Higher & Farther

Track experts had long agreed that man cannot clear 7-ft. jump. Last week Lester Le Roy Steers, University of Oregon sophomore, won the high jump at the National Collegiate A.A. track meet by soaring 6 ft. 10 7/8 in.--to break for the fourth time this season the recognized world's record of 6 ft. 9 3/4.

The consistent record breaking of 23-year-old Les Steers has made track fans blink. A broad-shouldered, slim-hipped six-footer. Steers has been a jumping freak since he was so high. As a ten-year-old Palo Alto schoolboy, he cleared the bar at 5 ft. 4 in. Spotted by Stanford's star-eyed Track Coach Dink Templeton, the little jumping jack had his style changed from the childish scissors to the Western roll (going over parallel with the bar). By the time he was an eighth-grader, young Steers could jump 6 ft. 2 in., competed with San Francisco's famed Olympic Club in big-time meets. As a high-school junior, he often cleared 6 ft. 6.

A Belgian Congo tribe of dark-skinned giants, the Watusi have been known to jump 8 ft.; but they tower 8 ft. tall and take off from anthills nearly a foot high. Les Steers is just a fraction over 6 ft. tall, and never uses an anthill. Yet he has gone on inching near & nearer to 7 ft. Last week, four days before the National Collegiate championships, Steers jumped 6 ft. 11 in. at the Pacific Coast v. Big Ten track meet. One of these days, the experts are ready to admit, Steers may tie the Watusi.

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