Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam (June 22, 1915 – November 13, 2001) was an American

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 who held the

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 ...

between 1940 and 1957. He missed the Olympics due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 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 World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in 1974. Warmerdam was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, the son of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

emigrants Adrianus and Gertrude Warmerdam. He grew up in

Hanford, California Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History ...

. 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 The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

tree and landing in a pit of piled up dirt. He was discovered by the local track coach and vaulted for

Hanford High School Hanford High School is a public high school located on the northern edge of Richland, Washington. It is part of the Richland School District. The school's mascot is the falcon, and its school colors are purple and gold. The high school, buil ...

until his graduation in 1932, after which he attended and vaulted for Fresno State College. Vaulting throughout his career with a

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

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 later vault of 4.60 m on June 29, 1940 was the first ratified jump over 15 feet. During his career, Warmerdam vaulted 15 feet 43 times in competition, while no other vaulter cleared the mark a single time. Warmerdam surpassed the pole vault record seven times in a four-year span, and three of those marks were ratified as world records. His highest outdoor vault was 15' 7-3/4" (4.77 m), achieved at the

Modesto Relays The Modesto Relays, now known as the California Invitational Relays is an annual elite track and field meet. It is held about the second weekend in May. For 67 years, the meet was held at Modesto Junior College in Modesto, California, a track not ...

in 1942, a record which stood until 1957 when

Bob Gutowski Robert Allen "Bob" Gutowski (25 April 1935 – 2 August 1960) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. He competed for the United States in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia in the Pole Vault where he w ...

broke the mark using a metal pole. Warmerdam won the

James E. Sullivan Award The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), is awarded annually in April to "the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Representatives from the AAU created the AAU Sullivan Award with the int ...

in 1942, but was never able to compete in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

because the 1940 and 1944 games were cancelled due to World War II, and by 1948 he was coaching professionally and therefore ineligible. However, he continued competing as an early practitioner of

Masters athletics Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups (which promotes fair comp ...

. He still is ranked in the world all-time top ten list in the M60 Decathlon. Warmerdam went on to coach track and field at

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

until his retirement in 1980. His team won the second

NCAA Men's Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship (known as the NCAA College Division Outdoor Track and Field Championship between 1963 and 1972) is an annual collegiate outdoor track and field competition for men organised by the Na ...

, essentially at home at

Ratcliffe Stadium Ratcliffe Stadium is a collegiate athletic venue in the western United States, located on the campus of Fresno City College in Fresno, California. Opened in 1926, it was renamed in 1941 after their first football coach, Emory Ratcliffe. The sta ...

.Championship History
ncaa.com Fresno State named its track stadium Warmerdam Field in his honor. Dutch is a member of several halls of fame, including the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

and the

Millrose Games The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet (track and field) held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011 ...

Hall of Fame. Warmerdam married Juanita Anderson on August 29, 1940, and they were married for 61 years until Dutch's death in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

, from

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

in 2001. Juanita continued to live in Fresno until her death on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

in 2006. They left behind five children (Mark, Greg, Gloria, David, and Barry) and twenty grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warmerdam 1915 births 2001 deaths American male pole vaulters College track and field coaches in the United States World record setters in athletics (track and field) Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches James E. Sullivan Award recipients Track and field athletes from Long Beach, California American people of Dutch descent Basketball coaches from California Deaths from dementia in California Deaths from Alzheimer's disease