Franklin "Bud" Held Pictures from 1954.
The pictures will never receive any photographic awards but very clearly show two points that nowadays are considered fatal faults, but were key parts of Bud's world record in 1953 and his five world record throws in one night at the Modesto Relays in 1955. Three were measured and Track and Field News credits him with those. Two others were clearly 18-24 inches short of his best that night and were not officially measured. I was watching that night, however, and the 2 unmeasured throws obviously broke the existing record. The sixth throw was a foul.
Those points are: 1 Photo 4 shows the right foot lands about twenty degrees back of 90 degrees to the runway. This enables a quick but powerful thrust from the right foot to drive the hip around very strongly. The hip forces the shoulders in to the strong open position and clears the way for a fast, powerful arm pull.
2 Photo 6 shows a deep left knee bend rather than a locked left leg plant. A locked leg retards the body's forward motion while a bent left leg, straightening powerfully, allows the body to continue onward unimpeded and as that left leg straightens into the fully extended position (Photo 7 and missing photo 8), all that speed and momentum is redirected up along the intended flight path. By the time the hand passes over the shoulder, the left leg is fully extended.
The photos came from a sixteen millimeter black and white reel that had been store for many years in an unairconditioned Arizona garage.
Dick Held |
