Fred Sturdy
Frederic Harry "Fred" Sturdy (January 25, 1908 – August 4, 1972) was an American pole vaulter. One of the first vaulters to clear 14 feet, Sturdy was U.S. outdoor champion in 1929 and 1930 and indoor champion from 1929 to 1932.
Originally from Los Angeles, Sturdy studied at Yale University, which had a long pole vault tradition. He was coached by Yale's assistant track coach Al McGall and former champion vaulter A.C. Gilbert; Sabin Carr, the 1928 Olympic champion and the first man to vault 14 ft (4.26 m), was a year ahead of Sturdy and also helped him. Sturdy developed steadily, but was overshadowed by Carr until the latter graduated; he placed third at the 1927 IC4A indoor championships as Carr won, and in 1928 was runner-up to Carr in the indoor IC4A meet and tied for third behind Carr and USC's Lee Barnes outdoors. Sturdy competed at the 1928 U.S. Olympic Trials, but failed to qualify for the Olympics in Amsterdam; the United States had the best pole vaulters in the world, and track historian Richard Hymans wrote that both Sturdy and Stanford's Ward Edmonds, who also failed to qualify, "would have been automatic selections for any other country." The American team of Carr, Barnes, Bill Droegemueller and Charles McGinnis swept the medals at the Olympics.
With Carr graduating before the 1929 season, Sturdy became Yale's new top vaulter. At the New York Athletic Club games in Madison Square Garden on February 18, 1929, he vaulted 14 feet (4.26 m), becoming only the second man (after Carr) to clear that height indoors; he took three attempts at 14 ft 1 1⁄2 in (4.30 m), which would have been a new world record, but failed. Later that winter, Sturdy won ahead of decathlete Barney Berlinger at both the IC4A and national (AAU) indoor championships; his IC4A winning mark, 13 ft 7 3⁄4 in (4.15 m), broke Carr's meeting record from the previous year. Sturdy remained in good shape outdoors, again winning both the AAU and IC4A titles; in the IC4A meet he shared first place with Edmonds and USC's Jack Williams, as all three cleared at 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m) and there was no jump-off. He won the AAU championship outright, clearing 13 ft 9 1⁄4 in to improve the meeting record set at the previous year's Olympic Trials by a quarter-inch.
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