User:Jnestorius/Night of Speed

Night of Speed

The Night of Speed was the men's 100 meters sprint competition held on 20 June 1968 at the Hughes Stadium in Sacramento California as part of that year's Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track and field championships, the predecessor of the modern USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The then world record of 10.0 s (hand timed) was equalled twice in the heats and then lowered to 9.9 s by three athletes in the semifinals, with Jim Hines becoming the first man to break the ten-second barrier without wind assistance. Over these two rounds, nine different competitors ran 10.0 s or better, seven of them Americans. In the final, seven of the eight finalists were timed at 10.0 s, although this was wind assisted and five were later adjusted to 10.1 s.

Background

The world record of 10.0_s was set by Armin Hary in 1960 and had since been equaled seven times by Hary and five other men. Bob Hayes in 1963 and 1964 had official times of 9.9_s, but these were not eligible as records as the following wind exceeded the allowed maximum of 2.0 metres per second (4.47 mph). Through to 1976, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) ratified 100_m records using hand timings rounded up to one-tenth of a second. The offical time was the median of the times recorded by three separate official timers with stopwatches standing at the finish line. Fully automatic timing (FAT), rounded up to one-hundredth of a second, was sometimes available in conjunction with photo-finish equipment. FAT is more accurate than hand-timing, since human reaction time is variable, whereas FAT starts automatically when the starting pistol fires and gives a precise timestamp on the photograph of the finish line. Sometimes the FAT was used to supplement or replace hand timings: Bob Hayes's hand-timed 9.9_s in the 1964 Olympic final was officially recorded at 10.0, rounded down from the 10.06_s FAT. Track statisticians in the 1970s developed an unofficial adjustment of adding 0.24_s to a hand-timed 100_m to give a comparable FAT. On the other hand, for older races with recorded FATs, some modern statistical sources retrospectively replace the contemporary hand-timing with a time derived by rounding the FAT from hundredths to tenths of a second.

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track and field championships featured the best U.S. amateur (and shamateur) athletes, together with invited foreign athletes, typically students at American colleges. Men's and women's championships were held separately. The AAU was one of the qualification meets for the 1968 Olympic Trials, the others being the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Championships, held the previous weekend; the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships; and the Interservices [U.S. military] Championships. Some student athletes who missed qualifying from the NCAA came to Sacramento the following week for a second chance. They were joined by non-NCAA competitors, of whom there were unusually many in the 100_m: Charlie Greene and Jim Hines had graduated in 1967 but continued in the 1968 season the rivalry they had struck up in NCAA meets. Hines predicted the week before the Night of Speed that he would break the ten-second barrier.

Heats

Heat 1

Rank	Athlete	Time		Notes
		Manual	Automatic
1	Jim Hines	9.8w	—	Fastest time to that date (ex-?) Texas Southern Tigers, then in Oakland.
2	Ronnie Ray Smith	10.0w	+0.20	San Jose State Spartans
3	Kirk Clayton	10.0w	+0.21	San Jose State Spartans
4	Earl Harris	10.1w	+0.31
5	Dave Reeves	10.2w	—	Inland Empire AC; ex-Brigham Young University Cougars
6	Reggie Robinson	10.3w	—	(future?) UCLA Bruins
7	Jim Freeman	10.4w	—	ex-Murray State Racers
Wind: +2.8 m/s or +3 m/s

Heat 2

Rank	Athlete	Time		Notes
		Manual	Automatic
1	Mel Pender	10.0w	—	U.S. Army; had been promoted to captain that day
2	Larry Questad	10.1w	+0.09	Stanford Cardinal or Tobias Striders
3	Hideo Iijima (JPN)	10.1w	+0.14
4	Orin Richburg	10.3w		Kent State Golden Flashes
5	Don Castronovo	10.3w	—	Western Michigan Broncos
6	Larry Dunn	10.3w		Striders
7	Jerry Williams	10.3w		SCVYY
8	Don Schneider	10.4w		Watchung Hills Regional High School, Warren Township, New Jersey
Wind: +6.2mph

