Bill Sefton

William Healy Sefton (January 21, 1915 – May 2, 1982) was an American pole vaulter. Sefton broke the pole vault world record several times in 1937 and placed fourth in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Athletic career

Early career Sefton was a good pole vaulter already in 1932, while still at Polytechnic High School. He vaulted 13 ft in (4.09 m) for a national high school record and shared first place in the California interscholastic championship meet. In 1934 he vaulted at least 14 ft (4.26 m) on four occasions, clearing 14 ft in (4.28 m) at Santa Barbara on April 28, and tied for first at the national junior championships with a new meeting record of 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m).

Sefton and Earle Meadows were teammates at the University of Southern California and collectively known as the "Heavenly Twins". The two tied for first at the 1935 NCAA championship meet, both vaulting 14 ft in (4.29 m) for a new meeting record as USC won the team title. They also tied at the national championships, both clearing 13 ft in (4.22 m) to share first place.

1936

Sefton and Meadows tied at the NCAA meet again in 1936, this time vaulting 14 ft in (4.31 m) to improve their meeting record by a fraction of an inch. At the national championships George Varoff won with a new world record of 14 ft in (4.43 m) while Sefton vaulted 14 ft (4.26 m) for third. It was the first time one university had swept the three Olympic spots at the trials. In the final Meadows won with an Olympic record of 4.35 m (14 ft in) while Sefton and two Japanese vaulters, Shuhei Nishida and Sueo Ōe, all cleared 4.25 m (13 ft in) and had an extra vault as a tie-breaker. Sefton lost the jump-off and thus finished out of the medals in fourth place. A month later in San Francisco he cleared 14 ft (4.48 m) in a dual meet against Stanford, but Meadows equaled that height later in the same competition. Finally, in the conference meet on May 29, again in Los Angeles, Sefton vaulted 14 ft 11 in (4.54 m), clearing that height on his first attempt. Meadows, despite missing on his first two attempts, again tied the new record on his third and final try. Only these last records were officially ratified by the IAAF.

Sefton finally won outright at the NCAA championships, clearing 14 ft in (4.49 m) for a meeting record and beating both Varoff and Meadows. Sefton also won the 1937 national title with a leap of 14 ft in (4.46 m), another meeting record; Dutch Warmerdam, Meadows and Varoff all cleared the same height but missed out on countback.