Best Ever

Mal Whitfield, a gold-medal winner at Helsinki and London, punished his aching body to the limit and sped past the 800-meter finish only a tenth of a second slower than his Olympic record of 1952. But he could not win. He was fifth. Whitfield's plight was typical of last week's two-day Olympic trials at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum.

The trials were probably the greatest display of mass U.S. track-and-field prowess in history, and by their records the U.S. should have the greatest team it has ever sent to the Olympics. In six events, U.S. athletes ran faster and jumped higher than any other American ever had before. In three of the events, they exceeded what any other man had ever done anywhere.

Minor records fell like bricks in a California earthquake. The new Olympic team includes 1) the only three 60-ft. shotputters in the world, 2) the only 15-ft. vaulters, 3) the fastest 400-meter and no-meter hurdlers on earth, and 4) a sprinter who can run as fast as Jesse Owens. In this sudden-death competition, two other 1952 Olympic winners (Harrison Dillard and Lindy Remigino) failed even to qualify, and one world-record holder (Lon Spurrier) could only make third place.

The Dashes. Duke's Dave Sime broke from the starting blocks in his trial heat, took four strides and collapsed onto the track, a flame of pain burning in his groin. The U.S. Olympic Committee had waived a sound rule, but on sound sentiment, to allow Sime to compete in the 200 meters after the same pulled muscle kept him from qualifying at the N.C.A.A. trials. But Sime could not even finish the 100, and slamming his fist against a locker-room door later, he moaned: "What shall I do now? What?" Abilene Christian's Bobby Morrow, perhaps a faster man anyway, won both dashes, breaking Jesse Owens' 0:20.7-sec. Olympic record in the 200 with 0:20.6, and tying Owens' 100-meter world record (0:10.2) in a trial heat.

400-Meter Hurdles. Until 9:30 on the first evening of the trials, the world record of 0:50.4 was held by Russia's Yuriy Lituyev. Forty-nine and a half seconds later, two Americans had broken it and a third had tied it. The finish: Glenn Davis of Ohio State, University of Texas' Eddie Southern, and Josh Culbreath of Maryland's Morgan State College and the U.S. Marines.

Shotput. Parry O'Brien of U.S.C. and the U.S. Air Force, waiting confirmation of his 61 ft. 4 in. record (TIME, June 25), put the shot 60 ft. 10 in., and that tied his present world mark.

110-Meter High Hurdles. U.S.C.'s Jack Davis (Navy), who set a new world record in the A.A.U. meet a week earlier, was matched stride for stride by Lee Calhoun from North Carolina College, in a 0:13.8 dead heat.

400 Meters. The world's two finest 400 men -Manhattan College's Lou Jones (now Army) and U.S.C.'s Jim Lea (Air Force), who holds the world's record for 440 yds. -pushed each other through the fastest 400 in history. Jones did it in 0:45.4, a new world record.

800 Meters. Pitt's great Negro Arnie Sowell, who has been kicking cinders into the eyes of Fordham's Tom Courtney all year, saw Courtney (now running for the Army) whiz past his right shoulder and win by 5 yds, to set a new American record of 1:46.4.

Broad Jump. Balding John Bennett of Marquette and the Army made four leaps over 25 ft., an unprecedented feat, and tied for first place with Indiana's Greg Bell at 25 ft. 8 1/2 in.

3,000-Meter Steeplechase. FBI agent Horace Ashenfelter won the event at Helsinki in 1952; in Los Angeles he was lucky to get third place as Phil Coleman of the Chicago Track Club tirelessly cleared the hurdles and splashed through the water jump for a new meet record of 9:00.3.

High Jump. The high-jumper's sound barrier was 7 ft. To jumpers, until last week, it was the equivalent of the 4-min. mile, the 9-sec. 100-yd. dash (not yet achieved), the 15-ft. pole vault. Like those, it was also a psychological barrier, hovering only half an inch above Walt Davis' 1953 world record. The high jump brought the Olympic trials' greatest moment. Handsome, nervous Ernie Shelton of U.S.C. fouled out at 6 ft. 9 1/2 in. and went off in tears muttering to himself: "I'm not an athlete . . . I'm not an athlete!" Olympic Qualifiers Vern Wilson of Santa Clara (Calif.) Y.C. and little Phil Reavis of Villanova dropped out as the bar rose. Only 19-year-old Charley Dumas (rhymes with humus) of Compton Junior Collie was left.

The bar was raised to 7 ft. 3/8 in. Dumas, a Negro like the other two qualifiers, poised himself, took eight carefully measured steps and took off. His foot caught the bar and dragged it into the sawdust. Dumas drew on his sweat clothes and strolled to one end of the stadium. It was late in the evening. He was the last competitor, and some 35,000 eyes were on him as he walked and thought for several minutes in a strange sort of solitude under the flaring floodlights. Then he came back, peeled off his sweat clothes and squinted at the bar. His nostrils flared, and he charged, slamming the take-off point with his left foot and pushing himself 11 1/8 in. above his own height.

As his body leveled, Charley Dumas swung his right foot over the bar and then jackknifed his left safely past. His belly scraped the bar -ever so barely. Dumas could hear the roar from the crowd before his body hit the sawdust of the pit. He had broken through the great barrier.

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