George Mattos

George Mattos (October 6, 1929 – October 18, 2012) was an American pole vaulter.^[1] He competed for his native country in two Olympics, 1952 when he finished 9th and 1956 when he finished 4th, both times behind American teammate Bob Richards.^[2]

Born in Santa Cruz, California, Mattos went to Pacific Grove High School in Pacific Grove, near Monterey, California. He won the Pole Vault at the 1947 CIF California State Meet. Second place in the event was Robert Culp, from Berkeley High School, who went on to become an actor, starring in the TV show I-Spy among other accomplishments.^[3] Next Mattos went to San Jose State College, where he was coached by Hall of Famer Bud Winter. He tied for second place at the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship in both 1950 and in 1951.

Competing for the San Francisco Olympic Club at the 1952 Olympic Trials, Mattos finished third behind Richards and Don Laz (equalling Laz' height at 4.40m but losing on fewer misses). Those two would finish in that order at the Olympics, while Mattos only managed 4.20 and finished 9th.^[4]

In 1953, competing for the U.S. Army, Mattos tied Laz to win the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.^[5] The Army notation might be in error as Mattos competed for the U.S. Air Force at the 1956 Olympic Trials. This proved to be a highly competitive trials as seven competitors all equalled the trials record at 4.48m. At the next height, a new record, only Mattos and Richards survived but Laz, Bob Gutowski and Ron Morris all knocked the bar off with their poles (a critical rule at the time), rather than the normal failure to clear the bar. While Gutowski finished 4th, he replaced the injured Jim Graham on the Olympic team that went to the Olympics in December that year. Gutowski finished second behind Richards in the Olympics. Mattos jumped only 4.35 at the Olympics, but only Georgios Roubanis, a Greek UCLA student kept Mattos from completing an American sweep of the event.^[4]

Mattos finished amongst the top 6 at the American championships for ten years in a row, 1950-1959.^[2]

References

↑ "Santa Cruz-born Olympic pole vaulter George Mattos dies at 83". santacruzsentinel.com. 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
1 2 "George Mattos Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. 1929-10-06. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
↑ "California State Meet Results - 1915 to present". Hank Lawson. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
1 2 http://www.usatf.org/usatf/files/69/695a8112-b7a0-4b9d-9dbb-8b4bca22677c.pdf
↑ "Statistics - USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions". USATF. Retrieved 2012-10-20.

US National Championship winners in men's pole vault

1876–1878 New York Athletic Club	1877: George McNichol 1878: Alfred Ing

1879–1888 NAAAA	1879–81: William Van Houten 1882: B.F. Richardson 1883–86: Hugh Baxter 1887: Tom Ray (GBR) & Hugh Baxter 1888^{Note 1}: G.B. Quinn

1888–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1888^{Note 1}: Lincoln Godshall 1889: Lat Stones (GBR) & D.F. O'Brien 1890: Walter Rodenbaugh 1891–92: Theodore Luce 1893–94: Christian Buchholz 1895: Hermann Thomas 1896: Franklin Allis 1897: Jesse Hurlburt 1898: Raymond Clapp 1899: Irving Baxter 1900: Bascom Johnson 1901: Charles Dvorak 1902: August Anderson 1903: Charles Dvorak 1904: H.L. Gardner 1905: Roy Heater 1906: LeRoy Samse 1907: Ed Cook 1908: William Halpenny (CAN) & Claude Allen 1909: Roy Paulding 1910: Harry Babcock 1911: Ed Cook, Frank Coyle & Sam Bellah 1912: Harry Babcock 1913: Stanley Wagoner 1914: Ken Curtis 1915: Sam Bellah 1916: Sherman Landers 1917: Edward Knourek 1918: Carl Buck 1919–20: Frank Foss 1921–22: Edward Knourek 1923–24: Edwin Myers 1925: Harry Smith 1926: Paul Harrington 1927–28: Lee Barnes 1929–30: Fred Sturdy 1931: Jack Wool 1932: Bill Graber 1933: Keith Brown & Matt Gordy 1934: Keith Brown, Bill Graber & Wirt Thompson 1935: Earle Meadows & Bill Sefton 1936: George Varoff 1937: Bill Sefton 1938: Cornelius Warmerdam 1939: George Varoff 1940–44: Cornelius Warmerdam 1945: Boo Morcom & Robert Phelps 1946: Irving Moore 1947: Boo Morcom 1948: Boo Morcom & Bob Richards 1949–51: Bob Richards 1952: Bob Richards & Don Laz 1953: Don Laz & George Mattos 1954–57: Bob Richards 1958: Ron Morris 1959: Don Bragg 1960: Aubrey Dooley 1961–62: Ron Morris 1963: Brian Sternberg 1964: Fred Hansen 1965: John Pennel 1966: Bob Seagren 1967: Paul Wilson 1968: Dick Railsback 1969–70: Bob Seagren 1971: Jan Johnson 1972: Dave Roberts 1973: Mike Cotton 1974: Dave Roberts 1975: Don Baird (AUS) * Terry Porter 1976: Earl Bell 1977: Mike Tully 1978: Dan Ripley 1979: Mike Tully

1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Tom Hintnaus 1981: Billy Olson 1982: Dan Ripley & Billy Olson 1983: Jeff Buckingham 1984: Earl Bell 1985: Joe Dial 1986: Mike Tully 1987: Joe Dial 1988–89: Kory Tarpenning 1990: Earl Bell 1991–92: Tim Bright

1993–onwards USA Track & Field	1993–95: Scott Huffman 1996–97: Lawrence Johnson 1998–99: Jeff Hartwig 2000–01: Lawrence Johnson 2002–03: Jeff Hartwig 2004: Tim Mack 2005: Brad Walker 2006: Russ Buller 2007: Brad Walker 2008: Derek Miles 2009: Brad Walker 2010: Mark Hollis 2011: Derek Miles 2012–13: Brad Walker 2014–5: Sam Kendricks

Notes	Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships OT: The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.

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