Dual Meet Hall of Fame: Bob Seagren

The next athlete honoree for the spring 2013 class of my Dual Meet Hall of Fame is USC pole vaulter Bob Seagren.

During Seagren’s freshman year of 1966, he broke the world record. Of course, back then there was no freshman eligibility. He went on to win two NCAA outdoor titles in ’67 and ’69, with a runner-up finish sandwiched in between. Ironically, he won Olympic gold in that same season that he didn’t win the NCAA.

Seagren is possibly most famous for getting screwed by Olympic officials in 1972, leading him to exit from “amateur” competition and join the International Track Association. He also won the 1973 Superstars competition and acted, including a brief role in the classic 70s sitcom Soap.

He won sixteen of his eighteen collegiate dual meets, a remarkable achievement given the inconsistency of the event and that he often faced world-class competition, including teammate Paul Wilson. He twice set the dual meet record, once each in 1967 and ’68. Seagren lost that record to UCLA’s Dick Railsback in ’69 but beat him at the all-important USC-UCLA dual meet. In fact, only once in Seagren’s career did the Trojans lose a meet. Unlike many pole vaulters, Seagren was no one-trick pony; he branched out into the 440 yard hurdles and scored every time he ran.

So far as I know, this is Seagren’s complete collegiate dual meet career.

From: http://tracksuperfan.com/dual-meet-hall-of-fame-bob-seagren