Ward Edmonds

Edmonds was born in San Diego, California on July 3, 1908, the son of Warner Edmonds, a wealthy banker,[1] and Martha Edmonds (née Ward).[2] He attended Stanford University, where he was coached by Dink Templeton.[3] At the 1927 IC4A championships he cleared 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m), placing third as Stanford won the team title; Yale's Sabin Carr broke the world record and became the first man to vault 14 ft (4.26 m), while 1924 Olympic champion Lee Barnes cleared 13 ft 9+1⁄2 in (4.20 m) for second.[4][5][6] The following week Edmonds placed second to Barnes at the Pacific Coast Conference championships, helping Stanford beat Barnes's University of Southern California for that team title by two points.[7]

At the 1928 West Coast Relays in Fresno Barnes and Edmonds became the second and third vaulters in the world to clear 14 ft (4.26 m), equaling Carr's outdoor world record.[8][9] Barnes then cleared the next height, 14 ft 1+3⁄4 in (4.31 m), on his third and final attempt to break the record; Edmonds also had good attempts at the record height, but was not successful.[8] There were originally some doubts about the legitimacy of these marks; Barnes's jump (revised down to 14 ft 1+1⁄2 in / 4.30 m) was rejected as a record in 1928 because the pegs had been the wrong length,[10] but in 1929 it was officially approved.[11]

Edmonds won the 1928 NCAA championship, jumping a meeting record 13 ft 6+1⁄2 in (4.13 m) and defeating the previous year's champion, Northwestern's Bill Droegemueller.[12][13] He was heavily favored to qualify for the American Olympic team,[14][15] but at the Olympic Trials in Cambridge he failed to clear 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) and the four Olympic spots went to Carr, Barnes, Droegemueller and Charles McGinnis.[15]

In 1929, his final year at Stanford, Edmonds shared first place at the IC4A championships, clearing 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m).[16][17] He also repeated as NCAA champion, improving his own meeting record to 13 ft 8+7⁄8 in (4.18 m) and sharing first place with Tom Warne.[12][18]

In addition to pole vaulting, Edmonds took up the hurdles in 1929, defeating his Stanford teammate and 1928 IC4A hurdles champion Ross Nichols in several trial races.[3] He was also captain of the Stanford golf team.[19] After graduating Edmonds started working for the Bank of Italy while continuing his athletic career,[20] but he contracted polio and died in the Stanford University Hospital in San Francisco on October 26, 1930, aged 22.[2][21][22][23]