Franklin Wesley "Bud" Held (born October 25, 1927) is an American athlete primarily notable for his performance throwing the javelin. He was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

College career

Held started as a

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er at

Grossmont High School Grossmont High School is the oldest high school in San Diego's east county, California. Its mascot is the Foothiller, so chosen because, at the time of the school's construction, east county was much more isolated from the rest of San Diego than ...

near

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, where he finished in a 3-way tie for 4th place at the 1946 CIF California State Meet. He switched to the javelin while a student at Stanford University, where he won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

javelin championship in 1948, 1949, and

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

. Held won the AAU

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Oly ...

six times, 1949, 1951, 1953 to 55 and 1958. Held set six American records in the javelin, and in 1953 became the first American to hold the world javelin record with an effort of ; in so doing, Held became the first athlete ever to throw the javelin over . He set a second world record of in 1955, and his career best throw was in 1956.

International competition

Held was a member of the United States' 1952 Olympic team where he placed ninth after a shoulder injury, and missed making the 1956 Olympic team by an inch. He won a gold medal in the 1955 Pan American Games in 1955 with a throw of .

Master's competition

Held continues to compete in masters competitions. In 1970, Held set a United States national masters javelin record of . On October 4, 2008 at the Club West Masters Track meet in Santa Barbara, Held set the age 80+

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in the pole vault WMA Men's World Records adding to the M75 World Record he already holds. He is also ranked in the discus. He also coaches his live-in partner Nadine O'Connor, who holds the women's 65+ pole vault world record, among numerous other track and field records. WMA Women's World Records

Outside of competition

After his retirement from standard competition, Held became a sporting equipment businessman. He founded

Ektelon Ektelon, Inc. is an American manufacturer of equipment for racquetball. Originally based in Bordentown, New Jersey, Ektelon was founded by Franklin W. "Bud" Held in 1964 as the first company to manufacture racquetball racquets and stringing mac ...

, inventing the world's first aluminum

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

racquet and its related stringing equipment from his

garage, then subsequently the first aluminum

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

racquet. Ektelon history He also invented a hollow javelin that was used into the 1960s, but his design was later outlawed due to safety concerns.

Honors

Held was inducted into the

USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

Hall of Fame in 1987, the

USATF Masters Hall of Fame The USATF Masters Hall of Fame is the Masters section of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. It is intended to select worthy athletes from the various divisions of Masters athletics involved in the sports of track and field, road running an ...

in 2005http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/Masters/ USATF Masters Hall of Fame and is a member of the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Held, Bud 1927 births Living people 20th-century American inventors American male javelin throwers Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1955 Pan American Games Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Stanford Cardinal men's track and field athletes American masters athletes American male pole vaulters World record holders in masters athletics World record setters in athletics (track and field) Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1955 Pan American Games