'Nothing' Works for McCulloh, Harvard's Other High Jumper

"Right now I'm aiming at 7 ft. 2 in. and the Trials," John McCulloh said.

McCulloh, premier high jumper, pushed a tray through the Quincy House cafeteria line. It was Bicentennial night at Quincy, and McCulloh, who works as a checker there, took nearly 15 minutes to shove through the line speaking with and good naturedly jeering at friends resplendent in star-spangled vests 'and hats.

McCulloh is one of Harvard's two seven-foot high jumpers. The Eliot House senior combines with Mel Embree to give Harvard possibly the most dynamic high jumping duo in college track and field. Their talent has also earned the two leapers a shot at the Montreal Olympics later this summer. Both have qualified and are invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials in June at Eugene, Oregon.

Everybody knows Mel Embree, the senior high jumper who has broken just about every Harvard high jump record during his four-year career here. But John who?

"I'm a fair-weather athlete," McCulloh said, explaining his inconsistent career--with jumps that have ranged from 6 ft. 2 in. to 7 ft. 2 in. this year alone. "I don't come out if it's raining or cold," he adds.

Baptism

"Last year we trained at Baptist College in South Carolina, and the coach made us all get up and run five miles of cross country every morning. But I found that this was just destroying the spring in my legs, so this year I invented my own training program--which is to do nothing," McCulloh says gleefully.

At least for McCulloh, nothing works. He cleared 7 ft. 2 1/4 in. last week at Soldiers Field against Army, and barely missed at 7 ft. 3 in. It was his best jump so far, qualified him for the Olympic Trials, and almost beat teammate Embree at home.

"I sped up my approach on the try at 7 ft. 3 in., and I really shot up--no, wait, that makes me sound like a junkie--anyway, I was surprised and didn't snap my legs soon enough, just touching the bar," McCulloh said.

For the first time he escaped the tall shadow cast by Embree. McCulloh acknowledges that living in the shadow "has not been good, has probably hurt my jumping." He has only beaten Embree once, when he jumped 6 ft. 10 in. three years ago as an advanced standing freshman.

"Mel is a good jumper, and knows everything there is to know about high jumping. But his biggest strength is this incredible ability to psyche the competition," McCulloh said.

"That's how Embree beat Dwight Stones (the present world-record holder), with psyche and consistency. He used to affect me that way, but now I just ignore him. I don't set Mel goals, I set height goals," McCulloh said. He added that 7 ft. 2 in. was his goal for the Army meet last Saturday.

How does a Harvard history major suddenly turn his athletic career completely around, win fame and glory, and qualify for the Olympic Trials?

"I got the flu before the Heptagonals in the indoor season, and only jumped 6 ft. 8 in. I took a month off, and the first time I jumped when I came back I cleared 6 ft. 8 in. I took a month off, and the first time I jumped when I came back I cleared 6 ft. 10 in., so I decided to get serious," McCulloh said.

A Question of Form

McCulloh said "my form is really awful" but that he now tries to drive his inside leg up, moving his hips higher and allowing them to leap that extra inch. He said this finally "clicked in my head the past few weeks, and I've jumped well since then."

McCulloh's goal is to jump 7 ft. 4 in. between now and the Olympic Trials. He may participate in a meet in Los Angeles the week before the Trials, but would have to fly back to Cambridge for his graduation, and then back to Oregon for the Trials.

The Andover graduate will be a teacher-coach at his alma mater this fall, but right now his mind is on Montreal. As the flag-bedecked cooks ladled food onto plates and a Sousa march blared into the red-white-and-blue hung Quincy cafeteria, someone jokingly asked McCulloh if he was an American.

"Just let me get on that Olympic team," McCulloh said. "Then I'll be an American. For sure."