Richard V. Ganslen (February 15, 1917 – May 12, 1995 in
Denton, Texas
Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...
) was an American
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
athlete specializing in the
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 ...
but also was a top athlete in the
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 ...
. He used his knowledge from being an active participant in the sport to author several technical manuals. While competing for
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, he was the
American national indoor champion in 1938 and the
1939 NCAA Champion in the pole vault. He also set the school records in the long jump and triple jump which lasted for 13 and 15 years respectively. Those marks are still #3 and #4 on Columbia's all-time list. In 1936, he had been the Junior National Champion. He continued to vault into
masters age divisions until at least age 63.
''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' called him the "world's leading authority on pole-vaulting."
Ganslen continued his education at
Springfield College
Springfield College is a private college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It confers undergraduate and graduate degrees.
It is known as the birthplace of basketball because the sport was invented there in 1891 by Canadian-American instructor J ...
. There, his 1940 masters thesis became the first edition of ''A Mechanical Analysis of the Pole Vault''
The book established him as the foremost authority on pole vaulting. It was revised and at least nine versions were published into the 1980s. he book was translated into German and Russian.
Even though the event has been through major technical evolutions (with steel, aluminum and fiberglass composite poles), the book with its further adaptations is still used as a reference. He was a consultant in the initial design of fiberglass vaulting poles, authoring a paper on "Pole Flexibility."
Ganslen had learned some of his vaulting technique from friendship with Sueo Ōe who he met on an
AAU international tour.
Just a couple of years later their countries were at war. Even though Ganslen was one of the top American vaulters, there were no Olympics in his future as the
1940 Summer Olympics
The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, were originally scheduled to be held from September 21 to October 6, 1940, in Tokyo City, Empire of Japan. They were rescheduled for Helsinki, Finland, to be held from ...
were cancelled.
He entered the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
in 1942 at the outbreak of
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 ...
as a lieutenant in the Signal Corps. While stationed at
Camp Crowder
Fort Crowder was a U.S. Army post located in Newton and McDonald counties in southwest Missouri, constructed and used during World War II.
Establishment and purpose
Camp Crowder was a military installation named in honor of Major General Enoch ...
at the Signal Corps School in Missouri he continued to compete for the Army Track Team, travelling extensively. From there he went to The
Army Language School in California. Overseas he was stationed in China near the Burma/India Road for the remainder of the war. At times the military would organize competitions in Track and Field and Ganslen competed in them when possible. Details reported in the China Lantern 1944. He was promoted to Captain while in China. Ganslen kept a journal which describes the battles waging all around him while continuing to keep the post functioning. After the war he remained in the Army Reserves as an intelligence officer, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.
After military service he received his PhD in physiology and kinesiology from the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
. He was a professor of anatomy, physiology and zoology at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
, the University of Illinois,
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
,
U.C.L.A. and
Texas Woman's University
Texas Woman's University (TWU) is a public coeducational university in Denton, Texas, with two health science center-focused campuses in Dallas and Houston. While TWU has been fully co-educational since 1994, it is the largest state-supported u ...
. Starting in 1963 he worked for
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
on the
Gemeni Space Program.
Ganslen wrote ''Aerodynamics of Javelin Flight''
and ''Aerodynamics of the Discus'' and was also a co-author of ''The Mitigation of Physical Fatigue with "spartase"''.
His work at NASA led him to write ''Effects of some tranquilizing, analeptic and vasodilating drugs on physical work capacity and orthostatic tolerance''
He is buried at
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in the city of San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses , and as of 2014, had over 144,000 interme ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganslen, Richard
American male long jumpers
American male pole vaulters
American male triple jumpers
Sports scientists
1917 births
1995 deaths