In the early 1940's Cornelius “Dutch” Warmerdam raised the pole vault record from 14 feet 11 inches to 15 feet 7.75 inches (4.77 meters). He vaulted 15 feet 8.5 inches (4.79) indoors, but indoor efforts are not recognized as world records (at least they were not at that time). His outdoor record was finally broken in 1957 by Bob Gutowsky (4.78 meters) and broken again in 1958 by Don “Tarzan” Bragg (4.80 meters).

In the early 1950's there was a big fuss made over the attempts by Reverend Robert Richard to break the 15 foot barrier in the pole vault. The newspaper accounts made it sound as though Dutch had never existed. There was much media hype when Richards finally vaulted over 15 feet.

Many years later (1970's or early 1980's) there was a TV special about men who broke barriers in various sports. Included were Bannister (four minute mile barrier), Wilt Chamberlain (over 100 points in an NBA game), Roberts Richards (15 foot barrier in the pole vault). Once again, the sports world acted as though Dutch had never existed.

To his credit, Dutch never held a press conference or made any noise when breaking the 15 foot barrier was attributed to Richards. I suppose he expected the real track & field fans to know better and did not care about sports writers and idiot fans.

Dutch was inducted into the Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1974. I do not know why they waited so long. Nobody ever shattered a world record as he did.

Nobody ever really bested Dutch’s records. Gutosky & Bragg officially broke his records using aluminum poles which provide advantages over the bamboo and steel poles used by Dutch. The small amounts by which they raised his record were undoubtedly due to the superior equipment they used.

BTW: The current Pole vault event is a different sport, due to the fiber glass pole which bends dramatically and stores much of the energy generated by the running approach, releasing it as the vaulter is moving upward. The vaulters of today who clear over 20 feet are different athletes than those who used bamboo, steel, and/or aluminum poles. If given fiber glass poles, Dutch and Bragg (last record holder prior to introduction of fiber glass poles) could not compete with modern vaulters, and might not have been able to beat their own best efforts. Modern vaulters could not touch Dutch if they used his equipment, nor could they come close to Bragg using aluminum poles.