Heat 3

Rank	Athlete	Time		Notes
		Manual	Automatic
1	Lennox Miller (JAM)	10.0w or 9.9w	—	USC Trojans
2	Bill "Peanut" Gaines	10.0w or 9.9w	+0.04
3	Mickey Mathews	10.0w	+0.14	Laney JC
4	Andy Hopkins	10.1	+0.22	Hous Strid
5	John Carlos	10.1	+0.22	SCVYV
6	Dalton LeBlanc	10.3w	—	Houston Striders, ex Northeastern Huskies
7	Bob Ballard	10.3w	—	Bellflower High School
Wind: +6.0mph / 2.7 ms

Heat 4

Rank	Athlete	Time		Notes
		Manual	Automatic
1	Charlie Greene	10.0 (9.9 - 10.0 - 10.0)	10.20	EWR; (ex?-)Nebraska Cornhuskers; "Unat-Seattle"
2	Roger Bambuck (FRA)	10.0 (10.0 - 10.0 - 10.0)	10.28	EWR
3	Jim Green	10.1	10.47
4	Ernest Provost	10.4	10.57	CSU Hayward Pioneers
5	Robert Rovere	10.4	—	(ex-?) East Tennessee State Buccaneers
19.20 Hr; Wind: +1.99 m/s

I guess that once you are past the top-n list, [10.0w or better] it only shows marks if better than athlete's non-wind mark? So

UPI discrepancies:

"Two other men ran the 100 meters in 10 flat with the help of the wind—Ronnie Ray Smith and Billy Gaines—while three others—Larry Questad, Japanese champion Hideo lijima and Mickey Matthews—were caught in 10.1 In fact, the slowest time for any of the 16 qualifers in the four beats was 10.3."

Give wind in mph and convert, since that is likely the source of discrepancies.

Semifinals

There were eight competitors in each semifinal. UPI said windspeed for each was 1.8 miles per hour (0.80 m/s)

External image
Jim Hines breaking the world record

sf1 w+1.8 mph / 0.8 m/s / 0.9 m/s

1. Jim Hines 9.9 WR [10.03]
2. Ronnie Ray Smith 9.9 EWR [10.14] Also World junior record, Smith was 19.
3. Mel Pender 10.0 [appealed unsuccessfully for a 9.9 on the basis that the photo finish showed the 2-3 gap was smaller than the 1-2 gap]
4. Larry Questad 10.0
5. Kirk Clayton 10.0
6. Ernie Provost 10.0

AAU, Hughes Stadium, Semifinal 1, 21.15 Hr (+ 0.80w): 1. Hines 9.9/10.03 (9.8 - 9.9 - 10.0; Extra: 9.8), 2. Smith 9.9/10.14 (all 3 watches 9.9), 3. Melvin Pender 10.0 (10.15), 4. Larry Questad 10.0 (10.18), 5. Kirk Clayton 10.0 (10.21), 6. Ernest Provost 10.0 (10.39!), 7. Earl Harris 10.3 (10.42), 8. Jim Green 10.3 (10.43)

sf2 w+1.9mph

1. Charlie Greene 9.9 EWR [10.10]
2. Lennox Miller 10.0
3. Roger Bambuck 10.0
4. Bill Gaines 10.1

AAU Championship, Hughes Stadium, Semifinal 2, 21.20 Hr (+0.88w): 1. Greene 9.9/10.10 (9.9 - 9.9 - 10.1; Extra:9.8), 2. Lennox Miller (JAM) 10.0 (10.18), 3. Roger Bambuck (FRA) 10.0 (10.21), 4. William Gaines 10.1 (10.26), 5. Mickey Matthews 10.2 (10.32), 6. Hideo Iijima (JPN) 10.4 (10.46), 7. Orin Richburg 10.4 (10.46).

