. The high school boy's national record is now 18'3”, ' and the girls is 16'2". The world pole vault record for men is now 21'5", and for women, 18'3".
What has stuck with me was what I learned from this experience. Never give up! Let go and gracefully walk away when you know in your heart and spirit that you have reached an extraordinary summit of achievement, for yourself. Most importantly, be open to innovations and have the courage to try new ways of thinking, praying and doing things. Always look for the light, no matter how the lampshade may look!
