Lester Steers

Lester "Les" Leroy Steers (born June 16, 1917 in Rhonerville, Eureka , California , † January 23, 2003 in Richland , Washington ) was an American high jumper whose world record was twelve years.

Life

Steers attended Palo Alto High School . After graduating, he had to work in his parents' company due to the global economic crisis . It wasn't until 1939 that he began undergraduate studies at the nearby San Mateo Junior College . He was a very good high jumper and was American champion of the AAU in 1939 and 1940 as well as student world champion in high jump in Monte Carlo . He also took part in the javelin throw (second) and pentathlon (third) in Monte Carlo . Then he could choose which competitive sports scholarship to accept. He chose the University of Oregon because of prominent coach Bill Hayward , where he studied physical exercise . Here he continued his streak of success, so that the year (1941) was his most successful. He was American college champion of the NCAA , won again the American Championship (AAU) for the San Francisco Olympic Club and improved the world record three times.

• 6 '10 3/4 "(2.10 m) in Seattle on April 26, 1941
• 6 '10 7/8 "(2.105 m) in Los Angeles on May 24, 1941
• 6'11 "(2.11 m) in Los Angeles on June 17, 1941.
• 7 '1/2 "(2.14 m) in Eugene on February 27, 1941 at halftime in an indoor basketball game.

He jumped in the variant of the western roll called the belly roll . Steers dropped out in the winter semester, got married and moved north to Washington state , where he first worked as a woodworker and later as a sales representative . As a young father, he was released from military service. He died in 2003.

Honors

In 1974 he was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame and in 1992 into the University of Oregon Hall of Fame .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=160 auf. 23rd March 2017
2. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. up 23rd March 2017 
3. ↑ Steers, Les. Oregon Stars, March 23, 2017, accessed March 24, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Due to the dispute between NCAA and AAU, he was only able to start outside the university season for the sports club. Arnd Krüger : The American sport between isolationism and internationalism . In: competitive sport . Volume 18. No. 1 , 1988, p. 43-47 .
5. ↑ Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p. 523.
6. ↑ The IAAF only recognized this achievement, as it was under the supervision of the AAU and not the NCAA .
7. ↑ Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p. 152. If this was not a proper, registered competition, the best indoor performance was not recognized.
8. ↑ Lester Leroy Steers; accessed March 23, 2017 . www.memorialobituaries.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 23, 2017. 
9. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. up 23rd March 2017