Andy Hopkins must have been 8th in s2, since he was in the runoff. Yes, T&FN p. 15 "The second semi lined up like a semi-final m the Olympic Games Roger Bambuck of France, Hideo Iijima of Japan, Lennox Miller of Jamaica plus Greene, Bill Gaines, Andy Hopkins, Orin Richburg and Mickey Matthews."

TIME magazine:

At first, officials feared that the concrete-hard clay track was short, but a careful survey showed that it actually measured 100 meters and 4 in. Then the timers came under attack: "I was watching their hands," insisted one onlooker, "and I saw some of the fastest fingers in the West." Maybe. But in the cases of Greene, Hines and Smith, an automatic Bulova Accutron Phototimer confirmed that all three had indeed broken [Armin] Hary's mark.

Frank Litsky also questioned the track length. UPI "All the times in the four heats of the 100 meters were far above average, leading credence to reports that the distance might be wrong. However, an official check will be made Saturday."

Final

f w+7.4mph [third race in 150 minutes and they were tired; anticlimactic.]

1. Charlie Greene 10.0w [10.11w] [collapsed with muscle cramp after the finish line]
2. Jim Hines 10.0
3. Lennox Miller (JAM) 10.1w (10.0)
4. Roger Bambuck (FRA) 10.1w (10.0)
5. Ronnie Ray Smith 10.1w (10.0)
6. Mel Pender 10.1w (10.0)
7. Bill Gaines
8. Larry Questad

The final was won by Greene in 10.0w (10.11) from Hines 10.0 (10.13), Miller 10.1 (10.18), Bambuck 10.1 (10.19), Smith 10.1 (10.19), and Pender 10.1 (10.20). This was Greene’s 8th and last victory over Hines in the series of 13 races between the two outstanding 100 men of the late 1960’s.

"Mel Pender got out best, and led for the first 90 meters. Greene outstarted Hines and they both chased Pender, catching him in the final strides. Amazingly, three others caught him as well, as the first seven all clocked 10.0, wind-aided"

Run-off

Run-off [for final Olympic Trials qualifying place; though it seems to me that six of the finalists were US: "Bill Gaines, teen-age high school sprinter from Mullica Hills, N. J." Clayton was indeed at the trials, and he was SCVYV, not a student (SCVYV = "Santa Clara Valley Youth Village", for "ex-collegians ... after they left school".)

1. Kirk Clayton 10.0 / 10.24
2. Jim Green 10.1 / 10.28
3. Mickey Matthews 10.2 / 10.39
4. Earl Harris 10.3 / 10.44
5. Ernie Provost 10.3 / 10.44
6. Andy Hopkins 10.2 [sic; hand timing anomaly] / 10.46
7. Orin Richburg 10.3

Maybe one of the other six already qualified from NCAA? The final of the NCAA (14 June at Edwards Stadium, UC Berkeley) was: 1 Lennox Miller 10.1; 2 Clyde Glosson 10.1; 3 Sam Davis 10.1; 4 Bill Hurd 10.2; 5 Tom Randolph 10.2; 6. Jerry Bright 10.3; 7 Ben Vaughn 10.3, 8 Willis [recte Willie] Turner DNF. Ronnie Ray Smith was "a sophomore at California's San Jose State College". Maybe NCAA #7 (Ben Vaughn) did not get bumped up to replace the ineligible Lennox Miller, and instead AAU got 7 qualifiers and NCAA only 5. Although that seems unfair. Pomona Progress Bulletin 15 Jun 1968 says "Vaughn qualifies for Olympic trials because Miller is a foreigner". Maybe he got injured and that bumped up Turner.

