6 Chapter 5 An Amazing Day

Chapter 5 An Amazing Day At the end of the track season, the top athletes from each Big Ten school gathered for a championship meet. The 1935 Big Ten Championships were held at Ferry Field at the University of Michigan. It was the biggest event of the track season for Ohio State. But Jesse nearly did

not make it. About a week before the big day, he was wrestling with some friends. He accidentally fell down some stairs and hurt his back. He was in great pain and thought he might not be able to compete. Coach Snyder did not want Jesse to run and put his future in danger, no matter how important the meet was to the school. But Jesse worked with the team trainers all week to get better. He got massages. He took hot baths and did stretches and exercises.

On May 25, 1935, he showed up at Ferry Field and made history. At 3:15 p.m., aching back and all, Jesse lined up for the 100-yard dash. When the starting gun went off, he flew out of his starting crouch. He was ahead of the rest of the runners in a few yards and burst through the finish tape a few seconds later. The timers checked their watches: 9.4 seconds!

He had tied the world record set in 1930 by Frank Wykoff!

Fifteen minutes later, Jesse took his first long jump. He sprinted down the runway. He stepped hard on the takeoff board and leaped. When he landed, he had jumped farther than anyone in history—26 feet, 8. inches! His jump broke the old record by six inches—an accomplishment no one expected.

In the long jump, a new record was usually set by an inch or two at a time. Only nine minutes later, Jesse was at it again. This time the event was the 220-yard dash, straight down the track. Once again he pulled ahead of the other runners and finished far in the lead. His time of 20.3 seconds also set a world record! After resting briefly and stretching his injured back, he returned to the track at 4:00 p.m. Just 22.6 seconds later, he won his fourth event, the 220-yard low hurdles. He had claimed his third world record of the day! In less than an hour, he had set or tied four world records. No one before or since has matched that feat.