Albert Richmond "Boo" Morcom (May 1, 1921 – October 3, 2012) was an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete.

Early career

He was born in

Braintree, Massachusetts Braintree () is a municipality in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is officially known as a town, but Braintree is a city with a mayor-council form of government, and it is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The populat ...

. While he is primarily known for his exploits 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, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

event, he has demonstrated versatility in other events including

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

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 ...

. He set several records at

Braintree High School Braintree High School (BHS) is a four-year public secondary school located in Braintree, Massachusetts. The school is part of the Braintree Public School district and is situated on the northwest side of Sunset Lake at 128 Town Street. Genera ...

. At the age of 19 he was the best pole vaulter in the state of Massachusetts. He became known as "the Barefoot Boy" for his habit of high jumping with one shoe on and one shoe off. Then when he matriculated to the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

under coach Paul Sweet, the Boston newspaper sport pages would refer to him as "One Shoe Boo". His fame spread as he pole vaulted on an athletic tour of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

with three other athletes including

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

. In 1940 he took his athletic skills to the

, where his record in the long jump lasted for 67 years. His studies were interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Before departing for the conflict, he won the 1942 United States National Championships in the pole vault. He finished in second place in the

. He returned to UNH to become the 1947

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

pole vault champion. In 1950, he was recalled to the Army's

101st Airborne Division The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. The 101st is designed to plan, coordinat ...

"Screaming Eagles" as an officer and Jumpmaster for the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

Olympics

Morcom competed in the

at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

for the United States, finishing in 6th place after passing at lesser heights, then during a rainstorm, missing at the height the eventual winners would clear of 4.20 meters. A week later he beat the winning height by 6 inches. In 1949 he won his third United States national championship. He graduated with a degree in biology and went on to coach Track and Field at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

for 35 years before returning to coach in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. He started one of the first high school track teams for girls in 1954 and opened the Penn athletic facilities to poor minority high school students. In 1956, he was the coach of the USA Women's Olympic Track Team.

Masters

Morcom continued to compete in athletics as he advanced in age, competing in college meets through his 40s. As an early pioneer of

masters athletics Masters Athletics managed by World Masters Athletics is a class of the sport of athletics (sport), athletics for athletes of 35 years of age and over organized by World Masters Athletics. The events include track and field, road running and cross ...

, he held the world record for the pole vault as he passed through each of the age divisions between age 50 and 70, plus world records in the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

, and

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

. He continued to vault past age 75, still ranked number one. Due to the advent of fiberglass vaulting poles, his world record in the M55 division was higher than his best vault in the Olympics almost three decades earlier. He became well known for these activities, encountering, by his recollection,

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...

Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...

, and

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

. He appeared on '' The Bob Hope Show''. He was inducted into 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 1997. He is also in the Braintree High School Athletic Hall of Fame, the UNH Athletic Hall of Fame, the Pole Vault Hall of Fame, the Massachusetts Track Coaches Hall of Fame, and as a coach in the Women's Track and Field Hall of Fame. In 1987, at the age of 66, he was still able to jump 12'6" in the pole vault, as high as any high school athlete in the state of New Hampshire. He was awarded the New Hampshire Male Athlete of the Year Trophy.

Author and historian

Morcom was a member of

Mensa International Mensa International is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa ...

. He wrote articles on a range of subjects, from the Hale family of New Hampshire to detailed antique bottles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morcom, Boo 1921 births 2012 deaths Olympic track and field athletes for the United States American masters athletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) American male pole vaulters University of New Hampshire alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics World record holders in masters athletics Mensans Sportspeople from Braintree, Massachusetts Track and field athletes from Massachusetts United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War Braintree High School alumni United States Army officers Military personnel from Massachusetts NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Penn Quakers track and field coaches New Hampshire Wildcats men's track and field athletes 20th-century American sportsmen