The SOT [semifinal Olympic Trials] heats had:-

1. Greene (1st AAU) Smith (5th/3rd AAU) Glosson (2nd/1st NCAA) Hurd (4th/3rd NCAA) Gaines (7th/5th/4th AAU) Bright (6th/5th NCAA) Hopkins (14th/12th/11th AAU)
2. Hines (2nd AAU) Pender (6th/4th AAU or 1st AF) Clayton (9th/7th/6th AAU) Randolph (5th/4th NCAA) Questad (8th/6th/5th AAU) Davis (3rd/2nd NCAA)

The FOT heats had:-

1. Smith (5th/3rd AAU) Pender (6th/4th AAU or 1st AF) Questad (8th/6th/5th AAU) Bright (6th/5th NCAA) Randolph (5th/4th NCAA) Clayton (9th/7th/6th AAU)
2. Greene (1st AAU) Hines (2nd AAU) Hurd (4th/3rd NCAA) Glosson (2nd/1st NCAA) Turner (8th/7th NCAA) Bright (again?!)

Double-check the twelve (or more?) from the USOTs. In fact, one Willie Turner of Oregon State took part in the OTs, despite being in neither AAU nor NCAA final; NCAA 2-6 were in OTs, although Sam Davis only in SOT, not FOT; likewise Bill Gaines and Andy Hopkins [though not Jim Green]. So in fact I misread the OT doc; it says that nobody eliminated in heats of FOT, not that nobody from SOT was eliminated from FOT. 14 at SOT, 11 at FOT; included 1-9 [less non-US = 7 people] from AAU and 1-6 [less non-US = 5] from NCAA + 2 others (Andy Hopkins AAU and Willie Turner NCAA) on what basis I dunno. Hopkins was also NCAA (apparently Stephen F. Austin SU), maybe Ben Vaughn (#7 NCAA) was ineligible or absent and Hopkins and Turner were best losers in NCAA? A 1970 newspaper said Vaughn was in fact in 1968 Olympic relay team. Popular Mechanics ditto for Willie Turner, though another source says "Willie was a USA Olympic hopeful until injury and world politics kept him from a gold metal [sic]".

Top-7 theory is prima facie unlikely; it's an odd number in every sense. The NYT at the time said "Leading Six in Each Event Gain Olympic Trials". It also said of the SOTs, "The nation's top track and field performers, who demonstrated their ability in college, Amateur Athletic Union and Armed Forces competition, will begin arriving in Southern California on Monday for the United States men's Olympic trials, scheduled for next Saturday and Sunday at the Coliseum." [emphasis added] -- were there any military in the 100m final? Yes: Pender. Well p.4 of HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials says top-6 AAU/NCAA "together with the winners of the Armed Services championship" were the qualifiers from 1948 "until 1964" (not 1968). Inspecting other 1968 (men's) events, it seems each track has a either US-A USN USAF or USMC entrant, which suggests Armed Services champion still qualified; but road and field not so many, so maybe not (or maybe the results are incomplete as regards qualifiers and forces were down in the uncharted depths).

There should be 13 altogether: 6 AAU + 6 NCAA + 1 AF; but in fact there are 14: 9 in both SOT and FOT, 1 (Turner) in FOT only, and 3 (Gaines Hopkins Davis) in SOT only. So far the explanations are:

1. AAU top 6 minus 2 foreign and Pender military ==> places 1-2-6-7-8 in final and 1 in runoff
2. NCAA top 6 minus 1 foreign and 1 injured ==> places 2-3-4-5-6-8 in final
3. Pender military
4. But what about Hopkins? Aha, Stephen F. Austin State Lumberjacks was in National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics in 1968 [1] so probably special dispensation for non-NCAA. He ran 10.1 that year as well and even the AAU 10.2/10.3 compare well with his NCAA peers. But no! Hopkins didn't win the NAIA title in 1968, Oliver Ford did, with 10.1 in final on 31 May and EWR 10.0 in semi! But wiki says Ford was ill during trials. Hopkins was second, so that tallies: he ran in the AAU runoff thinking Ford had the NAIA place, but he ended up taking the NAIA place instead of an AAU place.

Aftermath

THE AAU applied to the IAAF to recognise the fourth heat's two 10.0 s marks as equaling the pre-existing world record, and the semifinals' three 9.9 s runs as setting and then equaling a new record. (Bambuck and Ronnie Ray Smith thus equaled world records in races which they had not won.) Sacramento was the last time the 100 m record was broken on a track with a natural (baked clay) surface. The principals had raced against each other many times that season; the final proved to be Greene's last victory over his great rival Hines.

