Robert Eugene Richards is an American retired athlete, minister, and politician. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956. He won gold medals in pole vault in both 1952 and 1956, becoming the only male two-time champion in the event in Olympic history.
James Tully Beatty is a former American track and field athlete and North Carolina politician who is best remembered as the first person to break the four-minute mile barrier on an indoor track, when he ran 3:58.9 on February 10, 1962, at the Los Angeles Invitational in the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. He competed in the men's 5000 metres at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
Toby "Crash" Stevenson is an Olympic class pole vaulter from the United States. He is known for being the only pole vaulter in the international elite to wear a helmet during jumps.
Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam was an American pole vaulter who held the world record between 1940 and 1957. He missed the Olympics due to World War II, and retired from senior competitions in 1944, though he continued to vault into his sixties. He was inducted into the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame in 1974.
Dean Bartlett Cromwell, nicknamed "Maker of Champions", was an American athletic coach in multiple sports, principally at the University of Southern California (USC). He was the head coach of the USC track team from 1909 to 1948, excepting 1914 and 1915, and guided the team to 12 NCAA team national championships and 34 individual NCAA titles. He was the head coach for the U.S. track team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, and assistant head coach for the U.S. track team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Charles Edward Dvorak was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the pole vault. He attended the University of Michigan where he competed for the Michigan Wolverines men's track and field team from 1900 to 1904. He participated in the 1900 Summer Olympics where he was a favorite in the pole vault. However, he missed the competition after being told by officials that the finals would not be held on a Sunday. He won a special silver medal in a consolation competition. In 1903, he set a world's record in the pole vault with a jump of 11 feet, 11 inches.(This mark doesn't appear in the progression of World or American Records). Dvorak returned to international competition and won the gold medal in the pole vault at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Dvorak later served as a high school football, basketball and track coach in Seattle, Washington, where he died in 1969 at age 91.
Frederick Morgan "Fred" Hansen is an American former athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault.
Giovanni Alessandro Lanaro Mercado is a retired Mexican pole vaulter who is currently the Women's Head Coach at his alma mater, Mt. San Antonio College.
Franklin Wesley "Bud" Held is an American athlete primarily notable for his performance throwing the javelin. He was born in Los Angeles, California.
John Thomas Pennel was an American pole vaulter, and four-time world record holder.
The men's pole vault event at the 1932 Olympic Games took place August 3. Eight athletes from four nations competed. The 1930 Olympic Congress in Berlin had reduced the limit from 4 athletes per NOC to 3 athletes. The event was won by Bill Miller of the United States, the nation's ninth consecutive victory in the men's pole vault. Japan won its first pole vault medal, with Shuhei Nishida's silver. George Jefferson won bronze, extending the American streak of two or more medals in each pole vault to nine as well.
Albert Richmond "Boo" Morcom was an American track and field athlete.
Brandon Richards is an American Track and Field athlete. He was the national high school record holder in the pole vault and a son of double Olympic Gold Medalist in the pole vault, Bob Richards. He is the third of four of Richards' sons who all excelled at the pole vault—Bob Jr. finished second in 1968 and Tom won the CIF California State Meet in the pole vault.
Stephen Norwood Smith was an American Olympic pole vaulter. He was the first person to clear the 18 foot barrier indoors. He was the number one ranked pole vaulter in the world in 1973.
Paul Wilson is an American athlete specializing in the pole vault. He was the world record holder in the event. The first vaulter to clear his age in feet. In 1967 he was the number-one ranked pole vaulter in the world, but his career was cut short by injury.
William Healy Sefton was an American pole vaulter. Sefton broke the pole vault world record several times in 1937 and placed fourth in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Maurice Houvion is a French athlete known for the pole vault during the early transitional time of the fiberglass pole. He represented France at the 1964 Olympics. Unfortunately he was injured at the Olympics and was unable to clear a height. He would continue vaulting and coaching, eventually becoming national coach establishing the rich French tradition in the pole vault. His son Philippe Houvion briefly held the world record in the pole vault in 1980.
Dan Ripley is a retired American track and field athlete, known primarily for his success in the pole vault. Between January 18, 1975 and March 3, 1979 he improved the indoor World record in the pole vault five times.
Allison Rebecca Stokke Fowler is an American track and field athlete and fitness model. She broke a number of American records for high school pole vaulting. Images of her at age seventeen were widely shared on the Internet, resulting in her becoming an internet phenomenon.
Casey O. Carrigan is an American track and field athlete. He was the American high school record holder in the pole vault while at Orting High School. He qualified for the 1968 United States Olympic Trials. In 1968 there was a semi-Olympic trials required to make the final. In that meet, Carrigan finished in a non-qualifying seventh place, only jumping 4.87 m. But seventh place was enough to get into the finals. In the finals, he jumped 5.18 m on his first attempt, putting him into solid second place behind John Pennel, ahead of Bob Seagren and Dick Railsback both of whom cleared it on their second attempt. Seagren continued on to jump a new World Record of 5.41 m, but all the others were unable to make the next height. Carrigan had qualified for the Olympics in the pole vault while still in high school. At the Olympics, Carrigan was only able to clear 4.60, finishing twelfth in his qualifying group and not advancing. After clearing his opening height he passed to 4.90, the height required to advance. After missing his first two attempts, he cleared the third attempt by a foot and a half, what he considered the best vault of his life, but the officials ruled his pole broke the plane of the bar, a violation at the time.
United States 
