Touring Harvard-Yale Track Team Takes Oxford-Cambridge Classic

As dusk fell over London's White City Stadium last June 10, Harvard's Joel Landau stood at the starting line for the 4 X 110 relay with the failure or success of the Harvard-Yale track team's mission in England hanging upon what he and three other runners did in the next 40-odd seconds. As it turned out, the four determined sprinters--Landau and Frank Yeomans of Harvard and Jay Luck and Jim Carney of Yale--won the final relay and gave the Americans a thrilling 8-7 victory over the combined forces of Oxford and Cambridge.

With only the relay to be run the Americans had fought back from a 6-4 deficit to tie the score at seven first places each. Also, in 36 previous Anglo-American contests over a span of 64 years, Oxford and Cambridge had won 17, and the American universities (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Penn, and West Point) had taken 17, with two meets being tied.

Thus, much was at stake as Landau took the mark against Oxford's Ian Taylor. already the upset victor in the 100 and 220. After one false start, Landau shot out of the blocks and opened up a two-yard lead on Taylor.

Running second against Rex Van Rossum of Oxford, Yeomans really turned it on and gave the baton to Luck with a six-yard margin. Luck and Carney added two yards to the final eight-yard edge. The time, a meet record, was 42.4.

Just five events earlier, American prospects had looked bleak indeed. Taylor's two sprint victories and a surprise triumph by Cambridge's Jim Parker in the high hurdles had given the English a 6-4 lead. The Americans were faced with the task of taking four of the last five events to avoid defeat.

Landau came through with a win in the low hurdles, setting a new series record of 23.9. Then Yale's Bill Markle momentarily evened the count by winning the shot put with a 52 ft., 2 in. heave. But Stephen James of Oxford turned in a record 4:06.3 clocking to take the mile and gave Oxford and Cambridge a 7-6 lead.

Yale's Jim Stack made use of a dazzling kick to win the 440, tying the meet once again and setting the stage for the relay. Stack's time, 49.0, was less than sensational, but he needed a desperate finish to overhaul Harvard captain Albie Gordon and Mike Riegels of Oxford.

The Americans got off to a good start in the meet when Yale's Tommy Carroll breezed home in the 880 with a meet record time of 1:51.3. Harvard's John deKiewiet tied the series mark of 6 ft., 3 in to win the high jump. Two more quick victories, by Yale's Mike Pyle with a 157 ft., 2 in. discus throw and Harvard's injured Tom Blodgett with a 12 ft., 6 in. pole vault, gave the Americans hope for an easy victory.

But Oxford's David Churchill leaped 22 ft., 4 in. to edge Harvard's Liles by one-quarter of an inch in the broad jump, and Roger Lane of Oxford hurled the javelin 206 ft., 9 1-2 in. for another British triumph. Taylor tied the meet mark of 9.8 to win the 100, as Landau, Yeomans, and Cambridge's Dewi Roberts all ran 9.9.

Parker then took the high hurdles, equaling the meet record with a time of 14.8, and Oxford's Kevin Gilligan won the two-mile in 8:57, another series mark. Finishing second in the two-mile, the Crimson's Dyke Benjamin chopped a half second off his University record with a 9:08.0 performance.

The British went ahead 6 to 4 when Taylor took the 220 in 21.9. Yale's Dave Bain was leading with 70 yards to go but pulled up with a muscle strain. The absence of Eli Steve Snyder, out with glanduler fever, hurt the Americans here and in the 100.

After Harvard and Yale took three of the next four events, the relay team composed of two men who had already run two races (Landau and Yeomans), a freshman who had never been in a relay (Luck), and a footsore hurdler (Carnev) gave the Americans a glorius victory.

For many, it was the end of a psychological battle that had been going on ever since the Americans had arrived in England. The British constantly regaled their visitors with tales of drinking and smoking during training season, and nearly every night they conducted the Harvard and Yale men on a tour of the local pubs in an effort to substantiate their stories.

