Cornelius Warmerdam
Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam (June 22, 1915 – November 13, 2001) was an American pole vaulter who held the world record between 1940 and 1957. He missed the Olympics due to World War II, and retired from senior competitions in 1944, though he continued to vault into his sixties. He was inducted into the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame in 1974. Warmerdam was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Dutch emigrants Adrianus and Gertrude Warmerdam. He grew up in Hanford, California. Because of his ancestry he was more commonly known to both friends and, later, to the media as "Dutch". Warmerdam got his start in pole vaulting in his backyard using the limb of a peach tree and landing in a pit of piled up dirt. He was discovered by the local track coach and vaulted for Hanford High School until his graduation in 1932, after which he attended and vaulted for Fresno State College. Vaulting throughout his career with a bamboo pole, Warmerdam was the first vaulter to clear 15 feet (4.57 m), accomplishing that feat at UC Berkeley on April 13, 1940. However, that achievement was not ratified for a world record, and his