The top 6 U.S. finishers at the AAU championships qualified for the national trials for the Mexico Olympics. In the 100 m, they were joined by the top 6 from the NCAA championships held on June 14, Mel Pender as Armed Forces champion, and Andy Hopkins of the NAIA, to contest preliminary trials in Los Angeles on June 29 and final trials in Echo Summit on September 9–10, from which the top three (Hines, Greene, and Pender) qualified for the Olympic 100 m; they and fourth-placed Smith formed the 4 × 100 m relay team.

Mexico's Olympic Stadium had a faster synthetic Tartan Track. The top six of the AAU final contained five of the top six in Mexico in October, where the 100 m result was: Hines 1st, Miller 2nd, Greene 3rd, Pablo Montes of Cuba 4th, Bambuck 5th, Pender 6th. Hines' official winning time of 9.9 s equaled his Night of Speed world record. In the relay the USA won gold, Cuba silver, and Bambuck's France bronze; Miller's Jamaica came fourth, after setting a world record in the semifinal which the Americans broke in the final.

From 1977, the IAAF mandated fully automatic time (FAT) to hundredths of a second for sprint records. Hines' Olympic FAT of 9.95 became the sole 100 m record, although his Sacramento FAT of 10.03 remained the low-altitude record until James Sanford ran 10.02 in 1980. In 1983 Calvin Smith broke Hines' Mexico world record at the U.S. Olympic Festival.

USA Track & Field, as successor to the AAU, organized a 25th-anniversary reunion before the 2003 World Championships in Athletics attended by six of the eight Night of Speed finalists (Hines, Greene, Miller, Bambuck, Pender and Questad).

References

Footnotes

A report for the quadrennial period 1965-1969. New York: United States Olympic Committee. 1969. p. 169. OCLC 16502818.

ATFS

• ATFS Annual 1969 — source has revised upwards some of the official manual times to align with the FATs where available. Lists all performances only to a certain point and only individual SBs below that; hence gaps in the listings e.g. h1 p5 where athlete had a higher mark

h1	1	2.8w	 9.8			Hines
	2			10.0			Smith RR
	3			10.0			Clayton Kirk (4 Feb 47)
	4			10.1			Harris Earl (20 Jul 48)
	5
	6			10.3			Robinson Reggie (30 May 49)
h2	1			10.0			Pender
	2
	3			10.1			Iijima
	4
	5			10.3			Castronovo Don (27 Mar 47)
h3	1	2.7w	 9.9			Miller
	2			 9.9			Gaines
	3			10.0			Mathews Mickey (3 Jun 47)
	4
	5
	6			10.3			Dalton Le Blanc (6 Aug 44)
	7			10.3			Bob Ballard (b 1950)
h4	1	2.0		10.0			Greene C
	2
	3			10.3			Green J
s1	1	0.8		 9.9	10.03	Hines			
	2			10.0	10.14	Smith RR
	3			10.0	10.15	Pender
	4			10.0	10.18	Questad
	5					10.21	Clayton
	6			10.3	10.39	Provost Ernie (27 Dec 47)
	7			10.3	10.42	Harris
	8					10.43	Green Jim (28 Sep 47)
s2	1	0.9		 9.9	10.10	Greene C
	2			10.0	10.18	Miller
	3			10.0	10.21	Bambuck
	4			10.1	10.26	Gaines (18 Jun 48)
	5			10.1	10.32	Mathews
	6					10.46	Iijima
	7					10.46	Richburg, Orin (24 Dec 45)
ro	1	no rec	10.0	10.24	Clayton
	2			10.1	10.28	Green J
	3					10.39	Mathews
	4					10.44	Harris
	5					10.44	Provost
	6					10.46	Hopkins Andy (19 Oct 49)
f	1	3.3		10.0			Greene C 
	2			10.0			Hines
	3
	4			10.1			Bambuck
	5			10.2			Provost

World Athletics

"Senior Outdoor > 100 Metres Men > 20 Jun 1968". All time Top lists. World Athletics. Retrieved 23 May 2021.