Not all the Americans were convinced despite the considerable quantities of beer consumed. Blodgett remarked. "They're just trying to psych us. The ones we see drinking and smoking aren't the ones we'll be running against, but they don't tell us that." The psychological warfare reached its peak the Sunday before the meet, when Oxford's Gilligan took his workout with two Yale men and ran them into the ground, and Harvard's Benjamin retaliated by doing eight consecutive quarter miles under 60.0, two of them faster than his previous personal best.

The victory in White City Stadium marked the end of an internal clash as well. During the tense Harvard-Yale workouts charges like "Harvard (or Yale) isn't training" gradually turned into even more bitter remarks such as "Of course we want to win, but we want the first places to be Yale (or Harvard) first places." This bickering continued right up to the day of the meet, but by the time the final relay was run off, the honor of America had overshadowed all other concerns.

In general, the British performers were suprisingly inept in the field events. England's two discus men, Arthur Perry and G. R. Northern of Oxford were great hulks of men, but they had trouble coming within 20 feet of the winning toss by Pyle of Yale. On the other hand, the wispy English distance runners ran circles around their larger American opponents. The two-mile was originally planned as a three-mile test, but was shortened out of courtesy to the Americans. Even so, Benjamin, the best American two-miler, was 11 seconds behind Oxford's Gilligan. While the Americans religiously abstained from alcohol and tobacco before the big meet, the British, deception aside, showed no aversion to a few puffs or a small snort. Gilligan made a great show just before the start of the two-mile, parading up and down the track with a cigar clenched in his teeth.

Another interesting feature of Oxford-Cambridge track was the fact that the alumni of the two schools had formed, not two, but one organization to aid and supervise the teams. This was the Achilles Club, composed of holders of Blues, half-Blues, and Relay Colours in track. Although the Achilles carried on its affairs in an aura of accord, there was no slackening of rivalry between the two universities on the athletic field. The former athletes simply felt that preservation of Oxford and Cambridge track was more important than preserving either Oxford or Cambridge alone. It is an attitude that Harvard and Yale alumni may be forced to contemplate in the near future.

The American left London in triumph, but there were more laurels to win. The next stop was Dublin's famed Santry Stadium, scene of Herb Elliott's 3:54.5 mile in 1958, and it was there that Dyke Benjamin established himself as perhaps the greatest runner in Harvard history and a candidate for the 1960 Olympic team.

On the evening of June 16, Benjamin faced Irish record holder Bert Massett in the four-mile, the Crimson ace's first flat race at a distance greater than two miles. Messett won in 18:40, but Benjamin took second, eight seconds behind. A check with the record book showed that Benjamin's 18:48.4 was nearly 29 seconds better than the listed American four-mile mark, a 19:17.3 effort by Don Lash, one of the U. S.'s all-time greats, in 1937. Benjamin's performance was immediately submitted to the A.A.U for official recognition.

There is little doubt that Benjamin's time could have been faster. Unfamiliar with the four-mile grind, he saved himself so well that he covered the last 440 in a blazing 64.0. He ran consecutive two miles of 9:23 and 9:25, an amazing performance from a runner whose best two-mile at the start of the 1959 outdoor season was 9:25.4.

Nor were the fireworks over. The next evening, after considerable discussion, Benjamin entered the two-mile against Graham Everitt, Scotland's 4:03 miler. Excitement began to grow as Benjamin led the field through the first mile in 4:29. As Everett fell behind, Benjamin kept up his withering pace. With a last 440 of 63.0, he hit the tape in a sensational 8:55.2, a new Harvard record and the best performance this season by an American runner.

Benjamin's second mile was three seconds faster than his first. Again, this race demonstrated his remarkable development in a short period of time. Until the Army meet on April 18, he had never run a mile as fast as his 4:26 second leg at Santry. And his time for the race was nearly 13 seconds faster than his best previous effort. It will be a long time before a runner with Benjamin's dogged determination and competitive pride wears a Crimson uniform.

Other Harvard performers excelled at Santry's international gathering, too. Joel Landau won the 220 June 16 with a 21.8 clocking around a turn. That evening Tom Blodgett cleared 13 feet to take the pole vault, John de Kiewiet went over 6ft., 1 in. for a win in the high jump, and Pat Lilies finished first in the broad jump with a leap of 21 ft., 10 1/2 in. Lilies also was second in the pole