WARMERDAM, Cornelius Anthony ("Dutch")

(b. 22 June 1915 in Long Beach, California; d. 13 November 2001 in Fresno, California), the first pole-vaulter in history to vault fifteen feet, he held the world's records for both indoor and outdoor pole vaulting for over fifteen years.

Warmerdam was one of four children born to Dutch immigrants Adrianous Dignam van Warmerdam and Gertrude Van der Klooster. The authorities at Ellis Island removed the "van" from van Warmerdam's name because they said his name was too long. Similarly, his mother adopted the name Gertrude in California, because Americans could not pronounce or spell her Dutch name. The couple met and married in California, where Adrianous worked in the oil fields in the San Joaquin Valley, then later in Long Beach.

Warmerdam, who came to be known as "Dutch," was born while the family lived in Long Beach. When he was three years old, they moved to Hardwick, California, and established a fruit farm. Warmerdam attended Hardwick Elementary School and Hanford High School. He began pole vaulting at age 12 but was not a standout in the sport; his greatest high school pole-vaulting accomplishment was a tie for third place in the 1932 California state high school meet. He attended Fresno State College, where he earned a degree in physical education, then attended Stanford University for one year, where he received a degree in general education. He met his future wife Juanita Anderson in January 1937 at a local dance; he was a college student and she was still in high school. They were married in 1940 and had five children.

After college Warmerdam taught and coached at a high school in Tuolumne, California. When World War II started, he decided to enlist rather than wait to be drafted, and joined the U.S. Navy, which was advertising for teachers and coaches. He served as an ensign (1943) and naval lieutenant (1944) on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, and continued to jump while in the navy. After the war he returned to Fresno State as a physical education teacher and track and field coach. He became head track and field coach in 1960.

During his competitive years Warmerdam dominated pole vaulting. At this time vaulters used bamboo poles and landed on their feet in a sawdust pit. Warmerdam changed the sport forever when he became the first vaulter in the world to clear fifteen feet on 13 April 1940 in Berkeley, California. Many attempts had been made to reach this mark, but all had ended in failure, and the height was widely thought to be unreachable.

Between 1938 and 1944 Warmerdam vaulted fifteen feet or higher forty-three times and was a seven-time Amateur Athletic Union pole-vaulting champion. The world indoor and outdoor pole-vaulting records he set stood for more than fifteen years. His highest indoor vault was 15 feet, 8¹/ 2 inches, a record he set in Chicago on 20 March 1943. His highest outdoor vault was 15 feet, 7³/ 4 inches, in Modesto, California, on 23 May 1942. Warmerdam amazed the world at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in 1942, when he set an indoor record using a borrowed pole, which, unlike his own, was six inches shorter than the crossbar height. He was the last person to set world pole-vaulting records using a bamboo pole. Even after he was long retired—in 1975, at the age of 60—he vaulted a competitive 10 feet, 6 inches.

Warmerdam received many honors. In 1942 he won the prestigious Sullivan Award as the nation's best amateur athlete. In 1950 an American Press Institute poll named him "most outstanding athlete of the first half of the century." A United Press International poll in 1955 named him "the greatest athlete of all time." In January 2001 U.S.A. Track and Field named him "Bamboo Vaulter of the Century" and "American Pole-Vaulter of the Century." Warmerdam was elected to both the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame and the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Millrose Hall of Fame in 2001. That same year Fresno State named him "Greatest Athlete of the Century." The college also named its sports complex Warmerdam Field in his honor. Even his former high school honored him, electing him in 1992 to the Hanford Joint Union High School District Hall of Fame.

Warmerdam was a shy man and a devout Catholic who lived by the Ten Commandments. After his retirement, he and his wife lived in Fresno, California. He was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and moved to a long-term-care facility in Fresno. He died in Fresno at the age of eighty-six.

Warmerdam dominated the sport of pole vaulting until the advent of the aluminum pole. When asked for the secret of his success, he replied: "You have to be strong enough to do it in the first place," and added that after getting started, "I liked it very much and I kept at it all the time and that's why I think I got as far as I did."

There are no books about Dutch Warmerdam. For further information, see Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement 21 (2001). Some online sources include "Vaulting into History," on Fresno State Online, Track and Field at <http://gobulldogs.fansonly.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/030501aaa.html> ; and "Pole Position for 'Dutch'," at <http://www.trans-worldsport.com/includes/cobranded_nav/nav_tws/260700dutch.htm>. An obituary is in the New York Times (15 Nov. 2001).

Susan E. Craig

Robert Pollock