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| Born | October 25, 1927 (age 95) Los Angeles, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
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Franklin Wesley "Bud" Held (born October 25, 1927) is an American athlete primarily notable for his performance throwing the javelin. He was born in Los Angeles, California.
Held started as a pole vaulter at Grossmont High School near San Diego, where he finished in a 3-way tie for 4th place at the 1946 CIF California State Meet. [1] He switched to the javelin while a student at Stanford University, where he won the NCAA javelin championship in 1948, 1949, and 1950. [2] [3] Held won the AAU USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships six times, 1949, 1951, 1953 to 55 and 1958. [4] Held set six American records in the javelin, and in 1953 became the first American to hold the world javelin record with an effort of 263 feet 10 inches (80.42 m); in so doing, Held became the first athlete ever to throw the 800-gram (1.8 lb) javelin over 80 m (260 ft). [2] He set a second world record of 268 feet 2 inches (81.74 m) in 1955, and his career best throw was 270 feet 0 inches (82.30 m) in 1956. [2]
Held was a member of the United States' 1952 Olympic team where he placed ninth [5] after a shoulder injury, and missed making the 1956 Olympic team by an inch. [2] He won a gold medal in the 1955 Pan American Games in 1955 with a throw of 69.77 meters (228.9 ft). [6]
Held continues to compete in masters competitions. In 1970, Held set a United States national masters javelin record of 229 ft 3 in (69.88 m). [2] On October 4, 2008, at the Club West Masters Track meet in Santa Barbara, Held set the age 80+ World Record in the pole vault [7] adding to the M75 World Record he already holds. He is also ranked in the discus. [8] He also coaches his live-in partner Nadine O'Connor, [9] who holds the women's 65+ pole vault world record, among numerous other track and field records. [10]
After his retirement from standard competition, Held became a sporting equipment businessman. [2] He founded Ektelon, inventing the world's first aluminum tennis racquet and its related stringing equipment from his San Diego garage, then subsequently the first aluminum racquetball racquet. [11] He also invented a hollow javelin that was used into the 1960s, but his design was later outlawed due to safety concerns. [2] [12]
Held was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1987, [2] the USATF Masters Hall of Fame in 2005 [13] and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame. [14]
Stacy Renée Mikaelson known as Stacy Renée Dragila is a former American pole vaulter. She is an Olympic gold medalist and a multiple-time world champion.
Kathryn Joan "Kate" Schmidt is an American former world record holder in the javelin throw. A native of California, graduate of Woodrow Wilson Classical High School, and alumnus of UCLA, she won bronze medals at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics. She qualified for the 1980 Olympics, but did not compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. She placed fourth at the 1984 Olympic Trials.
Lance Earl Deal is a former American athlete who won a silver medal in the hammer throw in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He also competed in the 1988, 1992, and 2000 Summer Olympics.
Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups. For international events the first age group is 35 to 39. Men as old as 105 and women in their 100s have competed in running, jumping and throwing events. Masters athletes are sometimes known as "veterans" and the European Masters Championships, for instance, is known as "Eurovets". This and other high level events including biennial World Championships cater largely to elite-level athletes, but many masters athletes are novices to athletics and enjoy the camaraderie offered by masters competition at the local, National and International level. Most National governing bodies for track and field hold annual Masters championships. Prestigious National meets such as the Penn Relays and the United States Olympic Trials put on exhibition events for top masters athletes. Masters athletics is growing Internationally with over 6000 athletes competing at recent World Championships. World; National and Regional records are maintained for each age group.
Dr. Georg Werthner is a decathlete from Austria, who was the first athlete to finish four Olympic decathlons. In the 1988 Olympics, Daley Thompson crossed the finish-line a little more than 18 seconds after him to become the second athlete to do this.
Rex Jay Harvey was an American decathlete. He designed and held patents of several nozzles for aircraft engines. Also, he helped design several nuclear reactor power plants.
Richard Michael Cotton is a former American college and international track and field athlete who was the United States national champion pole vaulter.
John Flint Hanner was an American track and field athlete and coach. He qualified for the 1920 Summer Olympics, won the first NCAA javelin championship in 1921 and later worked as the track coach at Fresno State University for 35 years. He was also one of the founders and the long-time director of the West Coast Relays.
Philip M. Northrup was an American track and field athlete. He won the NCAA javelin championship in 1925 and 1926 and tied for the NCAA championship in the pole vault in 1925.
Nadine O'Connor is a retired mathematics teacher and a world record setting, hall of fame Masters Track and Field athlete. While she specializes in the pole vault, due to her athletic training, she also holds the World Masters Athletics world records in the 100 metres, 200 metres, the Indoor 60 metres and 200 metres. She also holds the American record in the long jump, 80 metre hurdles, 300 metre hurdles and pentathlon.
Eileen-Philippa "Phil" Raschker is a German-born American masters athlete.
Alicia DeShasier McConnell is an American track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She won the gold medal in the event at the 2011 Pan American Games.
Larry Stuart was an American track and field athlete, known primarily for the javelin throw.
The 2006 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was organised by USA Track & Field and held from June 22 to 25 at the IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The four-day competition served as the national championships in track and field for the United States. As there was no Summer Olympics or World Championships in Athletics held that year, the competition did not serve as a national team selection event.
The USATF Masters Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition which serves as the national championship for the United States for athletes in masters age groups. Organized by USA Track & Field, the national governing body for the sport, the competition was first held in 1968. Athletes compete in 5-year age groups, beginning from 25 and up to 105. Traditionally limited to athletes over 35, a "pre-masters" group was introduced in 2020 to encourage post-collegiate athletes over 25 to continue competing.
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