Rank	Mark	WIND	Competitor	DOB	Nat	Pos		Venue	Date	Results Score
1	9.8h	+2.8	Jim HINES	10 SEP 1946	USAUSA	1h1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1177

2	9.9h	+2.7	Lennox MILLER	08 OCT 1946	JAMJAM	1h3		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1143
2	9.9h	+2.8	Bill GAINES	18 JUN 1948	USAUSA	2h3		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1143
7	10.0h	+2.7	Mickey MATTHEWS	03 JUN 1947	USAUSA	3h3		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1109

7	10.0h	+2.0	Charlie GREENE	21 MAR 1945	USAUSA	1h4		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125
7	10.0h	+2.0	Roger BAMBUCK	22 NOV 1945	FRAFRA	2h4		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125

2	9.9h	+0.9	Jim HINES	10 SEP 1946	USAUSA	1sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1159
2	9.9h	+0.8	Ronnie Ray SMITH	28 MAR 1949	USAUSA	2sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1159
7	10.0h	+0.9	Mel PENDER	31 OCT 1937	USAUSA	3sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125
7	10.0h	+0.8	Larry QUESTAD	10 JUL 1943	USAUSA	4sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125
7	10.0h	+0.8	Kirk CLAYTON	04 FEB 1947	USAUSA	5sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125
7	10.0h	+0.8	Ernie PROVOST	27 DEC 1947	USAUSA	6sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125
7	10.0h	+0.8	Earl HARRIS	20 JUL 1948	USAUSA	7sf1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125

2	9.9h	+0.9	Charlie GREENE	21 MAR 1945	USAUSA	1sf2		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1159
7	10.0h	+0.9	Lennox MILLER	08 OCT 1946	JAMJAM	2sf2		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125
7	10.0h	+0.9	Roger BAMBUCK	22 NOV 1945	FRAFRA	3sf2		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1125

7	10.0h	w	Charlie GREENE	21 MAR 1945	USAUSA	1f1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1095
7	10.0h	w	Jim HINES	10 SEP 1946	USAUSA	2f1		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1095

19	10.28	w	Jim GREEN	28 SEP 1947	USAUSA	2f2		Sacramento, CA (USA)	20 JUN 1968	1082

Sources

• Burns, Bob (2018). "Bumpy Road to Summit". Track in the Forest: The Creation of a Legendary 1968 US Olympic Team. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781641600804. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
• Hymans, Richard (October 1979). "World 100m all-time list at 31 December 1978" (PDF). NUTS Notes. 17 (2). Walton-on-Thames: National Union of Track Statisticians: 8–16. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
• Hymans, Richard (2008), The History of the United States Olympic Trials (PDF), USA Track & Field, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2019, retrieved 23 May 2021
• Hymans, Richard; Matrahazi, Imre (2015). "Progression of IAAF World Records" (PDF). International Association of Athletics Federations. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
• "AAU Championships / A Sprinting Revolution / AAU 100-meters Statistically / AAU 100-meters Photographically" (PDF). Track and Field News. 21 (10). Los Altos, California: 3, 15–16 / 4 / 6 / 6–7. 11 June 1968. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
• Bloom, Don (21 June 1968). "Hines, Green, Smith Share New World Record of 9.9; Three Men Eclipse Long-Standing 10:0 with 9.9 Clockings". Sacramento Bee. pp. A1, E1. Retrieved 25 March 2024 – via newspapers.com.
• "100 Meter Mark Falls in Hughes". Sacramento Bee. 21 June 1968. p. E1. Retrieved 25 March 2024 – via newspapers.com.
• Mehren, Tim (21 June 1968). "Hughes Fans Are Treated To Historic 100-Meter Races". Sacramento Bee. p. E4. Retrieved 25 March 2024 – via newspapers.com.