Matthew Bell Gordy (December 26, 1909 – August 18, 1989) 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. In 1933 Gordy shared first place at both the NCAA championships and the

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

and helped

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

win the NCAA team title.

Early life

Gordy grew up in the small city of Abbeville, Louisiana. As Abbeville was home to a

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grove, local athletes had easy access to bamboo poles that would otherwise have been expensive, and pole vaulting became popular as a result. In high school, Gordy also competed in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

, but LSU head coach

Bernie Moore Bernie Hawthorne Moore (April 30, 1895 – November 6, 1967) was an American college football, basketball, track and field coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mercer University (1926–1928) and Louisi ...

felt the pole vault would be his best event.

Career

Entering the 1933 NCAA championships, neither the LSU Tigers or Gordy individually were considered favorites. However, LSU's stars Glenn "Slats" Hardin and

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scored a combined three wins and a third place, and with only the pole vault left, LSU had a slim lead over coach Dean Cromwell's

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. In the pole vault, USC fielded

Bill Graber William Noe Graber (January 21, 1911 – March 8, 1996) was an American pole vaulter. He broke the pole vault world record in 1932 and competed at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, placing fourth and fifth, respectively. Athletic career Graber studi ...

, who was a 1932 Olympian and held the outdoor world record of 14 ft in (4.37 m), while Gordy came in with a personal best of only 13 ft in (4.07 m). If Graber won, Gordy had to score six points (the score for third place, or a three-way tie for second) for LSU to tie with USC, and more than six points for LSU to win outright. Four jumpers, including both Graber and Gordy, cleared 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m); for Gordy, this was already a personal best. Graber then cleared 14 ft (4.26 m) to break the tie; Gordy was left in a three-way tie for second, which would have tied the score between LSU and USC at 55 points each. On his last attempt Gordy cleared 14 ft, tying Graber for first, and LSU won the meet outright; after a remeasurement, the height cleared by Graber and Gordy was ratified as 13 ft in (4.24 m), which was a new meeting record. At the national (AAU) championships two weeks later Gordy again tied for first, this time with indoor world record holder Keith Brown of Yale. The winning height, 14 ft (4.26 m), was Gordy's personal best; he was the tenth amateur in the world to jump 14 ft or more. The 1933 national championships were Gordy's last major meet, as he graduated from LSU and went to work on the

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of Louisiana and later Texas; he eventually became an

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drilling superintendent in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Legacy

Gordy was inducted in the

Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame The Louisiana State University Athletic Hall of Fame recognizes members of the LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers athletics program that have made a lasting impact on Louisiana State University (LSU). To be eligible for the Hall of Fame in the Athlete ca ...

in 1937 and in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordy, Matt 1909 births 1989 deaths People from Abbeville, Louisiana American male pole vaulters LSU Tigers track and field athletes NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners